Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power#History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbines
http://www.dannyclisham.com/photos/supertanker/1_air_shot.JPG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Cloud_seeding_(PSF).jpg
http://www.clker.com/cliparts/2/b/6/5/1218784770369131859sivvus_weather_symbols.svg.hi.png
http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/2685/24825/f/119266-One-Of-The-Few-Working-Windmills-0.jpg
http://www.windmills-for-sale.com/images/index_11.jpg
http://www.jeffersons.com/i/pagepics/large/sailing_yacht_01.jpg
http://usna.edu/SailingTeam/usna__intercollegiate__sailing.htm_txt_Downwind_cmp.gif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_control
http://www.rbs2.com/w2.htm http://www.weathermod.com/

Cloud Seeding

History

Cloud seeding was discovered after World War II, by Dr. Bernard Vonnegut and his partner Dr. Irving Langmuir. In his experiment Vonnegut noticed that silver iodide (AgI) could turn water vapor into ice crystals. Vonnegut later come to a conclusion that the best way to spread AgI was to mix it with another iodide and then and dissolve the new mixture in acetone he found out that this way one gram of AgI could produce 10^16 nuclei for the ice crystals.

Vonnegut and Langmuir, were not the only scientist to try cloud seeding, he was simply the most successful due to his funding. There were three previously recorded experiments of weather modification in 1924, 1930, and 1932. These experiments were based on the right ideas, however, they simply did not get the sufficient funding. Unlike the previous scientists Vonnegut and Langmuir had General Electric to help them out financially.

Problems and concerns

During the first experiments of cloud seeding significant changes were noted in the amount of precipitation coming out of the seeded area. Upon trying different methods of cloud seeding (i.e. dry ice, AgI) the scientists noticed that more precipitation fell as a result of seeding.

There are still worse concerns since the scientists today lack the knowledge of which rain clouds can potentially escalate into a hail storm, for this reason cloud seeding is dangerous; if the wrong set of rain clouds is seeded the increased precipitation can bring harsher hail, snow, and rain.

Delivery systems

There are many ways to deliver cloud seeding materials (AgI, dry ice, etc.). Most common types are nozzles, which are attached to the plane’s wings. Through these nozzles liquid Carbon dioxide can be sprayed as well as AgI, this is one of the oldest and more reliable ways of delivery.

In this day and age a lot of planes tend to have two racks of flares attached to the bottom of the plane. The racks hold 102 flares each, in these flares are the cloud seeding components. The large number of flares provides for better seeding and higher chances of successful seeding.

There are also ground pumps. These are less effective that air delivery. On ground pumps tend to be inaccurate, although the stations contain some flare racks like on the plane, those racks can only hold about 12 flares. There are still cloud seeding companies that use on ground pumps but air delivery is the preferred way of delivery.

Aircraft specifications

There are many different planes used for cloud seeding. Each of these planes are selected depending on: size of the target, season and temperature, maximum payload (amount of equipment the plane can haul up to the target), maneuverability, speed, and accessibility to spare parts.

These basic guidelines are used to choose the best planes to fly up to the target, or to buy a cloud seeding plane. If the intended target is large in size a large plane will be sent, if the weather above the target is extremely bad then a stronger built airplane will be flown. The more payload the better that means a lot more equipment can be put on board to make sure of a successful seeding. Speed is important because no pilot wants to be inside or above a giant storm for too long. Accessibility to parts simply ensures that the plane will be easy to maintain and thus be more often used than a plane with hard to find spare parts.

Windmills and Wind Powered Electricity

Windmills were first built and used in Persia in 200 B.C. They were originally used for grinding grain and pumping water, but all used the same basic principle. Wide blades attached to a rotating base caught the wind and allowed repetitive movements to be made.

Wind turbines are energy-producing windmills and are one some of the cleanest sources of energy around. The first energy producing turbine was built in 1887 by James Blyth in Scotland Wind produces about 1.5% of world’s energy and Canada is the 11th highest user. The reality is that there is much more wind that can be used to make energy than we are actually using, but wind farms, which are fields filled with wind turbines produce energy on a large scale.

History of Weather Modification

Meteorology is the study of weather and weather patterns. People began studying weather in early 350 BC. Aristotle was the first to write and record anything about meteorology. His work was left unchanged for nearly 2,000 years because many people didn’t care for the study as well as it was hard to predict the weather with the small, low-tech instruments that they had. A few weather breakthroughs were made in the early 19th century, but in the 20th century more accurate weather forecasting was developed after the invention of the computer. With this new technology we can now create and prevent rain, as well as stopping a storm from occurring. We have even begun testing new ways to prevent and control hurricanes and tornadoes!

Sailing

Weather can be manipulated to have some fun, too. Sailing manipulates the movement of wind and water to move around a lake or ocean. Sailors use the relative velocity of the wind to the boat’s movement, which is a combination of aerodynamic force and hydrodynamic force. The goal of sailing is to use every direction of the wind o be able to move as fast and directly as possible and, if the wind is constant, sailboats can sail 290 degrees of the compass. The directions relative to the wind, or the points of sail are:

• Close haul (sailing 22° to the wind)
  
• Close reach (Half way between close hauled and a beam reach)
  
• Beam reach (90° to the wind)
  
• Broad reach (22.5° away from directly downwind sailing)
  
• Running (Directly downwind)

You cannot sail directly into the wind, because no wind is hitting the sail, therefore no thrust. Therefore, fastest way to travel is being perpendicular with the wind, which provides the most thrust. You can change the direction and speed of a boat by harnessing the wind by arranging the boat and turning it until the wind hits the sails in a way you desire.