WEBVTT - What is a space hurricane? 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.160 Hey, or hey, have you ever been in a hurricane? Uh? 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:15.680 Technically no, really, Panama doesn't get hurricanes. I think we 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:17.439 felt the effects of them, but none of them have 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:21.240 technically touched us, except maybe like one a long time ago. Well, 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:23.639 then maybe you'll get your chance here in l A. Really, 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.240 Los Angeles gets hurricanes not very often, but the occasional 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:29.800 Mexican hurricane is strong enough to make it all the 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:34.600 way up here. I like myc a little spicy. Yeah, 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:37.120 there's nothing worse than like a bland hurricane. It's just 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:55.080 boring hundred mile and hour winds. Hi. I'm or handmade 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.200 cartoonists and the creator of PhD comics. H I'm Daniel. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.000 I'm a particle physicist, and I also never been in 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.720 a hurricane. You've never lived to tell the tale, that's right. 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.559 Never been like one of those reporters standing in knee 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.440 deep water with winds blowing all around them. I would 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:11.640 have been out of there much sooner. You've never been 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:15.640 in a science hurricane, like a flurry of scientific discovery 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:19.600 and activity, like wind of knowledge blowing over everything. It's 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.160 definitely felt like a thunderstorm. How and then with some 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:25.319 of the conflicts and the egos. But no, never officially 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:28.880 a science hurricane. You've never upgraded that brainstorm to like 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:31.960 a brain hurricane. Maybe I'm just trapped in the eye. 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:35.160 But welcome to our podcast, Daniel and Jorge Explained the Universe, 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.240 a production of I Heart Radio, in which we explore 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:43.119 the swirling mysteries of the universe. We rain knowledge down 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:46.120 upon you and try to blow confusion away with hundred 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:50.280 mile and our winds of silly jokes. In our podcast, 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:55.000 we tackle the biggest, deepest, most dramatic questions of the universe. 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.320 We don't shy away from any and every topic, and 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.560 we find some nugget of mystery or knowledge and we 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.120 break it open for you and try to explain it 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.480 with a few dad jokes. That's right. We try to 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.280 sweep you off your feet with giant winds of corny 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:14.639 jokes and serious knowledge about the universe and everything in it, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.200 because it really does make us spin. I mean, this 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:21.040 universe we live in is fantastic. It's beautiful, it's wet, 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:24.600 it's wild, it's crazy. There are so many things we 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:28.160 need to understand, and not just at the most fundamental level. 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:30.840 As a particle physicist, my job is to break the 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:34.040 universe down to the very very smallest bits and understand 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:37.440 the deepest, most fundamental nature of the universe. But even 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.640 if we did that, it doesn't mean necessarily it would 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:42.560 help us understand the world around us. You can't go 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:46.000 from string theory to predicting weather. So sometimes there are 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.120 deep mysteries worth tackling that are right around us, at 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.840 the same scale as our lives. Yeah, because I guess 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.400 the universe does seem a little unpredictable sometimes. I mean, 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.040 it's pretty chaotic out there. Even though it sort of 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.040 seems nice and calm here, there are parts of the 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:02.000 universe that are pretty crazy and there's a lot going 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:03.720 on in there. Yeah. We talk a lot on the 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:08.400 podcast about how complex phenomena arise from really simple rules 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.720 and simple objects. From just a few particles, you can 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.800 make everything that anybody has ever touched, tasted, or eaten, 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:20.520 and that includes really weird stuff like people and hurricanes. 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.160 It's amazing what this universe has cooked up for us 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:25.799 out of a few basic elements, and some of it 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:29.320 is really quite complex and very very difficult to predict. 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.600 Some of it we just have to look at in wonder. Yeah, 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.080 and so here on Earth we have weather, which is 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:37.200 pretty chaotic. Although I feel like we have done a 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:40.800 pretty good job in you know, meteorology, of predicting the 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.200 weather a little bit, or at least forecasting the weather 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.160 annoying when and where hurricanes are going. Yeah, I feel 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.160 like comedy hasn't really caught up with progress in weather science. 