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The Case of the Mysterious Red Light

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Subido el 28 de mayo de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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NASA Why? Files video containing the following eleven segments. NASA Why? Files segment describing some of the major volcanic events throughout history. NASA Why? Files segment describing the effects of the jet stream on local environments. NASA Why? File

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All right, hey, what's up? I'm Aaron Carter, and just to let you know, I always use a lot 00:00:00
of math, science, and technology in my concerts and shows. That's why I want you to watch 00:00:28
the NASA Wi-Fi. It's great. It makes learning math, science, and technology fun. So stay 00:00:34
right where you are and check out the NASA Wi-Fi. 00:00:40
When it comes to solving the Treehouse Detectives' latest mystery, you need to answer these key 00:01:10
questions. How does light travel? How does the problem board help the Treehouse Detectives? 00:01:20
What are the four parts of a wave? That's cool. That's amazing. I wish I could be Frantz 00:01:32
Harari. Why? Because then I could make that bright red sun disappear. Look at the sunset. 00:01:44
It's so red it looks like a ball of fire. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm about to perform 00:01:50
the most amazing trick. What's with him? I bet he thinks he's a magician. Watch closely. 00:01:59
Before your very own eyes, I will make this coin disappear. Okay, Frantz, I've got to 00:02:05
see this one. Abracadabra, make this coin disappear. Gone. Where did it go? It went 00:02:11
up his sleeve. It did not. It's magic. Then make us disappear because that sunset is blinding. 00:02:19
Yeah. But no one's here. The magician is here. Jacob. I'm starting to get this magic 00:02:25
stuff down. Welcome to Kids Science News Network's morning show, Get Out of Bed. You're Going 00:02:33
to be Late. I'm Ted Toon. This morning's top KSNN story, Red Skies, Warning or Delight? 00:02:40
We go now to I Am Listening with a live report. Thanks, Ted. I'm here with Captain Mac Arell 00:02:50
of the cargo ship Dawn's Early Light. Now, Captain, the saying goes, red skies at night, 00:02:56
sailors delight. Red skies and warnings, sailors take warning. Are you delighted or worried? 00:03:03
I just don't know. It's supposed to be one or the other. I'm so confused. Well, Ted, 00:03:09
it looks like we may never know. Back to you. Thanks for that illuminating report, 00:03:17
I Am. So far, no one has been able to explain the mystery of the red skies over the area. 00:03:22
Stay tuned to KSNN for more information. Last night, we noticed that the sunset was a deep, 00:03:28
deep red. I know. Maybe there's a fire around here and we're seeing a reflection in the 00:03:35
sky. This looks like a case for us to solve. I can see the headlines now. The Treehouse 00:03:41
detectives solved the case of the mysterious red light with magic. Jacob, give it up. Give 00:03:47
what up? He's up to his magic tricks. Yeah, I saw some of them yesterday. Where can we 00:03:54
start our investigation? With the NASA Wi-Fi's investigation log sheet. It's great. You should 00:04:00
really use it in your investigation. Go to the NASA Wi-Fi's website, then click on the 00:04:05
Treehouse, then click on the tool selection. Now click on the investigation log sheet and 00:04:10
print it out. Hey, there's Dr. D. Maybe he can give us a list of experts. This is all 00:04:15
part of science's inquiry. There I am. What are you doing? Just an experiment that didn't 00:04:21
work very well. I'll show you an experiment that will work. Watch this. That's magic. 00:04:29
No, not magic. It's just good science. If I poke the skewer through this end, where 00:04:44
it's not stretched very much, and take it out through the tip, where it's also not stretched, 00:04:49
it won't burst. But if I poke it in the side like this... It would pop. That's because 00:04:53
it's being stretched too tight. That's great. Dr. D., have you noticed the red sunrises 00:04:59
and sunsets? Yes, I have. I just watched a report on it on KSNN. We decided this is a 00:05:04
case for the Treehouse Detectives. We want to know what's making the sunrises and sunsets 00:05:09
so red. The Treehouse Detectives have solved a lot of problems. Think back, where do you 00:05:13
usually begin? In the treehouse. Yes, that's correct. But it's a tool you always use in 00:05:17
your investigations. I know it. It's a scientific method. Yes, again. Remember, this is a tool 00:05:22
you can use every day. We know our problem. I wrote it down in our investigation log. 00:05:27
Why are the sunrises and sunsets so red? All right, you have your problem. What comes next? 00:05:32
Probably research, since we don't know much about the problem. Research means asking a 00:05:37
lot of questions, making observations, and talking to a lot of experts. That's correct. 00:05:42
Remember, it's a scientific method. You research the problem, form a hypothesis, and then test 00:05:47
the hypothesis. It's not always easy. We knew that for a fact. In our past cases, we tested 00:05:52
our hypothesis by experimenting and collecting data. I think you're ready to tackle the sunset 00:05:57
problem now. Thanks, Dr. D. I'm sure we'll be back. Let's see, what would make the sunsets 00:06:01
so red? Red's a color. And the sun gives the earth light. But why would the light from 00:06:09
the sun be a deeper red now? I don't know, but I think we need to do research on light. 00:06:15
Yeah, because I think light has colors in it. I'm doing an internet search on light. 00:06:20
Maybe we can find a museum that has an exhibit on light. I'm typing the keywords science, 00:06:25
museum, and light into the search engine. There are a lot of museums listed. Here's 00:06:32
one in Boston. It's called the Boston Museum of Science. It looks really cool. PJ and his 00:06:40
parents are in Boston. I'll send him an email and tell him to take a trip to the museum. 00:06:45
I hope he remembers to take the investigation log sheet. If you go on a field trip of your 00:06:50
own, this is a great worksheet to take with you to record all of your information. 00:06:54
That's weird. When I look on top of the mural, I can't see anything. Then, when I look at 00:07:02
the filter, I can see everything. Why is that? 00:07:08
It's because of polarization. Welcome to the Boston Museum of Science. My name is Michael 00:07:11
Sheese, and I'm in charge of the museum's physical science program. 00:07:16
Hi, Mr. Sheese. I'm PJ. Well, you see, the TRIOS detective sent me an email, and they 00:07:19
said that coming here would be a great place to learn more about light. So here I am. 00:07:24
You've got a great exhibit on light and objects called Lighthouse. What exactly would you 00:07:28
like to know about light? Well, I think I should understand what exactly 00:07:32
is light. I've got a great place to start. Okay, great. 00:07:36
All light is energy. Do you know what the main source of energy is here on Earth? 00:07:43
The sun? That's exactly right. The sun is a natural 00:07:47
source of energy. Light can be either artificial or natural. What might be an example of an 00:07:51
artificial source? Would that be something like a light bulb? 00:07:57
That's right. In fact, I happen to have one right here. Cool. 00:08:00
Let's go. Okay. Is light the same whether it's artificial 00:08:03
or natural? All light is made up of photons. 00:08:07
We learned about photons in our electricity mystery. And did you learn about atoms, too? 00:08:11
Yes, we did. There are three different parts, protons, neutrons, and electrons. 00:08:15
