On Monday, November 3, 2014 6:38:22 AM UTC-8, Andy Blackburn wrote:
Not entirely sure I buy momentum as a first-order effect since blue thermals don't typically overrun the top of the invasion level by very much, so I can't imagine the top 2/3 of the thermal is simply momentum. Also, if it's thoroughly mixed from a temperature perspective wouldn't it also be mixed from a humidity perspective as well so it wouldn't be rising from having higher humidity either?

Curious.

9B

I did the simple physics on this. A volume of air rising at 600 fpm with no other forces acting on it other than gravity has enough momentum to rise an additional 1.6 feet before its upward velocity reaches zero.

I am now officially at a loss as to why thermals go up if there is no temperature difference versus the surrounding air.

9B