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:52.200 Used to be a standing joke that nobody could predict 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:55.320 the weather, but these days they're actually pretty good at it. 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.760 I find myself relying on my little weather app to 0:03:57.800 --> 0:03:59.880 tell me if it's going to rain today or tomorrow. 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:02.440 Maybe that's just easy in southern California because it says 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:05.240 it never rains. Yeah, you just need comedians to predict 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:06.960 the weather, you know, just give him a sharpie and 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.200 they'll know exactly where the hurricanes go. Maybe this wisdom 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:12.080 in the crowd, right, Get a hundred comedians in the 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:14.160 room and ask them where the hurricane is going to go, 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:16.880 and that we'll see if on average they're right. Yeah, 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:18.919 and if they bomb, maybe that will I don't know, 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.640 dissipate the hurricane or something, or maybe all the arguing 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.680 will create a hurricane of shouting or hurricane of egos 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.120 or all the groaning from the bad jokes. Will I 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.320 don't know, blow a lot of hot air and blow 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:32.280 away to story. Yeah, but meteorologists are still the butt 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:34.560 of jokes about how they can't predict the weather, even 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.800 though I think they are doing a pretty good job 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.880 these days. Yeah. So the weather here on Earth, which 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:42.520 is kind of a little bit crazy, sometimes chaotic, a 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:46.040 little bit unpredictable still sometimes So the question is does 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.720 that happen in other parts of the universe? Is there 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:53.039 an equivalent of weather out there in space, maybe other planets, 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:56.360 or in between planets, or out there in the galaxies 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.680 or between galaxies. And as usual, we're wondering if the 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.800 ti arunti we see here on Earth are particular to 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:07.440 Earth or if they are universal. This little parochial tribe 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.400 of humans trying to crack big questions about the universe, 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:13.320 having only looked at the way things work on Earth, 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.080 we're always faced with this question of whether we can 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.599 take the things we've learned here and generalized to the 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.680 rest of the universe, or if we live in a 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.120 really weird, unusual corner and the things that happened here 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.640 only happened here. Like the people and ice cream Sundays 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:29.960 and all that kind of stuff. So are hurricanes at 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.719 universal phenomena experienced on every planet around the universe, or 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:36.479 are they something that space tourists will come to Earth 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:39.080 just to experience. So to be on the podcast, we'll 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:48.400 be asking the question what is a space hurricane? So 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.479 I feel like we're asking like, are there hurricanes in space? 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:55.160 Or can you make a hurricane in space? Or what's 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:57.840 the equivalent of a hurricane in space? For all of 0:05:57.839 --> 0:05:59.839 the above, it sounds like a pitch for a movie 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.159 on the Discovery Channel, you know. It sounds like in 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.239 the category of shark tornado. You know, take two cool 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.280 words and put them together, right. Yeah, It's like if 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.240 the Weather Channel and the Discovery Channel teamed up and 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:16.919 made a special movie space hurricane with sharks, Space Sharknado, 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:19.720 Hurricane with dinosaurs in it. I'm sure somebody in the 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:22.440 writer's room has already thought that idea up and discarded it, 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:26.440 thank God. And then you throw like a bachelor in 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:30.000 there and also a home remodeling project, and you've got 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.520 Emmy Award winning television right there. Flip your house and 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:37.279 get married using a space hurricane filled with sharks that 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:42.840 sounds like a great show and dinosaurs also, everything can 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:46.120 happen here on this show. But yeah, that's an interesting question, 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.920 what is a space hurricane? And this sort of relates 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.560 to that question. We were asking about space weather, like 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.440 is there the equivalent of weather out there in space 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.920 and with all that gas and dust maybe out there floating. Yeah, 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:01.359 and we're interested in whether these oterns we see in 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:05.240 hurricanes here on Earth are replicated maybe in other forms, 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:08.120 maybe not in water, maybe not in air, maybe in 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.600 other objects out there in space and other parts of 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.120 the universe, so that when the aliens come we will 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.560 have something to talk to them about. Well, as usually, 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.200 we were wondering how many people out there had heard 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.880 of a space hurricane or had any idea of what 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.280 it is. So Daniel went out there into the wilds 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.200 of the Internet to ask people what is a space hurricane? So, 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.800 if you live in the wilds of the Internet and 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.840 you would like to answer random questions I sent you 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:38.280 with no opportunity to prepare, please write to me two 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:41.760 questions at Daniel and Jorge dot com. I personally live 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.160 in the planes of the Internet. It's a lot calma there. 