That's right. The electrons that make up light are unstable, and from time to time, they 00:08:19
absorb energy. One of the ways the atom gets rid of this energy is it releases it in a 00:08:23
bundle of light called a photon. Are there different kinds of photons? 00:08:27
Yes. The amount of energy that's in the photon determines what kind of light wave is 00:08:31
produced. Wait a minute. 00:08:35
Light is a wave? That's right. In fact, I've got a demonstration of it right here. 00:08:39
I'm going to hold on to my end of the rope. I'd like you to take the other end of the rope. 00:08:43
And if you could wiggle it back and forth, we can demonstrate what a light wave 00:08:47
might look like. Light coming from the sun takes 00:08:51
eight minutes to reach us, and that's 98 million miles away. 00:08:55
Whoa, that's fast! As you can see here, light travels in a straight line 00:08:59
called a ray. Yes, but then when I put the light on the prism, the light bends. 00:09:03
That's right. Light won't travel in a straight line unless it hits something 00:09:07
and becomes obstructed. Oh, I think I understand. 00:09:11
Why don't you take some time and explore some of our other exhibits on lightenopolis? 00:09:15
Thanks. I saw some great exhibits that I want to go to. Great. Bye. 00:09:19
See ya. Wow, this is so weird. I can't grab this 00:09:23
ring. This is just like what I saw on the Franz Harari's magic show. 00:09:27
Man! 00:09:31
Am I seeing things? And for my final light exhibit, I can 00:09:35
create my own picture by waving the wand. 00:09:39
Wow, the sunrise this morning was even 00:09:43
better than the one yesterday. I read PJ's investigation log online 00:09:47
and his notes on the Boston Science Museum are great. Hey guys. 00:09:51
Hi. You really missed out on a fantastic trip. Look what I brought back. It's called a prism. 00:09:55
Ooh, let me see it. I learned at the Boston Museum of Science 00:09:59
that light travels in waves and it's also a ray. But we learned in math 00:10:03
class that a ray is a straight line. How can light travel in waves and be a 00:10:07
straight line? What do we know? We know that there have been bright red 00:10:11
sunsets and sunrises. We know that light travels in a 00:10:15
wave. What do we need to know? We need to find out how light can 00:10:19
travel in waves and a straight line. Where can we go? NASA 00:10:23
Langley Research Center is probably the best place to start. I knew you'd say that, but 00:10:27
it's so true. To do flight research, you have to study a lot of different things in the sky. 00:10:31
Hi. My name is Clayton Turner. I'm a research engineer here at NASA Langley Research 00:10:39
Center. Hi. I'm Kaylee. I'm Catherine. Nice to meet you. 00:10:43
We're trying to solve a problem, and we need to know how light can travel in a wave and a 00:10:47
straight line at the very same time. Perhaps I can help. I do a lot of research with 00:10:51
light on this laboratory. That doesn't look like a laboratory. That looks like 00:10:55
a plane. Well, this is NASA Langley's 757 Ares Research Aircraft. 00:10:59
Come on board. Do you fly this 00:11:03
plane? No, I don't fly the plane. We use this plane to conduct research. 00:11:07
In particular, we use light to study the atmosphere. What's that? 00:11:11
This is a spectrometer. Let's go in the back, and I'll tell you a little bit more about it. 00:11:15
This is a spectrometer. It collects light and sorts it by wavelength. 00:11:19
Can you tell us more about light as a wave and a straight line? Yes. 00:11:23
Light can be thought of as particles called photons that travel in a wave-like pattern. 00:11:27
But we also learned that light can travel in a ray, which is a straight line. 00:11:31
Yes. A simple model of light is called a ray or a straight line. 00:11:35
A ray at the end of the line shows the direction that the photon is traveling in. 00:11:39
But what about a wave? Light, or electromagnetic radiation, 00:11:43
is a form of energy called gradient energy that has an electric field 00:11:47
and a magnetic field. If you take the simple model shown on the screen 00:11:51
and add an electric field, it would look like this. That looks funny. 00:11:55
Look at the ends of the electric field. It looks kind of like a 00:11:59
wave. But why are the lines different heights? First, let's 00:12:03
look at a model of the wave. He knows magic, too! 00:12:07
The top of the wave is called a crest. The bottom of the wave is called 00:12:11
a trough. The wavelength is measured from the top of one crest to the top 00:12:15
of the next crest. Do different wavelengths mean different things? Yes. 00:12:19
Color is typically described by the wavelength of frequency. For visible 00:12:23
light, violet has the shortest wavelength and red has the longest. 00:12:27
So what is frequency? Frequency is the number of times the crest of the 00:12:31
wave passes a stationary point. I get it! So the shorter the wavelength, 00:12:35
the more waves would pass a stationary point, and that would be high frequency. 00:12:39
So violet is high frequency, and red is low frequency. 00:12:43
Is there anything else we should know about a wave? Yes, amplitude. 00:12:47
Why is this important? The amplitude is half the distance from the crest to the 00:12:51
trough. The higher the amplitude and frequency, the higher the energy. 00:12:55
Thanks for letting us go on the 757. We learned a lot. 00:12:59
I really hope this information helps you solve your problem. 00:13:03
So what's our hypothesis? I think it should be that there are low frequency 00:13:07
waves in the sky. That makes the sky red. 00:13:11
I'll write this hypothesis in our investigation log. I guess that makes sense. 00:13:15
I don't know what could be causing the low frequency waves, though. 00:13:19
I think we should do a little research. Remember, in our past cases, our hypothesis 00:13:23
hasn't always been correct. 00:13:27
What's up? Will the Treehouse Detectives find out what's causing the red sunrises 00:13:31
and sunsets? Could there be something causing low frequency waves in the sky? 00:13:35
Stay tuned for more of The Case of the Mysterious Red Light. 00:13:39
The Treehouse Detectives still need your help. 00:13:53
Find answers to the following questions to solve the mystery. 00:13:57
How does light refract and reflect? 00:14:01
Find examples of translucent, transparent, 00:14:05
and opaque. 00:14:09
Why is the sky blue? 00:14:13
What's that spot on my clothes? Where'd it go? It disappeared. 00:14:17
There it is on the wall. How did it get over there? With my mirror. 00:14:21
When the light hits the mirror, it bounces around the room. Light can bounce? 00:14:25
I'm confused. I thought we learned from Mr. Turner that light travels in a ray. 00:14:29
This isn't doing that. 00:14:33
We need to find out, because there could be low frequency waves bouncing around the sky. 00:14:37
Where should we go? I classroomed on a field trip to the Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Virginia. 00:14:41
They do a lot of research there. Let's get up and go. 00:14:45
Hi. 00:14:49
I'm Michelle Shin. Welcome to the Department of Energy's Jefferson Lab. 00:14:53
Hi, Dr. Shin. This is a neat-looking place. What do you do here? 00:14:57
Well, I'm a laser physicist. That's a scientist who studies 00:15:01
and makes different kinds of lasers and uses them to hit different objects. 00:15:05
Lasers? Like in Star Wars? Well, sort of like that. 00:15:09
So anyway, what can I help you with today? 00:15:13
I was using mirrors this morning and noticed a light bounced around the room. 00:15:17
We want to know more about how light bounces. 00:15:21
Well, I'd be happy to answer that for you, Bianca. 00:15:25
Light that bounces off a surface is called reflective light. 00:15:29
The type of surface determines the kind of reflection you get. 00:15:33
