SAMPLE: Meteorology

Film Science: Video Questions for Twister

1. What aspects of twister behavior are represented incorrectly in the cartoon?

2. a) Why was the tug on the tornado shelter door so strong?

b) When the shelter door was being attached to its frame, a 45 N-m torque was required to tighten the nuts and bolts. Would a 70 N force applied at the end of a 20 cm long wrench be sufficient?

3. a) What technology enables improved weather forecasting?

b) Find the acceleration of gravity out where the satellite is orbiting 350 km above the Earth.

c) What is the force of attraction between the 500 kg satellite and an 200 g ice chunk 300 m away?

d) If a satellite is in a 600 km orbit, what is its orbital period?

e) What centripetal acceleration keeps a satellite in a 600 km orbit if its period is 1.5 hours?

f) What is the orbital speed of a satellite in a 700 km orbit?

4. a) How is Dorothy supposed to work?

b) If it functions properly, the resulting data may have what effect on tornado warnings?

5. What hinders the researchers in their attempts to easily and safely position Dorothy?

6. a) What things do Joe and Bill find objectionable about Jonas Miller and his team?

b) Is the instrument pack created by Jonas Miller and his team the result of scientific espionage?

7. a) Are Joe's assistants depicted as a mature, organized team?

b) Why is Bill depicted as a hot head?

c) What do you think about Bill's supposed ability to pick up a storm's thoughts?

d) What is the team's reaction to the mention of an F 5 storm?

8. a) In an angry exchange with Bill, what does Joe reveal about the reason for her tornado research?

b) Do she and Joe work well as a team?

9. Who is presented as more in control, Joe or Melissa?

10. What drove Jonas to risk his life positioning his instrument pack?

11. a) What is the energy powering tornados?

b) Explain their rotation direction.

12. a) What force keeps the material in a tornado moving in a circular fashion?

b) If a rock caught up in the tornado were suddenly set free, in what direction would it move? Make a

sketch of your answer looking down on the tornado.

13. What phenomena in your home are like tornadoes?

14. Find the centripetal acceleration needed to keep a piece of broken board in a 4 m radius if it takes

1.2 s for one revolution.

15. Find the orbital velocity of a mouse completing a 3.2 m radius orbit in 1.3 s.

16. Find the centripetal force required to keep a 20 kg hay bale moving in a 7 m radius orbit if it takes

1.7 s to complete one orbit.

17. A brick moving in a 10 m radius orbit takes 2.7 s for an orbit. What would be its period if the radius

were increased by 2 m?