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.760 There's no Twitter or Facebook, just a gentle wind of 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:51.200 Wikipedia information. Every time you say the wilds of the Internet, 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.040 it makes me feel like a rugged explore risking my 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:56.640 life to go out there and gather information in the 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:00.440 name of science. I mean reaching out to strangers and Internet. 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.320 It's totally safe. These are our listeners men. They are 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.400 nice people. M I see. That's all it takes to 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:08.960 be your friend, Daniel. Just be willing to listen to 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.520 about physics. Absolutely. Anybody willing to listen to this podcast 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:15.760 is definitely my friend. All right, Well, think about it 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.160 for a second. If someone asks you, what is a 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.600 space hurricane, what would you answer. Here's what people had 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.160 to say. I assume it has something to do with well, 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:28.000 space weather and possibly solar wind or stellar wind. I'm 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.880 not entirely sure. Maybe there's hurricanes. I don't think it 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:32.959 would count as a hurricane on the Sun or a 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:39.480 hurricane on say Jupiter, because they're not quiet space hurricanes. Um, 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.440 maybe it's some sort of hurricane to do with the 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:46.480 curvature of a space maybe approaching a black hole, something 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:48.840 along those lines. I have no idea what a space 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.520 hurricane is, but I would have to guess that it 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.120 has something to do with solo winds. But it sounds 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:59.880 like a swirling mass of If it's in space, it's 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:04.439 probably something like stars or something else with a lot 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:07.200 of mass. When you look at a hurricane and Earth, 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.040 it sure looks like a galaxy, So maybe a spiral 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.040 galaxy is a space hurricane. I can imagine the space 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.160 hurricane is created by the solar ring, so like there's 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:21.760 a big outburst from the Sun um that creates space weather, 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.360 and if it's a really extreme outburst, then it might 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:28.800 create a space hurricane. But I can also imagine um 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:37.199 movement of stuff in space itself might create vortexes or 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:41.400 space hurricanes. Hope you will all right. I guess it's 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.080 some pretty interesting answers here. I feel like people sort 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.600 of thought about a hurricane and what it looks like 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.280 in pictures that the swirling massive stuff, and then they 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:51.360 try to, I don't know, project it into space, like 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.120 what would that look like in space or in other planets. Yeah, 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.520 it's some great examples of generalization, like this is real 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:01.320 physics in action here. I love people take this idea 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:05.120 and wonder whether or not it could exist in other forms. Awesome, 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.120 especially the one about a galaxy being a space hurricane. 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.560 Very cool, right, Yeah, it is a galaxy technically a 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.000 space hurricane. Like they look kind of the same as 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:17.080 a big flushing toilet or swirling disc. Right, that's kind 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:18.760 of what a hurricane is, and that's kind of what 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.000 a galaxy is. Yeah, we'll get into it. But a 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.400 hurricane actually is a low pressure center, right where things 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.240 flow out from the center, and a galaxy, of course 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.520 is very high pressure center. It's really the densest spot 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:32.800 with if all the forces pulling towards the center of 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:36.120 the galaxy. So the mechanisms are something different, but you're right, 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:38.720 they do look kind of similar. It's an anti hurricane. 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:40.760 Maybe it would be awesome that have a hurricane where 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:44.679 it's raining stars instead of water droplets. That's pretty meta, 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:48.160 that would be That sounds really dangerous. You would definitely 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.240 not be a weatherman standing there for very long. Yeah, 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.360 what kind of hurricane proofing do you need when it's 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:56.320 raining stars? That sounds like another great show on the 0:10:56.320 --> 0:11:02.280 Discovery slash Weather channel Surviving Extreme Space Weather Raining Stars. 