A mirror is really shiny. Does that make a difference? 00:15:37
It makes a big difference. If the surface is shiny, then the image you see looks just like the object. 00:15:41
Does light scatter light? That's right. You catch on really fast. 00:15:45
Does light only reflect? No. Light also refracts. 00:15:49
What does refractive mean? Well, Bianca, I think it's easiest to show you. 00:15:53
Okay, Bianca, we need to put on some gloves and goggles because you're going to work with some liquid nitrogen. 00:15:57
We use these in science. Good. It helps to be safe 00:16:01
when you're doing experiments. What's that stuff bubbling? 00:16:05
It's liquid nitrogen. We're going to use the vapor to explore reflection and refraction. 00:16:09
So, Bianca, this is a laser, and I'm going to shine it on the gelatin. 00:16:13
But first, I need to have you dim the lights. 00:16:17
What I'm going to do now is shine it on the gelatin. Look closely and tell me what you see. 00:16:21
I see the light coming off into the gelatin. That must be reflection. 00:16:25
Right. But the light is also being bent. Why is that? 00:16:29
Well, when light travels from one medium, such as air, 00:16:33
to another medium, such as gelatin, its speed changes. 00:16:37
And when the speed changes, the light bends, and we call that light refraction. 00:16:41
Does the speed of light speed up or slow down when it's going through the gelatin? 00:16:45
Well, because the gelatin is thicker than air, it slows down. 00:16:49
I wonder if magicians create some of their magic with mirrors. 00:16:53
This is a concave mirror. It curves inwards, and you can see that your image, 00:16:57
if I hold it in one way, is upright, and as I get closer, 00:17:01
it gets inverted. It turns upside down. That'd be an easy way to stand on your head. 00:17:05
It really would. This is a convex lens. 00:17:09
You can see that the surface curves outwards, and as you look at it, 00:17:13
you look much smaller. And another place that uses lenses and mirrors is NASA. 00:17:17
NASA needs mirrors and lenses for their big telescopes, 00:17:21
space telescopes like the Hubble Telescope, 00:17:25
or the Mars Global Surveyor, or the GOES weather satellites. 00:17:29
That's cool. Thanks, Dr. Shin. 00:17:33
Bye. 00:17:37
I wonder if the illusionist, Franz Harari, uses mirrors to make things disappear. 00:17:41
Maybe he uses light mirrors, like he'd ever tell us his secrets. 00:17:45
I'm never telling him mine. Maybe we should go to Franz's website 00:17:49
to find out more about him. Oh, look, he's doing a live chat. 00:17:53
Just click here and we can talk to him. Hi, Franz. 00:17:57
Oh, hey there. Who are you? We are the Treehouse Detectives, 00:18:01
and we know how you make things disappear. 00:18:05
Detectives? You're going to love this. I'm sitting in the cockpit of NASA 747. 00:18:09
Now, check this out. This is actually the official shuttle carrier aircraft. 00:18:13
It's what NASA uses to move the space shuttle from one city to the other 00:18:17
when it's not in space. I mean, right now, 00:18:21
we're parked at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. 00:18:25
And I was here because I was checking out this airplane they have. 00:18:29
And I'm thinking I'd like to make it disappear. You can do that? 00:18:33
Well, I'm not going to give you all my secrets, but if you want, 00:18:37
come on out and check it out for yourself. Yeah, right. How are we going to get to NASA Dryden? 00:18:41
It's easier than you think. Check out your keyboard there. 00:18:45
You see that? There's one button you haven't used yet. Right over there. 00:18:49
This one right here. 00:18:53
Wow! 00:18:57
We really made it. I can't believe he really 00:19:01
got us to California. Where's Franz? 00:19:05
Hey, kids. Welcome to NASA. How was your trip? 00:19:09
Where is he? Look, he's up there. 00:19:13
Our trip was pretty wild, but I liked it. 00:19:17
Whoa. I really 00:19:21
like magic stuff. How did you get down here? 00:19:25
Well, you know, at NASA, anything's possible. 00:19:29
Now, how can I help you guys? We're 00:19:33
investigating a problem that deals with the properties of light. 00:19:37
I'm a big fan of yours, and I think you use light to help things disappear. 00:19:41
Well, to be honest, in my business, light is everything. 00:19:45
Now, I'm not going to give you all my secrets, but come on, show me something cool. 00:19:49
Alright. 00:19:53
I'm sort of all set up to do a little demonstration here. 00:19:57
Now, here's a little model of an SR-71 Blackbird. This is like my favorite plane. 00:20:01
It's so cool. This plane, the real plane, can actually go from New York 00:20:05
to Los Angeles in like an hour. It's amazing. Now, you see the model, 00:20:09
but the reason that you see this model is because light is hitting the model 00:20:13
and then bouncing back and hitting your eyes. And your eyes are telling 00:20:17
your brain that this little airplane is actually there. Imagine this. 00:20:21
Imagine that we put just a reflection of my hand in there. 00:20:25
Well, we've seen that a bunch of times, but now you add another hand 00:20:29
and now you go into kind of a symmetrical world, and watch this. 00:20:33
Your brain almost tells you the reflection 00:20:37
of the hand is the real hand. See that? Pretty cool, huh? 00:20:41
That's where it gets really magical. Now, I was telling you about my little 00:20:45
model here, the SR-71. Let's see if we can't do some real magic with it. 00:20:49
I need some magic words. You got any magic words? 00:20:53
Abracadabra. Abracadabra. That'll work perfect. 00:20:57
And the reflection becomes reality. 00:21:01
And there's one for you, 00:21:05
and one for you. Let's try this trick one more time, 00:21:09
and this time you figure out if you can see how light made it all work, alright? 00:21:13
Alright. Come with me. 00:21:17
I couldn't help but notice you guys both have planes, but I don't have one, but I have an idea. 00:21:21
How would you feel if I borrowed your little model for just a moment? 00:21:25
Cool with that? Alright, I'll tell you what. You guys stand over there. 00:21:29
Don't take your eyes off what's about to happen over here, 00:21:33
because that's where the real magic's about to begin, alright? 00:21:37
We will hold onto this shot until after that SR-71 00:21:41
has disappeared. Gentlemen, raise the tarp. 00:21:45
Alright, check it out. 00:21:49
Wow! 00:21:53
That's it! 00:21:57
How did you do that? 00:22:01
That was amazing. How did you do it? How'd I do it? It's all about light. 00:22:05
I need to make a phone call. Oh, sure. Go for it. 00:22:09
Hi, Dr. D. Hi, guys. What's all that? 00:22:13
Thought I might be able to help you with your light experiments. Where are Jacob and Bianca? 00:22:17
I don't know. They were supposed to meet us here. 00:22:21
Hello? Hi, Dr. D. It's Bianca. We're over at NASA Dryden. 00:22:25
We're running a little late. We'll be there soon. 00:22:29
Where are you? I'll be right there. 00:22:33
Well, you're definitely great at what you do, but we gotta get back home. 00:22:37
Um, well, I have an idea. Go ahead and assume the position. 00:22:41
What? Assume the position. Oh. Yeah, there you go. Ready? 00:22:45
We're sending you home. And when I say go, blink. 00:22:49
You ready? Go. 00:22:53
We made it! 00:22:57
Where's Jacob? I don't know. Franz must have sent him back to his house. 00:23:01
Wow, how did you get here so fast? Just magic. Or is this an illusion? 00:23:05
That was quite a trick. We're learning all about light to try and solve this red sunset problem. 00:23:09
Yeah, I went to the Boston Science Museum. 00:23:13
I learned how light travels in waves and in a straight line. 00:23:17
And we also learned a little bit about mirrors and lenses and about reflection and refraction. 00:23:21
