University of the West Indies/

Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Dynamic Meteorology I
Tutorial 2
1.

Neglectingthelatitudinalvariationintheradiusoftheearth,calculate
theanglebetweenthegravitationalforceandgravityvectorsatthe
surfaceoftheearthasafunctionoflatitude.Whatisthemaximum
valueofthisangle?

2.

Calculatethealtitudeatwhichanartificialsatelliteorbitinginthe
equatorialplanecanbeasynchronoussatellite(i.e.,canremainabove
thesamespotonthesurfaceoftheearth).

3.

Anartificialsatelliteisplacedintoanaturalsynchronousorbitabove
theequatorandisattachedtotheearthbelowbyawire.Asecond
satelliteisattachedtothefirstbyawireofthesamelengthandis
placedinorbitdirectlyabovethefirstatthesameangularvelocity.
Assumingthatthewireshavezeromass,calculatethetensioninthe
wiresperunitmassofsatellite.Couldthistensionbeusedtolift
objectsintoorbitwithnoadditionalexpenditureofenergy?

4.

Atrainisrunningsmoothlyalongacurvedtrackattherateof50m
s1.Apassengerstandingonasetofscalesobservesthathisweight
is10%greaterthanwhenthetrainisatrest.Thetrackisbankedso
thattheforceactingonthepassengerisnormaltothefloorofthe
train.Whatistheradiusofcurvatureofthetrack?

5.

Ifabaseballplayerthrowsaballahorizontaldistanceof100mat30
latitudein4s,byhowmuchisitdeflectedlaterallyasaresultofthe
rotationoftheearth?

6.

Twoballs4cmindiameterareplaced100mapartonafrictionless
horizontalplaneat43N.Iftheballsareimpulsivelypropelled
directlyateachotherwithequalspeeds,atwhatspeedmustthey
travelsothattheyjustmisseachother?

7.

Alocomotiveof2105kgmasstravels50ms1alongastraight

horizontaltrackat43N.Whatlateralforceisexertedontherails?
Comparethemagnitudesoftheupwardreactionforceexertedbythe
railsforcaseswherethelocomotiveistravelingeastwardand
westward,respectively.
8.

Findthehorizontaldisplacementofabodydroppedfromafixed
platformataheighthattheequatorneglectingtheeffectsofair
resistance.Whatisthenumericalvalueofthedisplacementforh=5
km?

9.

Abulletisfireddirectlyupwardwithinitialspeedw0,atlatitude.
Neglectingairresistance,bywhatdistancewillitbedisplaced
horizontallywhenitreturnstotheground?(Neglect 2 cos
comparedtogintheverticalmomentumequation.)

10.

AblockofmassM=1kgissuspendedfromtheendofaweightless
string.Theotherendofthestringispassedthroughasmallholeina
horizontalplatformandaballofmassm=10kgisattached.Atwhat
angularvelocitymusttheballrotateonthehorizontalplatformto
balancetheweightoftheblockifthehorizontaldistanceoftheball
fromtheholeis1m?Whiletheballisrotating,theblockispulled
down10cm.Whatisthenewangularvelocityoftheball?How
muchworkisdoneinpullingdowntheblock?

11.

Aparticleisfreetoslideonahorizontalfrictionlessplanelocatedatalatitude
ontheearth.Findtheequationgoverningthepathoftheparticleif
itisgivenanimpulsivenorthwardvelocityv=V0att=0.Givethe
solutionforthepositionoftheparticleasafunctionoftime.(Assume
thatthelatitudinalexcursionissufficientlysmallthatfisconstant).

12.

Calculatethe1000to500hPathicknessforisothermalconditions
withtemperaturesof273and250K,respectively.

13.

Isolinesof1000to500hPathicknessaredrawnonaweathermap
usingacontourintervalof60m.Whatisthecorrespondinglayer
meantemperatureinterval?

14.

Showthatahomogeneousatmosphere(densityindependentof
height)hasafiniteheightthatdependsonlyonthetemperatureatthe
lowerboundary.Computetheheightofahomogeneousatmosphere
withsurfacetemperatureT0=273Kandsurfacepressure1000hPa.
(Usetheidealgaslawandhydrostaticbalance.)

15.

Fortheconditionsofquestion(14),computethevariationofthe
temperaturewithrespecttoheight.

16.

Showthatinanatmospherewithuniformlapserate(whered
T/dz)thegeopotentialheightatpressurelevelp1isgivenby
R

g
po
To
whereT0andp0arethesealeveltemperature
Z
1

p1

andpressure,respectively.
17.

Calculatethe1000to500hPathicknessforaconstantlapserate

18.

Deriveanexpressionforthevariationofdensitywithrespectto
heightinaconstantlapserateatmosphere.

19.

Deriveanexpressionforthealtitudevariationofthepressurechange
pthatoccurswhenanatmospherewithaconstantlapserateis
subjectedtoaheightindependenttemperaturechangeTwhilethe
surfacepressureremainsconstant.Atwhatheightisthemagnitudeof

atmospherewith=6.5Kkm1andT0=273K.Compareyour
resultswiththeresultsinquestion(12).

thepressurechangeamaximumifthelapserateis6.5Kkm 1,T0=
300,andT=2K?
20.

If a is the radius of the earth and z is the distance above sea level, prove
that

g 0*
g
1 z
*

GM r

2
a r

where g 0
*