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:04.440 But let's get into it then. I guess step us 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.080 through here, Daniel. First of all, let's tackle one word 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.360 at a time. So a hurricane, what is that technically 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.840 here on Earth? Like, how do we get hurricanes? And 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:15.640 what technically counts as a hurricane? And is that the 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.760 right name for the weather phenomenon that most people think 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:20.880 of when they think of hurricanes. I was really surprised 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.120 to learn that you give the name hurricane to a 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.400 particular type of storm that appears all around the world, 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.839 but you only call it a hurricane if it appears 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:34.720 in particular places in the Atlantic or in the northeastern Pacific. 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.079 It's the most general phrase. Is a cyclone this this 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:40.800 kind of storm you get over the water, but you 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.000 only call it a hurricane in various parts of the world. 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.920 It's like the naming committee couldn't agree on what I 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.160 call these things, and so they broke up without like 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.199 a global agreement for what to call them. I see now, 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.160 is this like a convenient naming you know, scheme or 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.080 is this just like out of the history of how 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:58.560 like you know, people who lived here called it a 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.280 hurricane and people who lived over there call it a typhoon. 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:04.280 You know. Is it like pop and soda and coke 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.199 or is it like you know, scientists were like, okay, 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:09.320 we'll call these the ones that we hear this and 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:11.080 the ones that were there, and we'll call them that. 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:14.640 There's really no difference between a hurricane in the Atlantic, 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:18.640 or a typhoon in the Northwest specific or a tropical 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:22.280 cyclone in the South Pacific. They're fundamentally the same thing. 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:25.280 The only thing that differentiates them is where they happen. 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:28.520 So the naming convention is just historic. That's what we 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:31.600 call those storms. And then I think later people understood 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:33.800 in more detail. All these are really all sort of 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.560 examples of the same thing I see. But the technical term, 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:41.480 the scientific term is actually cyclone, yeah exactly, which sounds 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:43.880 like a killer robot from the future or something, but 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.560 it really just describes this sort of spinning storm that 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:49.680 you get, which is very typical the kind of storm 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.280 I think about when I think about a hurricane. I see, 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:56.800 so all hurricanes are cyclones, but not all cyclones are hurricanes, 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:00.440 that's right, exactly. So they're called typhoons in Northwest Pacific 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.960 and tropical cyclones in the South Pacific or Indian Ocean. 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:07.400 So what are the basics of the cyclone storm? So 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.680 it's the same all around the world, and it's this 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.720 phenomenon where you have a bunch of really warm water, 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.920 and so the water heats up the air that's above 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.000 it and moistens it because the water is evaporating from 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:22.520 the surface, and then hot air rises, right, and so 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:26.079 the hot air rises over this warm spot in the ocean, 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.319 and because the air is rising, it causes this low 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:32.280 pressure center because the air is leaving, so other air 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.160 sort of have to get sucked in. So it sucks 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:38.199 in air from around it, which then rises up and 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:41.280 has to go somewhere and then spreads out. So you 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.720 get this pattern where air is getting pulled in over 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:49.200 the water, rising up and then spreading out. And that's 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.920 the basics of it. And if the Earth wasn't spinning, 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:55.600 the cyclones wouldn't spin either. The way these storms start 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.400 to spin is just because of the spin of the Earth, right, 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:02.520 It's you to the Coriolis effect, right, that's right. As 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:06.040 these winds blow outwards from the center of the storm, 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.040 they start to curve. And the reason is really cool 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.480 is because, as you say, it's because of the Coriolis effect. 