And a little bit of magic, too. Have you learned the difference between transparent, opaque, and translucent yet? 00:23:25
Trans-what? Let me explain. 00:23:29
Light can pass through a transparent object and make an object on the other side clearly visible. 00:23:33
You mean like a window? Yep. 00:23:37
Take a look at this light bulb. By turning the crank, can you see the filament clearly? 00:23:41
Yes, look at that. What else is transparent? 00:23:45
A car's windshield? Exactly. Until it gets all fogged up, and then it's called translucent. 00:23:49
Oh, so translucent means that light can get through, but not just very much. 00:23:53
You're getting very good at this. When an object is translucent, the light is diffused, 00:23:57
and you can't see the object very clearly. That would make it hard to drive. 00:24:01
Now, what does opaque mean? Do you know what that is? 00:24:05
I think it means that no light can get through. When there are solid objects like rock or concrete, that's opaque. 00:24:09
That's correct, but it's much more interesting than that. 00:24:13
Step over there, please. 00:24:17
Look at this example. Here I have two sheets of light-polarizing material. Can you see me clearly? 00:24:21
Yes, it is a little dark, but it's clear, so it's transparent. 00:24:25
And watch what happens when I rotate one of the two sheets. 00:24:29
It's clear, just like magic. It became opaque and went black. 00:24:33
I think I understand translucent, transparent, and opaque now. 00:24:37
The sky is transparent most of the time. Clouds can make the sky opaque. 00:24:41
I wonder if clouds are causing the problem. I don't think it's clouds. 00:24:45
Let's go back to the treehouse and organize all this information. Bye, Dr. D. 00:24:49
Bye, Dr. D. See you. 00:24:53
This one is definitely transparent. And that one's translucent. 00:24:57
Only a little light can shine through. 00:25:01
And that one has to be opaque. There isn't any light getting through. 00:25:05
Dr. D. would give us an A. 00:25:09
On a clear night, the sky looks transparent, but why does it look translucent during the day? 00:25:13
Yes, I wonder why the sky is blue during the day, but red at sunrises and sunsets. 00:25:17
This is all so confusing. Let's go to the problem board and try to figure out what we need to learn next. 00:25:21
We know the sky is still a bright red. 00:25:25
And now we know that light can be refracted and reflected. 00:25:29
Maybe if we knew what causes the color of the sky to be blue during the day, 00:25:33
it would help us to find out why the sky is red at sunrise and sunset. 00:25:37
I think the night sky is transparent and the day sky is translucent. 00:25:41
That's true. What makes the sky different? 00:25:45
One variable between the night sky and the sky during the day is the sun. 00:25:49
I think we need to learn more about the sun. 00:25:53
Let's call NASA Ames in Mountain View, California. They have an expert in the sun. 00:25:57
Hi, kids. I'm Peter Poluski at NASA Ames Research Center. 00:26:01
I study light in the Earth's atmosphere. What can I do for you today? 00:26:05
We're trying to figure out a problem, and we need to know why the skies are blue during the day. 00:26:09
Good question. Let me first talk to you about the sun. 00:26:13
It's white light, which means it's really a mixture of all colors of the spectrum from blue to red. 00:26:17
If the sunlight is white, then why is the sky blue? 00:26:21
We learned about reflection at the Jefferson Lab. 00:26:25
Could the sky be blue because it's reflecting blue off the ocean? 00:26:29
No, that's a common misconception. The Earth has an atmosphere, 00:26:33
which is made up of molecules such as oxygen and nitrogen. 00:26:37
It's also made up of tiny little microscopic particles, 00:26:41
and these tiny little microscopic particles in the atmosphere are called aerosols. 00:26:45
I don't see anything in the air. 00:26:49
We learned at the Boston Museum of Science that light is a wave and that it is made up of photons. 00:26:53
Occasionally, the photons will actually bounce off of the molecules and particles 00:26:57
and go off into different directions. That's something that we call scattering. 00:27:01
Let me show you an experiment I have set up here. 00:27:05
This fancy instrument is something we call a sun simulator, 00:27:09
but really it's just a lamp which sort of mimics the output of the sun. 00:27:13
First of all, you can see the beaker here has very little light 00:27:17
scattering out of the sides of it. 00:27:21
Now watch what happens when I add some milk to the beaker. 00:27:25
What does the milk represent? 00:27:29
Some molecules and particles in the atmosphere. 00:27:33
Now we've got plenty of light scattered out the sides, and notice it's very bluish. 00:27:37
When we look at the sun beam that's been transmitted through the beaker, however, that's become red. 00:27:41
That's because the blue light's been removed from the beam and scattered out the sides. 00:27:45
The blue light is a mixture of all colors. 00:27:49
Now the blue photons will actually scatter off of the particles much more frequently than the red ones. 00:27:53
That means that we get blue light scattered out and the red light gets transmitted through. 00:27:57
So why do we see red skies at night and in the morning? 00:28:01
Well, when the sun's near the horizon, the sun beam is traveling through a very, very thick portion of the atmosphere. 00:28:05
That's also where most of the particles are concentrated 00:28:09
because gravity keeps the particles near the ground. 00:28:13
Any event that puts more particles near the horizon can make the sunset and sunrise even more red than it is usually. 00:28:17
Now, one of those events is a pollution event. 00:28:21
I'm not an expert in pollution, but I happen to know one. 00:28:25
His name is Mark, and he works at the Langley Research Center. 00:28:29
So why don't we give him a call? 00:28:33
This is so cool. Wow, looks like we found the right place. 00:28:37
Hello, Mr. Vaughn. Hey, guys. 00:28:41
When we think about air pollution, we think about the things that human beings put into the air. 00:28:45
We think about the emissions from factory smokestacks. 00:28:49
They're thinking about the exhaust from automobiles. 00:28:53
But when we actually get down to measuring the aerosol content in the air, 00:28:57
we find out that human beings account for only about 10% of it. 00:29:01
The other 90% comes from Mother Nature herself. 00:29:05
Mother Nature? But I always thought that nature was clean and natural. 00:29:09
It also spits blistering hot gases way, way, way up. 00:29:13
And those gases react with water vapor to form little tiny 00:29:17
sulfuric acid droplets that can hang around in the stratosphere for years. 00:29:21
But think about big dust storms coming across the desert. 00:29:25
How do you know how much dirt is in the air? 00:29:29
Matthew, you'd be a cloud with a squirt bottle. 00:29:33
PJ, you were going to be a lidar with a laser, and I'm going to stand here 00:29:37
and allow her to be a dust storm. 00:29:41
Wow, they look like sparkles. You bet they do. 00:29:45
We use a very similar technique when we measure real aerosols in the atmosphere. 00:29:49
Only there we use a machine called a lidar. 00:29:53
Come on, I've got one right over here I can show you. 00:29:57
Wow, that's a big machine. What does it do? 00:30:01
What we do is fire pulses of laser light out of the laser 00:30:05
mirror here. From there, they shoot straight up into the atmosphere. 00:30:09
They beam out, and just like we saw the sparkles off of aerosols in our 00:30:13
little experiment, we use our telescope to look at the sparkles 00:30:17
off of real aerosols in the atmosphere. Could the aerosols from 00:30:21
pollution cause the sky to turn red during sunrises and sunsets? 00:30:25
Sure, sure they can. Circumstances are right. 00:30:29
