Why did American sailors cross the Atlantic faster than English sailors in the middle of the XNUMXth century? Detailed answer

BIG ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS
Free library / Directory / Big encyclopedia for children and adults

Why did American sailors cross the Atlantic faster than English sailors in the middle of the XNUMXth century? Detailed answer

Big encyclopedia for children and adults

Directory / Big encyclopedia. Questions for quiz and self-education

Comments on the article

Did you know?

Why did American sailors cross the Atlantic faster than English sailors in the middle of the XNUMXth century?

It is said that at a time when the flag of the British Empire still flew proudly over North America, the Lord Chancellor of the Exchequer of Great Britain invited the then postmaster of the colonies, Benjamin Franklin, to London. Lord wondered why the American ships crossed the Atlantic so much faster, sometimes by as much as two weeks, than the British. After all, almost all of them were built in England and English captains and sailors are no worse than American ones.

Franklin did not know the answer to this question, but soon found out from his relative, Captain Folfier: a powerful current crosses the Atlantic from west to east, and American sailors use it or, conversely, avoid it, depending on which direction they sail. For a long time they managed to hide this from their rivals, the English sailors.

This current is called the Gulf Stream, and it originates from the accumulation of waters of the equatorial trade wind currents in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The Gulf Stream is a powerful river in the ocean that has no equal. Every hour between Cuba and Florida, 100 billion tons of sea water passes, breaking out into the vastness of the Atlantic.

If you combine the waters of the major rivers of all continents - the Yenisei, the Ob, the Yangtze, the Volga, the Danube, the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Nile - with the waters of all rivers and streams, all together they will not outweigh the water mass of the Gulf Stream, which has a width of 80 kilometers and a depth of 250 meters. The warming effect of this current is felt even on the northern islands of Svalbard.

As for Europe, without the Gulf Stream, European civilization simply would not exist, since the European continent would be similar in natural conditions to Alaska.

Author: Kondrashov A.P.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

What is the largest fish in the world?

Compared with animals that now exist or have ever lived on earth, man is relatively small. Let's talk about the largest animals on the planet. After the blue whale, the largest living creatures are the whale shark and the basking shark. They belong to the fish and are the largest representatives of this class known to man: they can reach a length of fifteen to eighteen meters!

Some people believe that all sharks are cannibals, and based on the size of the whale shark, they think that it is quite capable of swallowing a person whole. But she couldn't do that, even if she really wanted to. She has small teeth - only three millimeters long, and her throat - only ten centimeters in diameter. So this huge fish feeds on the smallest inhabitants of the ocean, such as sardines and small cephalopods.

Among the freshwater fish, the largest is considered arapaima, or piraruka, which lives in South America. This fish can reach four meters in length and weigh about two hundred kilograms. If sturgeon is considered freshwater fish on the grounds that sturgeon spends a lot of time in freshwater, it will be the largest freshwater fish. There were sturgeons about eight meters long and weighing about 1460 kilograms.

And what is the smallest fish? The one that is found in the Philippine Islands. It is called the pygmy pandak and is no more than six millimeters long! These are probably the smallest vertebrates.

Test your knowledge! Did you know...

▪ What are the turns of a sailing ship?

▪ What is triathlon?

▪ Which monarch was found tattooed with the inscription: Death to kings!?

See other articles Section Big encyclopedia. Questions for quiz and self-education.

Read and write useful comments on this article.

<< Back

Latest news of science and technology, new electronics:

Machine for thinning flowers in gardens 02.05.2024

In modern agriculture, technological progress is developing aimed at increasing the efficiency of plant care processes. The innovative Florix flower thinning machine was presented in Italy, designed to optimize the harvesting stage. This tool is equipped with mobile arms, allowing it to be easily adapted to the needs of the garden. The operator can adjust the speed of the thin wires by controlling them from the tractor cab using a joystick. This approach significantly increases the efficiency of the flower thinning process, providing the possibility of individual adjustment to the specific conditions of the garden, as well as the variety and type of fruit grown in it. After testing the Florix machine for two years on various types of fruit, the results were very encouraging. Farmers such as Filiberto Montanari, who has used a Florix machine for several years, have reported a significant reduction in the time and labor required to thin flowers. ... >>

Advanced Infrared Microscope 02.05.2024

Microscopes play an important role in scientific research, allowing scientists to delve into structures and processes invisible to the eye. However, various microscopy methods have their limitations, and among them was the limitation of resolution when using the infrared range. But the latest achievements of Japanese researchers from the University of Tokyo open up new prospects for studying the microworld. Scientists from the University of Tokyo have unveiled a new microscope that will revolutionize the capabilities of infrared microscopy. This advanced instrument allows you to see the internal structures of living bacteria with amazing clarity on the nanometer scale. Typically, mid-infrared microscopes are limited by low resolution, but the latest development from Japanese researchers overcomes these limitations. According to scientists, the developed microscope allows creating images with a resolution of up to 120 nanometers, which is 30 times higher than the resolution of traditional microscopes. ... >>

Air trap for insects 01.05.2024

Agriculture is one of the key sectors of the economy, and pest control is an integral part of this process. A team of scientists from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Potato Research Institute (ICAR-CPRI), Shimla, has come up with an innovative solution to this problem - a wind-powered insect air trap. This device addresses the shortcomings of traditional pest control methods by providing real-time insect population data. The trap is powered entirely by wind energy, making it an environmentally friendly solution that requires no power. Its unique design allows monitoring of both harmful and beneficial insects, providing a complete overview of the population in any agricultural area. “By assessing target pests at the right time, we can take necessary measures to control both pests and diseases,” says Kapil ... >>

Random news from the Archive

bees at the airport 13.02.2011

Several hives have been set up at Dusseldorf International Airport (Germany). It turns out that analyzing the composition of honey and bee bread is a convenient and reliable way to monitor environmental pollution.

After all, bees collect raw materials for their work - nectar and pollen from surrounding plants - while concentrating all the impurities in honey. Twice a year, honey samples are analyzed for the presence of hydrocarbons and heavy metals, which can be released into the air from the exhaust of aircraft engines and the engines of numerous airport support vehicles.

Checks show that the quality of honey from the airport corresponds to the product from areas free from any industry. Six other German airports followed the example of Düsseldorf.

Other interesting news:

▪ computer running on water

▪ Celeron 1019Y processor for ultrabooks

▪ Salty soil dries up planets

▪ Semiconductor RSL10 single-chip system

▪ One atom transistor

News feed of science and technology, new electronics

Interesting materials of the Free Technical Library:

▪ section of the site Firmware. Article selection

▪ article Population Theory. History and essence of scientific discovery

▪ article Who are the bandits? Detailed answer

▪ article Bogorodskaya grass. Legends, cultivation, methods of application

▪ article Metal detector with integral ULF. Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering

▪ article Commutation of hand power tools. Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering

Leave your comment on this article:

All languages of this page

Home page | Library | Articles | Website map | Site Reviews