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:14.400 If you're standing on the equator, then you are spinning 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:17.760 around the Earth really fast. Right, You're going a thousand 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:20.600 miles per hour. The surface of the Earth at the 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.280 equator is moving a thousand miles per hour. The surface 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.600 of the Earth at the North pole isn't moving at all, right, 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.720 I mean, you're spinning in place, but you're not actually moving. 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.120 So what that means is that the closer you are 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:35.040 to the equator, the faster you're moving, and the closer 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.360 you are to the north or South pole, the slower 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:39.600 you're moving. That's very cool a sort of to know, 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:42.160 but it has an actual effect because if you have 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:46.560 air that moves from the equator up towards the poles, 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:49.920 then it's moving faster than the air it's encountering, and 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:52.680 so it actually sort of drifts. So, for example, if 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.160 you're in the northern part of the Earth, in the 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.720 northern hemisphere, air that moves up from the equator towards 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.120 the north is going faster than the other air, so 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.360 it actually sort of curves to the east. So air 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.000 that flows north from the equator curves to the east, 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:09.680 and air that flows south from the North pole is 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:12.240 going too slow to catch up with the air it 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:14.400 is encountering, so it sort of flows a little bit 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:16.800 to the west, so you get this curving effect just 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.000 due to the spinning of the Earth. Right, So then 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:21.040 the idea is that the warm air heats up the 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.640 air above it, that air gets kind of sucked up 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:28.640 into the upper atmosphere, and that draws in cold air 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:31.960 which comes in with some sort of spin or some 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.440 sort of kind of skew twit, which then starts kind 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:37.120 of the swirl of it. Right, And so you can 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.640 make this mental picture in your mind of air getting 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:44.040 pulled towards the hurricane from the south curves to the right, 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.880 and air coming down from the north also curves to 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.720 its right. And so everywhere as the air is getting 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.200 pulled towards the center of the thing is curving towards 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:55.720 the right. So then it becomes self reinforcing and this 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:58.280 whole thing starts to spin. But to me, it's just 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:00.880 sort of awesome that you could like prove that the 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:05.040 Earth is spinning just by looking at hurricanes, right, Or 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.360 how toilets flashed technically right, Like you don't need to 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.320 leave your house, you can just flush the toilet. I 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:13.160 think that's an urban legend, man, I think toilets flushed 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:15.960 the same way in Australia. Well, may it depends on 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:18.240 how you designed the toilet. You're right. If you have 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.720 a toilet it's like a thousand miles wide, then maybe 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:22.960 you're right. Yeah, that's what I mean. Isn't your toilet 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:24.640 a thousand miles wide? I don't know what you had 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:28.000 for lunch, dude, but just my particular needs. That's a 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:31.520 spicy hurricane, my friend. But the amazing thing is that 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.000 in the Southern hemisphere storms really do spin the other 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.200 way because the same effect works the opposite way in 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:41.760 the Southern hemisphere. So if the air is flowing from 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.920 the equator towards the south, then it's going faster than 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.400 the air it's encountering. But now it's going to spin 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:50.920 the other direction. Right, it's going to spin sort of too. 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:54.520 It's left. The same deal. If air is coming from 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:57.800 the south pole up towards the equator right, then it's 0:16:57.800 --> 0:16:59.880 going slower than the air that's spinning. It's going to 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.000 her to the left, and so you get storm spinning 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.560 the other way in the Southern hemisphere. I think this 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.440 is super awesome. Yeah, that's pretty cool. And so I 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:11.080 guess maybe a quick question is, like what happens to 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.439 all that air getting sucked up. Does it just go 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:17.040 up to the upper atmosphere and then dissipates or does 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.359 it recycle kind of down and then helps to feed 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:24.159 that hurricane. Yes, you're right. The cold air gets sucked 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.119 in and then it rises and then it flows out 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:29.800 in this sort of big shield. And that's what you 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:31.840 see sort of from the space if you're looking at 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.440 this hurricane, that you get this like big spinning shield 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:38.560 that sort of spins out away from the hurricane. And 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.040 so that's what these sort of these arms are there, 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:44.960 these clouds and condensation formed from the air flowing away 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:47.720 from the center of the hurricane and the upper atmosphere. 