We learned from Dr. Poluski that aerosols scatter more blue photons and leave the red ones 00:30:33
less to see. Oh, absolutely. If you increase the number of small particles 00:30:37
up there, they will scatter away more blue light, and you will see more red. 00:30:41
Thank you, we learned a lot. Good. Thanks. 00:30:45
Good luck on your project. Bye. Bye. 00:30:49
Well, I think we need a new hypothesis. Especially since we just learned how pollution can turn the sky 00:30:53
red. I mean, our hypothesis wasn't wrong, but it didn't explain where the low frequency 00:30:57
waves came from. A stronger hypothesis would be if the sky is red, then there's 00:31:01
got to be pollution in it. Yes, but the hard part is going to be to figure out where the 00:31:05
pollution is coming from. I know we'll figure it out. 00:31:09
What's up? Is light being reflected or refracted? Can air 00:31:13
pollution be causing the problem? Are there any other variables that have changed 00:31:17
to make the sunsets and sunrises so red? If so, what could they 00:31:21
be? Stay with us next time for the next chapter of the case of the 00:31:25
mysterious red light. 00:31:29
You're getting very close 00:31:35
to solving the mystery. Stay sharp and look for answers to 00:31:39
these questions. What does the electromagnetic 00:31:43
spectrum contain? How are volcanoes 00:31:47
different from one another? What is the ring 00:31:51
of fire? 00:31:55
That was so neat. I love all the colors in a rainbow. How many colors 00:31:59
are there in a rainbow? I don't know. Let's ask Dr. D. How many colors 00:32:03
do you think are in a rainbow? It's a guy's name. 00:32:07
To know the colors in a rainbow, all you have to do is know the guy's name. 00:32:11
That would be seven colors. Let's use PJ's present from the Boston Science 00:32:15
Museum. Look at the colors of the rainbow. 00:32:19
Let's count them. I see red and orange. 00:32:23
And there's yellow and green. Blue is really clear, but the colors on the end are 00:32:27
blended. That's purple, but what's that color next to it? 00:32:31
Some people think that it's indigo, but it's really just deep blue. Scientists using advanced 00:32:35
instruments have discovered that indigo is not really a color of the spectrum. Wait a minute, 00:32:39
so now it's royalty blue? I'm afraid so, but I can still help you remember 00:32:43
the colors in their order. I'm confused. Purple, 00:32:47
it doesn't start with a V, so is it still purple? Well, it's actually for violet, 00:32:51
which is another name for purple. There's another way to make a spectrum. 00:32:55
This is called a diffraction grating. Grating? 00:32:59
Is that like grating cheese? Because that hurts my knuckles. 00:33:03
Oh, nothing like that. Here, put on these glasses with diffraction grating. 00:33:07
Look at that bright light source. Honey, what you see? Wow. 00:33:11
It's the same rainbow color as we saw before, 00:33:15
but the rainbows are everywhere. Let's try something a little different. This is called 00:33:19
a spectrum tube, and it's filled with helium gas. What do you see? 00:33:23
It's really different. All the colors aren't there, only some of them. 00:33:27
Well, the diffraction grating separates the colors just like the prism does, but the 00:33:31
gases in the tube don't produce the complete rainbow of colors. What property 00:33:35
of light allows the diffraction gratings in the prisms to separate the colors? 00:33:39
I don't know. I think it's wavelengths. Mr. Turner at NASA 00:33:43
told us that different colors, like blue and red, have different wavelengths. 00:33:47
That's right. They are two of the colors of the visible spectrum. You might want 00:33:51
to learn more about the visible spectrum. I know a NASA Langley researcher, Doreen Neal. 00:33:55
She's going to be over at the Virginia Children's Museum. That sounds like our next stop. 00:33:59
Look, she's blowing bubbles. That's so neat. 00:34:07
Are you Mrs. Neal? Yes, I am, and you must be the treehouse detectives. 00:34:11
Yes, we are. Wow, look at those bubbles. It looks like a rainbow. 00:34:15
You were just talking about the colors of a rainbow. How can I help you? 00:34:19
We need to know more about the visible spectrum. Tell me what you've learned so far. 00:34:23
Waves have different frequencies. And different frequencies mean 00:34:27
different colors. The order of the waves and the frequencies is called the 00:34:31
electromagnetic spectrum. The part that our eyes can see is only a very 00:34:35
small part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and that's the part we call 00:34:39
visible spectrum. That makes sense. Would the other parts of the spectrum do 00:34:43
anything? Oh, yes. Televisions and radios and 00:34:47
microwaves and cell phones all work on the electromagnetic 00:34:51
spectrum. So tell us more about the visible spectrum. 00:34:55
The visible spectrum consists of all the colors our eyes can see. 00:34:59
Like orange, red, and yellow. And green, blue, and violet. 00:35:03
That's right. Take a look at this color wheel. We can mix 00:35:07
those colors to make all the colors our eyes can see. If we mix all 00:35:11
the colors with white, we get white light. How can we see the colors in white light? 00:35:15
We use a spectrometer to pick out the different frequencies. 00:35:19
Mr. Turner showed us one of those. Let me show you something. 00:35:23
When you mix the three primary colors of pigment, 00:35:27
you get black, because pigment 00:35:31
absorbs all the light that hits it. That's what pigment is. But with light, 00:35:35
is it different? Yes, it is. The primary colors of light are red, 00:35:39
green, and blue. And when you mix those three, you get white 00:35:43
light. I hope you learned a lot about the electromagnetic spectrum today. 00:35:47
The museum has a room full of light and color that tracks your motions. 00:35:51
I think you might want to check it out. Let's go. Thanks, Ms. Neal. 00:35:55
Bye. 00:35:59
What are you doing? I'm doing an experiment with colored lights. 00:36:03
I wrapped each light with colored paper and foil. Okay. 00:36:07
There's red, green, and blue. Why do you use the foil? 00:36:11
The foil makes the light shine in one direction. What do you think would happen if I placed all the colors 00:36:15
of light together? I guess you'd have a bunch of mixed up colors. 00:36:19
Watch. Here. Hold that, and you hold that. Now we're going to shine this light on this board. 00:36:23
Watch what happens. It makes a white light. 00:36:27
That's right. White light does make all the colors of the rainbow. 00:36:31
I'm Ted Toon with this KSNN special report. 00:36:35
Mount Luminous, the active volcano on the western Pacific island of 00:36:39
Iguapucu, has erupted yet again just this morning. 00:36:43
We flew our reporter, I Am Listening, to the scene, and she brings us this live report. 00:36:47
I Am? Thanks, Ted. 00:36:51
Mount Luminous is really blowing its top. I Am! 00:36:55
Can you tell if there are rivers of gushing red-hot lava or giant 00:36:59
flaming boulders crashing down from out of the sky? 00:37:03
I can't see a darn thing. We're out of here. 00:37:07
Well, there you have it. 00:37:11
I'm Ted Toon saying that's all there is for today. Join us tomorrow 00:37:15
when we'll be sending I Am Listening out to find a really good volcano with 00:37:19
lava and flaming boulders and stuff. 00:37:23
I got it! Volcanoes erupt lava. What are you talking about? 00:37:27
KSNN is on the scene of an active volcano. Lava's red. 00:37:31
So maybe the red lava's reflecting into the sky. Oh yeah, we learned about reflection 00:37:35
from the Jefferson Lab. Maybe we have a new hypothesis. If a volcano 00:37:39
erupts red lava, then the sky may be red due to reflection. I think 00:37:43
