How does angular momentum and conservation of energy sustain a vortex once it forms?
I like this question because I had to search for an answer. A tornado is a violent windstorm with a twisting, funnel shape cloud and is usually spawned by thunderstorms when cool air and warm air meet, forcing warm air to rise quickly. Damage from tornadoes are due to high speed winds and flying debris. Angular momentum is the product of its mass, velocity (tangential), and radius (the distance from the axis point around which the object is spinning around). For angular momentum to conserve in a spin, the angular momentum before must equal the angular momentum after. Steps of formation: * Warm, moist winds flow up (and a little east due to the Coriolis Force) from the Gulf of Mexico. * Air becomes unstable because warm air rises and continues to rise due to the heat from the sun. * The air cools as it rises higher and condenses into clouds. * A cold front containing cooler, drier air from the north in Canada flows south focusing the rising air. * The Rockies also help divert northern w