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:50.160 So a hurricane it's actually like a three D thing. 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:52.520 It's not just a swirl like the air and the 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:55.560 bottom is swirling inwards, but the air in the upper 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:59.520 atmosphere is swirling outwards. Yeah, exactly. And so it's this 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:03.639 machine and it's all powered by the energy from the ocean. 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:06.320 And so that's why as the Earth warms up and 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.920 we get more hot spots and hotter spots in the ocean, 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:13.480 we get more and more dramatic hurricanes. And I guess 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:16.560 it's due to these currents too, because I guess you 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:20.520 need warm water under cold air, right, So it like 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.040 as the warm water, you know, moves under cold air, 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.280 then it creates these low pressure points. M exactly. It 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:28.680 warms up the air and the air rises, and then 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:31.200 you get this low pressure center. So you know, in general, 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:35.320 the idea of hurricane is this flow, this cyclic flow 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:38.320 of the air and this low pressure center. All right, well, 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.920 let's get into whether or not something like that can 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.399 happen out in outer space, maybe in other planets or 0:18:45.440 --> 0:19:01.320 in our galaxy. But first let's take a quick break. Right, 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:04.520 we're talking about space hurricanes and whether or not those 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:06.439 are actually a thing. I guess there are a thing 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.320 that I know if we're asking the question what is 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.560 a space hurricane? So it might be a thing. Right. 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:12.320 It would be a short podcast if we were just 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:14.720 saying no, you can tell, because otherwise we would have 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.960 titled this episode do space hurricanes exist? Right? But here 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:20.800 we are asking what is a space hurricaine? So I 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:23.679 think we spoiled a little bit. If they do exist, 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:25.520 there are a thing. But I guess the question is 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:27.280 how does that happen? How do you get a hurricane 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:30.200 in space? Yes, so this basic mechanism that we're talking 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:33.399 about can exist in other places, other places where you 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:36.000 have something like air that can flow, and then you 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:39.040 have some source of energy to like pump into that 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.000 to create this low pressure center. And so you have 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:45.200 lots of places, actually in the Solar System we know about, 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:47.600 and then probably in the rest of the universe where 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.880 you get similar structures that are forming not necessarily out 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:53.919 of air and water droplets. But the structure of a 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:56.520 hurricane turns out to be something we see all over 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:59.800 the place, really not necessarily with water, but maybe other 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.720 science of storms. Yeah, exactly, with other kinds of storms. 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.800 You know, around the Solar System, we have atmospheres with 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:08.520 methane and all sorts of other crazy stuff in them, 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.080 And so we can take the same idea of a 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:14.880 hurricane and use it to understand storms on other planets 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:18.080 or moons. I guess the other planets are spinning and 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:21.160 they have some kind of atmosphere, so why not, right, 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:23.960 they could have hurricanes to Yeah exactly, But wait, don't 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:26.520 you need the oceans to like the moving oceans and 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:28.640 currents and things like that. Well, you really just need 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:31.200 sort of like bands, right, You don't necessarily need an ocean. 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:34.480 You just need something underneath it to provide the energy, 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.320 something to power this thing. And so you know, you 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:41.400 could have like hot rocks or other bands of denser gases. 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:44.320 You don't necessarily need a liquid ocean of water. You 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:47.440 don't need like the moving currents of water, right, because 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.040 that's that's kind of why hurricanes move, isn't it or 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:52.000 is it just due to the weather. Well, motion of 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:54.600 the hurricanes on other planets will see is a little 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:56.440 bit different than it is on Earth. That they don't 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.520 necessarily crash into shores the way they do on Earth, 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:01.800 but they're definitely formed and there can be a lot 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:05.040