Re: Scientific Errors

Phineas T Puddleduck wrote:
Bernouilli's principle also tells us why windows tend to explode,
rather than implode in hurricanes: the very high speed of the air just
outside the window causes the pressure just outside to be much less
than the pressure inside, where the air is still. The difference in
force pushes the windows outward, and hence explode. If you know that a
hurricane is coming it is therefore better to open as many windows as
possible, to equalize the pressure inside and out.

That is very bad advice.

From http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/C6.html:
-> Subject: C6) During a hurricane are you supposed to have the
-> windows and doors on the storm side closed and the windows and
-> doors on the lee side open?
->
-> Contributed by Chris Landsea
->
-> No! All of the doors and windows should be closed (and
-> shuttered) throughout the duration of the hurricane. The
-> pressure differences between inside your house and outside
-> in the storm do not build up enough to cause any damaging
-> explosions. (No house is built airtight.) The winds in a
-> hurricane are highly turbulent and an open window or door
-> - even if in the lee side of the house - can be an open
-> target to flying debris. All exterior windows should be
-> boarded up with either wooden or metal shutters.

From http://www.snopes.com/science/hurricane.asp:
-> The notion of keeping some windows slightly cracked open
-> during hurricanes crossed over from what was at one time
-> touted as an effective defense against tornadoes but which
-> has since been discredited. In the wake of devastating
-> twisters, it would sometimes appear that a few houses had
-> exploded; from this evidence, scientists theorized air
-> pressure outside had to have been far lower than it was
-> inside, with this disparity causing the blowout. It was
-> therefore suggested people leave their windows open just
-> a bit to equalize pressure.
->
-> However, further research showed those blasted apart
-> houses were the result of wind blowing into open or broken
-> windows, so the advice, rather than preventing this
-> particular form of destruction, would actually work to
-> cause it. Those gusts that entered homes pushed up on the
-> roofs at the same time wind was blowing over them, which
-> made the roofs act like airplane wings and generate
-> lifting force. Once roofs lift off, the walls of homes can
-> fall outward, making it look like the buildings exploded.

.

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