we need to learn more about volcanoes. I have to go study for a test. See you later. 00:37:47
Alright, bye, BJ. Good luck, man. Alright, thanks. I have this book about volcanoes. 00:37:51
Let's look up Mount Luminous. 00:37:55
Here's Mount Luminous. It says 00:37:59
it's located in the Pacific Ocean, near Japan. That book says something about 00:38:03
it being in the Ring of Fire. I have that book. 00:38:07
The Ring of Fire? If there's a ring of fire in the ocean, that could be why the sky is red. 00:38:11
Let's look at the globe. Here we are 00:38:15
and here's the Pacific Ocean. How far is it from us? Well, my 00:38:19
spatial studies teacher said that all globes have a scale. Here it is. 00:38:23
It says one centimeter is equal to 418 kilometers. 00:38:27
So we need to measure how far Virginia is from Mount Luminous. Okay. 00:38:31
Let's see. That would be 00:38:35
27 centimeters. I'll do the math. 00:38:39
One centimeter equals 418 00:38:43
kilometers. 00:38:47
Multiply that by 27 centimeters. 00:38:51
That's about 00:39:05
11,286 kilometers. 00:39:09
And there's about 1.6 kilometers in a mile, so that's about 7,000 miles. 00:39:13
But I don't think a reflection of red lava could be seen 7,000 miles away. 00:39:17
As scientists, we need to do a little more research and experimentation 00:39:21
before we jump to any conclusions. Dr. Politsky said that volcanoes can put out 00:39:25
a lot of pollution in the air. Maybe pollution is causing the sunrises and sunsets to be 00:39:29
so red. I don't think so. 7,000 miles is a long way to 00:39:33
travel, even for pollution. But you never know. Different types of volcanoes 00:39:37
could cause different types of pollution. So what do we do next? 00:39:41
I think we should see if anyone in the NASA Wildfiles Kids Club has done any research on volcanoes. 00:39:45
Hi, Kaylee. Hi, Kaylee. Hi, Kaylee. 00:39:49
I knew I could help you guys out. I'll send the question to all our club members. 00:39:53
Good, because I have to run. Bye. I wonder what makes volcanoes erupt. 00:39:57
Is it like an earthquake? I don't know, but I don't want to be around for either. 00:40:01
Hey, look, I'm getting a response from Mr. Thomas' class 00:40:05
at Burbank Elementary in Hampton, Virginia. They've been studying volcanoes 00:40:09
and have even made some models. Let's dial them up to see if we can do a teleconference 00:40:13
to find out how much they know about volcanoes. 00:40:17
Hi, my name is Robert Bryan, 00:40:21
a fifth grade student in Mr. Thomas' class. What is your project? 00:40:25
Well, we have been studying volcanoes, and we have found out that there are three basic types of volcanoes. 00:40:29
What are they? Let me show you some of the models that we've made then. 00:40:33
This one is a model of a composite volcano. 00:40:37
Its eruptions vary between quiet and violent ones. 00:40:41
When the volcano has a violent one, it throws out ash and dust, creating a temperate layer. 00:40:45
Wow, that's cool. What are the quiet eruptions like? 00:40:49
That is when the volcano erupts lava, like this. 00:40:53
What are the other two types? 00:40:57
Another volcano is a cinder cone volcano. 00:41:01
This volcano only erupts ash and dust, like this. 00:41:05
And there is a shield volcano. 00:41:09
Shield? You mean like what knights used to defend themselves? 00:41:13
Well, sort of. Take a look at our model. 00:41:17
As you can see, the lava flows differently. 00:41:21
That's interesting. We learned a lot. Thanks for your help. 00:41:25
Bye from the NASA Wildfiles Kids Club in Manhattan, Virginia. 00:41:29
See you later. 00:41:33
We should build a volcano. That looks like fun. 00:41:37
Let's do a little research. Let's see what Dr. Textbook has to say about volcanoes. 00:41:41
And now, the History of Volcanoes with Dr. Textbook. 00:41:45
Hello. Did you know that the word 00:41:49
volcano comes from the Roman god of fire Vulcan, 00:41:53
and that the early Hawaiians told legends of their goddess 00:41:57
of fire, Pele. In the year 79 AD, 00:42:01
the Romans were the first ones to write an eyewitness account of an actual 00:42:05
volcanic eruption. Falling ash spewed out of Mount Vesuvius, 00:42:09
and the ash and the mud flows combined to bury the nearby city of 00:42:13
Pompeii, thus killing about 2,000 people. 2,000 years later, 00:42:17
archaeologists actually unearthed this ancient city of Pompeii. 00:42:21
In April 1902, Mount Pele, not related to the Hawaiian 00:42:25
goddess of fire, in the Caribbean Sea exploded, killing 28,000 00:42:29
residents in just seconds in the little town of St. Pierre. 00:42:33
Closer to home, in 1980, the sleeping giant 00:42:37
Mount St. Helens erupted to become the most destructive volcano 00:42:41
in U.S. history. The eruption had the force of 00:42:45
10 million tons of dynamite, and shook the Cascade Mountain Range in Oregon 00:42:49
and the state of Washington. So, in honor of all 00:42:53
the gods of fire, I will attempt to find out what really makes a volcano 00:42:57
come alive! 00:43:01
Not a very good idea. 00:43:09
See, Dr. Textbook? He's so funny. 00:43:13
Let's research Mount Luminous. I saw an article about Mount Luminous 00:43:17
in the paper today. Maybe it'll have some information for us. It said that Mount Luminous 00:43:21
was a cinder cone, and that its first eruption was a month ago. 00:43:25
Then Mount Luminous can't be the problem, because why would all of a sudden the skies be a deep red 00:43:29
if it erupted a month ago? I don't know, but I think we need to know more about 00:43:33
volcanoes. Solving problems is hard work. My mom has 00:43:37
to go to California on business to the NASA Dragon Research Center and the Jet Propulsion 00:43:41
Laboratory. Maybe we should go with her. Okay, let's see if we can go. 00:43:45
Hi, you must be the Treehouse Detectives. And you are 00:43:49
Dr. Pieri? I'm afraid so. What's that plane behind you? 00:43:53
I've never seen anything like that before. Well, it's an ER-2. It's a 00:43:57
NASA research aircraft used at high altitude. What kind of research does NASA 00:44:01
do with this plane? Well, this plane has high-powered cameras, and they can see 00:44:05
a wide variety of phenomena, including hurricanes, volcanoes, 00:44:09
earthquakes, and it can also monitor ozone. Do you mean you actually 00:44:13
fly into a volcano when it's erupting? Oh no, it would do a lot 00:44:17
of damage to an airplane like this. But how can this cause damage? 00:44:21
Well, this isn't so much the problem. This lava rock gets ground up into 00:44:25
fine particulate material like this. This is volcanic ash. This is the problem. 00:44:29
That's really light. Where are most of the volcanoes located? 00:44:33
There are active volcanoes in every ocean basin on almost every continent in the world. 00:44:37
Most volcanoes are underwater and form along ridges as ocean basins spread 00:44:41
away from them. Sometimes volcanoes form in the middle of continents and ocean 00:44:45
basins as hot spots heat up plates. Plates? 00:44:49
The Earth's crust is actually broken into pieces that we call plates. In fact, another 00:44:53
place where volcanoes form is where one plate goes underneath another plate. And that happens 00:44:57
in the Pacific Ocean. Are you talking about the Ring of Fire? The Ring of Fire 00:45:01
is a ring of volcanoes that surround the Pacific Ocean where the continents meet the 00:45:05
ocean basin. We learned that Mount Luminous is a cinder cone. Could you tell us 00:45:09
more about cinder cones? Well, sure. For instance, when cinder cones form 00:45:13
the magma is so sticky that the gas stays trapped inside it until the pressure 00:45:17
builds so much that it just literally explodes. And when it explodes 00:45:21
it forms lots of pyroclastic material which is really sharp. 00:45:25
Maybe we're getting a little closer. Thanks, Dr. Peary. 00:45:29
