Practical Exercises in Elementary Meteorology — John Shaqi
Practical Exercises in Elementary MeteorologyWard, Robert DeCourcy
Science
Practical Exercises in Elementary Meteorology
Ward, Robert DeCourcy
Meteorology
In all accurate work certain corrections have to be applied to barometer
readings to make them strictly comparable. These are: (1) _correction for
altitude_; (2) _correction for temperature_; and (3) _correction for
latitude_. The first is necessary because of the fact that the weight of
the air decreases upwards, and a barometer reading on a hill or a
mountain is not comparable with one at sea level unless the former has
been corrected by the addition of the weight of the column of air between
the hill or mountain and sea level. The correction for temperature is
rendered necessary by the fact that with increasing temperature the
mercury in the barometer tube expands more than the metallic scale,
because mercury is more sensitive to heat, and unless some allowance is
made for this fact, barometer readings made at high temperatures will show
somewhat too high a pressure. The readings of the attached thermometer
give the temperature of the mercury and are used in making the corrections
for temperature. As gravity varies from a maximum value at the poles to a
minimum value at the equator, barometer readings made at different
latitudes are _corrected for latitude_, which means that they are reduced
to latitude 45°, midway between 0° and 90°. The correction is +0.08″ at
the poles and -0.08″ at the equator. Tables for use in correcting
barometer readings for altitude and for temperature are given in Chapter
XXVI.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.]
=Thermograph and Barograph.=——Two instruments of much interest are the
self-recording thermometer, or _thermograph_, and the self-recording
barometer, or _barograph_, manufactured by Richard Brothers of Paris. In
the thermograph (Fig. 11) there is a brass cylinder around which a sheet
of paper is wound, this paper being divided into two-hour intervals of
time and into spaces representing differences of 5° or 10° of temperature.
The cylinder revolves once in a week, being driven by clock-work contained
within it. The thermometer consists of a flat, bent, hollow brass tube
containing alcohol, one end of the tube being fastened to the metallic
frame seen at the right of the figure, and the other end being free to
move. With rising temperature, the liquid in the tube expanding more than
the metallic casing, by reason of its greater sensitiveness to heat, tends
to straighten the tube, while with falling temperature the elasticity of
the tube turns it into a sharper curve. These movements of the free end of
the tube are carried through a train of levers and thus magnified. At the
end of the last lever is a metallic pen filled with ink, which rests
lightly against the paper on the revolving drum. A rise or fall in
temperature is thus recorded by a rise or fall of the pen on the record
sheet, and a continuous curve of temperature is secured. The pen of the
thermograph should be frequently adjusted to make the reading of the
instrument accord with that of a standard mercurial thermometer, and care
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