New ‘ocean’ being born in Africa

LONDON (UPI) — A new ocean is being born in Africa that will eventually split the continent in two, British researchers say.

Scientists at Britain’s Royal Society say a 40-mile crack in the Earth opened in Ethiopia in 2005 and has been growing ever since, the BBC reported Friday.

The crack will eventually became the sea bed of a new ocean that will divide Africa in two, though the process will require about 10 million years, scientists say.

Used to understanding planetary changes on timescales involving millions of years, scientists say the crack in the remote Afar region of Ethiopia is dramatic in the speed at which it is growing.

The 40-mile crack opened to a width of 22 feet in just 10 days, they say.

Ultimately, they say, the horn of Africa will split from the continent, and the crack, in a region below sea level, will fill with salt water.

“It will pull apart, sink down deeper and deeper and eventually … parts of southern Ethiopia, Somalia will drift off, create a new island, and we’ll have a smaller Africa and a very big island that floats out into the Indian Ocean,” said Dr. James Hammond, a seismologist from the University of Bristol.

Copyright 2010 by United Press International

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

Why Icicles Are Long And Thin

Mathematical Physics Explains

How Icicles Grow

When droplets of melted snow drip down an icicle, they release small amounts of heat as they freeze. Heated air travels upwards and helps slow down the growth of the icicle’s top, while the tip is growing rapidly. Knowledge of the mathematical equations that govern icicle growth — the same that apply to stalactites — could help in the prevention of icicle formation on power lines.

Icicles can be dangerous and deadly, yet they can create some of the most amazing winter scenes. And for scientists, those winter scenes are playgrounds for discovery.

It’s on those playgrounds that experts in physics and mathematics are building their theories on what it takes to create an icicle.

We all know icicles form when melting snow begins dripping down a surface. But what scientists didn’t know is how their shape is formed. What makes each icicle different?

University of Arizona Physicist Martin Short turned to mathematics to find out.

“Icicles have a certain mathematical shape, and this mathematical shape is universal among icicles,” Short tells DBIS.

So what is the math behind an icicle?

“Here I’ve drawn the profile of an icicle. Here is the height, and here’s the radius … Here’s the profile here, and I’ve written the formula here. The height is proportional to the radius to the four-thirds,” he says.

What does the formula have to do with an icicle’s shape? “It kind of looks like a carrot,” says Short. “It starts out flat and then sort of up as you go.”

As water drips onto an icicle and freezes, it releases heat. The warm air rises up the sides of the icicle. Short says that warm air layer acts like a blanket that’s an insulator, and so the blanket is very thin near the tip and thick at the top. That allows the top to grow very slowly and the tip to grow rapidly — creating a long, thin icicle.

It’s the same equation scientists use to study stalactites in caves, but instead of water, stalactites are formed by the buildup of calcium left after the water evaporates.

“If we know the mechanisms by which stalactites form, well, we could better preserve our natural caves that we have here, and try to stop them from eroding,” Short says.

And now that scientists know how icicles are made, it could lead to breakthroughs to prevent them from forming on power lines and trees.