We learned so much about volcanoes. Well, I hope this information gives you 00:45:33
your answer. Thank you so much. Good luck. Bye. Bye-bye. 00:45:37
We know Mount Luminous is a cinder cone 00:45:41
and that means it doesn't even have lava. That means our hypothesis is wrong. 00:45:45
But I don't think we have enough information yet to change our hypothesis. 00:45:49
Let's go do some more research and experimentation. Let's get back to the treehouse. 00:45:53
What's up? Could the volcano be causing the red sky? 00:45:57
Could it be that all colors other than red are being absorbed by something? 00:46:01
You missed the exciting conclusion of The Case of the Mysterious Red Light. 00:46:05
You're very close now. Answer these questions 00:46:17
and you will solve the treehouse detective's latest mystery. 00:46:21
What do researchers do at the NASA cave? 00:46:25
What are two things that affect how far wind 00:46:29
and water carry particles? How does the jet stream 00:46:33
help the treehouse detectives solve their problem? 00:46:37
What are you doing? Magic? 00:46:41
No, this is actually a science experiment. I punched a hole in this cup and poured water in. 00:46:45
What happens? Turn the lights down and watch this. 00:46:49
Wow, that looks like a stream of light. 00:46:53
The light is bending, just like the experiment Dr. Shin told us at the Jefferson Lab. 00:46:57
It's neat, but we still need to figure out why the sunrises and sunsets are so red. 00:47:01
I think pollution could be the cause. 00:47:05
But what's making the pollution? I don't think it's the volcanoes, because they're too far away. 00:47:09
Maybe the wind's blowing it our way. Yeah, right. I don't think the wind can blow things this far. 00:47:13
Not unless it had a lot of hot air, unlike someone we know. 00:47:17
I know you're not talking about me. I'll go over to the problem board and try to figure out what we need to do next. 00:47:21
We know the sky is still red. 00:47:25
We know that there are waves and that it's also a ray, and the light we see is only a small part of the spectrum. 00:47:29
And we also know that light reflects and refracts. 00:47:33
Pollution can cause red skies. 00:47:37
Volcanoes cause some air pollution when they erupt dust and ash. 00:47:41
We need to know how far ash can travel through the air and if it can travel long distances. 00:47:45
But how do we find out? We need someone who knows a lot about wind. 00:47:49
Wind has to do with weather. I'm sure NASA has a weather expert. 00:47:53
Wow, look. NASA has a really cool place called the cave. 00:47:57
It's a computer system that we can use to look at weather in 3D. 00:48:01
I'll go over there. 00:48:05
This must be the cave. Hi, I'm Dr. Jennifer Olsen. 00:48:09
I'm one of the treehouse detectives. We're trying to learn more about wind. 00:48:13
We want to know if volcanic ash can blow all the way from the Pacific Ocean to Virginia. 00:48:17
I'm looking at some data in the cave right now. Would you like to step in with me and take a look? 00:48:21
I've heard of the cave. Sure, let's go. 00:48:25
First, you'll need to take off your shoes and put on the glasses. 00:48:29
Wow, this is neat. 00:48:33
We're looking at wind vectors over the Pacific Ocean and the U.S. 00:48:37
What's a wind vector? Do you see the yellow arrows? 00:48:41
Yeah, lots of them. Those are wind vectors. They show which direction the wind is blowing. 00:48:45
Their size tells you how fast the wind is blowing. 00:48:49
What about the wind vectors way up there? 00:48:53
These vectors are up at 12 miles over the Earth's surface. 00:48:57
That's well above the weather. 00:49:01
It looks like all those arrows are pointing in the same direction. Is that normal for high altitudes? 00:49:05
Yes, it is. Notice that these arrows are mostly pointing from the west toward the east. 00:49:09
That's a zonal direction in the global wind pattern. 00:49:13
How fast are they blowing? 00:49:17
They're blowing between 40 and 50 miles per hour. 00:49:21
At these altitudes, there's also something that we call a jet stream. 00:49:25
Oh, you mean the white stuff that comes out the back of a jet we see. 00:49:29
Good guess, but the jet stream is a river of very fast-flowing air 00:49:33
where speeds can reach several hundred miles per hour. 00:49:37
That's as fast as a major tornado. Let's step outside and go to my computer lab. 00:49:41
Okay. So what's the second thing that affects how far wind can transport particles? 00:49:45
Particles have a tremendous amount of data available to them to study things like lifetimes of gases and particles, 00:49:49
and much of that data is stored here at the Atmospheric Science Data Center. 00:49:53
I didn't know particles had a life. 00:49:57
Yes. Lifetime refers to how long the particle stays in the atmosphere. 00:50:01
For a particle near the surface, ash and dust will be rained out of the atmosphere within a matter of days. 00:50:05
So volcanic ash would not have a very long lifetime. 00:50:09
Not necessarily. If the ash were injected up in the atmosphere, near the stratosphere, 00:50:13
its lifetime could be very long, in the order of weeks or months. 00:50:17
Would zonal winds then be able to carry the ash to Virginia? 00:50:21
Yes, it could. If a volcano injected particles into the stratosphere, 00:50:25
it could be transported for very long distances by the very fast wind speeds of the jet stream. 00:50:29
Yeah, but the Pacific Ocean is so far away. That would take forever. 00:50:33
Let's do a quick calculation. It's about 7,000 miles from here to Mount Luminous. 00:50:37
If we take a typical atmospheric wind speed of about 40 miles per hour, 00:50:41
what do you get? 00:50:45
175 hours. 00:50:49
175 hours to transport the dust to Virginia. That's about a week. 00:50:53
In fact, the dust plume could be transported completely around the globe in about a month. 00:50:57
The sky is so deep red. Is there anything about this eruption that is different? 00:51:01
Yes, there is. I read that this volcano also injected a lot of 00:51:05
sulfur dioxide and water vapor into the stratosphere. 00:51:09
The particles react together to form tiny sulfuric acid particles. 00:51:13
We learned from Dr. Poluski that particles scatter the blue light. 00:51:17
That's right. And these particles are small enough that they act with the molecules in the atmosphere 00:51:21
to scatter even more of the blue light from the sun's rays. 00:51:25
Thanks, Dr. Olson. Sure. I think we now have a new hypothesis. 00:51:29
Here it is. If the zonal winds brought the volcanic ash to this area, 00:51:33
we would have deep red sunsets and sunrises. Smart thinking, huh? 00:51:37
Matt said the cave was really cool. I wish you could have one here in the treehouse. 00:51:43
I think that would be a little too high tech, even for our treehouse. 00:51:47
You know what, guys? I've been thinking. Our hypothesis is incorrect. 00:51:51
Why? Well, you remember when Dr. Olson 00:51:55
told us that the zonal winds would bring the ash and dust to our area in about seven days? 00:51:59
Yeah. Well, the really red sunsets and sunrises came 00:52:03
only three days after Mount Luminous erupted. 00:52:07
That's why it's called a volcano, because it happened too soon. 00:52:11
But guys, you're forgetting. Dr. Olson also told us about jet streams and how they travel really fast. 00:52:15
Couldn't the ash and dust have gotten here by the jet stream? 00:52:19
I think we need to find out more about jet streams. 00:52:23
Here comes Bianca. Are you guys talking about jet streams? 00:52:27
Yes. The weatherman from Wavy TV Tank came to our school last week. 00:52:31
He said if we had any questions, to contact him. I'll email him and see if we can meet him. 00:52:35
Yes, Mr. Eco. We need to learn more about a jet stream. 00:52:39
Sure. I can show you a jet stream. You have one here? 00:52:43
Only on a screen. What do you guys know about jet streams? 00:52:47
We know that a jet stream is like a river of wind, way up high in the atmosphere. 00:52:51
And that they can travel up to a few hundred miles per hour. That's great. 00:52:55
Is the jet stream always in the same place? No. Let me show you. 00:52:59
Actually, guys, there are multiple jet streams. Let's take a look at a couple of them. 00:53:03
We have the Southern Jet, and that is outlined in the blue. 00:53:07
That's responsible for a lot of the cold air that comes down to the East Coast. 00:53:11
And then we have what we call the Subtropical Jet. That is outlined in the red right here. 00:53:15
And that's responsible for bringing in a lot of warm, moist air for the East Coast. 00:53:19
We need to know if the jet stream was passing over our area the week that Mount Lemona surrupted. 00:53:23
Sure. Let's go look at the data. 00:53:27
Actually, look. Over the past five to seven days, 00:53:31
the jet stream goes further and further south. And what that does is it brings in all types of systems. 00:53:35
And it's basically just below us, which lets everything drain down into our region. 00:53:39
So you can see as the jet stream goes further south, 00:53:43
all of the clouds and all the debris comes right down on top of us. 00:53:47
That has to be it, then. If the jet stream traveled at 100 miles per hour, 00:53:51
and Mount Luminous is 7,000 miles away, then it would take 70 hours for the ash to reach our area. 00:53:55
With 24 hours in a day, three days would be 72 hours. 00:53:59
What does that mean so the jet stream could cause the sunrises and sunsets to be red? 00:54:03
I think you guys have solved the mystery. 00:54:07
Thanks, Mr. Ika. We really appreciate your help. 00:54:09
Any time for the treehouse detectives. 00:54:11
I'm so glad that we finally solved our mystery. 00:54:17
But I still think there's one last thing we need to do. 00:54:19
Let's email our kids club members and ask them if they've been seeing redder sunrises and sunsets. 00:54:21
That's a good idea. That way we'll know it's not just happening in our area. 00:54:25
Great. Also ask them when they first notice the change. 00:54:29
Okay. 00:54:31
We're getting a lot of emails from all over the U.S. 00:54:38
A lot of our kids club members are saying that they are seeing redder sunrises and sunsets. 00:54:41
Let's organize the emails by states and see when everyone first saw the unusual skies. 00:54:45
Wow, there's a pattern with the states of the West Coast. 00:54:49
This email says they saw redder skies only two days after Mount Luminous erupted. 00:54:52
The center of the U.S. saw the unusual skies about three days after the eruption. 00:54:56
Except for the school in Dallas. 00:55:00
Their email says they saw the redder skies just two days after the eruption. 00:55:02
That's strange. 00:55:05
Well, remember, the jet stream did travel down into their area before it came up to us in Virginia. 00:55:06
You're right. I think if these emails remove all doubt that it was the eruption of Mount Luminous 00:55:10
that caused the unusual red sunrises and sunsets. 00:55:15
Hi, Dr. D. 00:55:18
Hi. Did you find a solution to your red sky problem yet? 00:55:20
We're pretty sure that we have. 00:55:23
And we did it together with the help of the scientific method. 00:55:24
And we learned a lot about light along the way. 00:55:27
We learned the way light travels. 00:55:29
We learned a lot about frequency and wavelengths. 00:55:31
Our first hypothesis was that there was a lot of low frequency waves in the sky. 00:55:33
There was really nothing wrong with our statement. 00:55:37
It just didn't explain why the sky was red. 00:55:39
At first we thought that the explanation might be that light was bouncing around in the sky. 00:55:41
But that was just a wild guess. 00:55:45
You then told us about transparent, translucent, and opaque. 00:55:47
We thought that clouds might be the solution. 00:55:50
And then we thought about pollution. 00:55:52
But what could be causing the pollution? 00:55:54
Then we really got sidetracked. 00:55:56
We heard a report about a volcano called Mount Luminous that was erupting. 00:55:58
We decided that the red could somehow be connected to the red lava. 00:56:01
But we weren't listening to the report very carefully because it clearly stated that there was dust everywhere. 00:56:04
And then we missed the big clue. 00:56:09
I mean, we thought that since the volcano was so far away that it had nothing to do with our problem. 00:56:11
Even though our idea about volcanoes was way off, we decided to study them. 00:56:15
Then we were taught about volcanic ash and how it could stay in the air for months at a time and travel thousands of miles. 00:56:20
And we began to get back in the right direction. 00:56:25
So we didn't give up. 00:56:27
We went back to our hypothesis of pollution and tried to see if it was the volcano that was giving off pollution or aerosols. 00:56:29
We investigated wind and wind patterns and found that aerosols can be transported long distances. 00:56:35
We learned that the higher up in the atmosphere aerosols are, the longer they can stay up there. 00:56:40
Most importantly, we learned from Dr. Olson that it was possible for the aerosols to be scattered from the volcano all the way to Virginia, about 7,000 miles away. 00:56:45
And don't forget, the jet stream helped to draw the aerosols to us even quicker. 00:56:53
And the fact that Mount Luminous gave off a sulfur dioxide gas also helped explain why the sunrises and sunsets were such a deep red. 00:56:58
That's great. You kept on track, researched carefully, kept an open mind, revised your hypothesis, and finally came up with a possible explanation. 00:57:05
It was fun and a lot of hard work. There just wasn't some magical solution, that's for sure. 00:57:14
It was a lot of hard work, but I believe you finally have come up with the most likely solution to the Red Sky Problem. Congratulations! 00:57:19
Thank you. And now, for my final magic act, I'm going to make us all disappear. 00:57:25
Are you still at that? Give it up. 00:57:31
Abracadabra! Send them back to their homes! 00:57:34
Hey, I think I did it! This is great! 00:57:40
Jacob, we're still here! 00:57:43
You made us disappear, but we're still stuck in the treehouse. 00:57:46
Try it again, please! 00:57:50
Psst, come here. 00:57:53
Is this magic or just an illusion? See you next time. 00:57:55
Yes, look at that. 00:58:04
I didn't mess it up earlier. I don't know why I'm not getting it now. 00:58:08
Six. Oh, yeah! 00:58:12
Alright, bye PJ. Good luck, man. 00:58:14
Alright, thanks. 00:58:16
Don't laugh at me. 00:58:21
Couldn't you hold it? 00:58:22
I was holding it the whole time I was talking. 00:58:23
Alright, alright. 00:58:26
Let's see what Dr. Technique's got. 00:58:30
Dr. D. 00:58:32
Dr. Dial. 00:58:33
You took this picture for my dad, and he's like, what? 00:58:37
Okay, Carolyn, get over here and get your picture taken. 00:58:40
So you want me to be like, holding it on the plane? 00:58:45
Alright, alright. 00:58:47
The NASA Y-Files is made possible through the generous support of Bush Gardens, SeaWorld, 00:58:48
and NASA Langley Research Center's Aerospace Vehicle Systems Technology Office. 00:58:53
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Idioma/s:
en
Niveles educativos:
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Autor/es:
NASA LaRC Office of Education
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
214
Fecha:
28 de mayo de 2007 - 15:32
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
NASAs center for distance learning
Duración:
59′
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
Resolución:
480x360 píxeles
Tamaño:
353.11 MBytes

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