Earth & Sky
The forces that shape this planet: rain and rivers, quakes and volcanoes, and the clouds, thunder and storms overhead.
13 plates
Plates 13
- Plate 01 How Rain Carves a Mountain EarthStart here A single storm changes almost nothing. But the rain never stops. Open →
- Plate 02 The Wave That Hides in Deep Water EarthStart here Out at sea it is almost impossible to notice. At the coast it can drown a town. Open →
- Plate 04 The Engine of a Hurricane SkyStart here It runs on warm water, and the turning Earth sets it spinning. Open →
- Plate 11 Curtains in the Sky SkyGoing further An aurora is light given off when electrons from space crash into the air high overhead. Open →
- Plate 14 The Cracks in the Earth EarthStart here A year’s 7,700 strong earthquakes fall mostly along a few lines: the edges of the pieces of the Earth’s shell. Open →
- Plate 19 Where Volcanoes Come From EarthStart here There is no sea of magma under the crust. Magma forms in only a few kinds of places, and that is where volcanoes grow. Open →
- Plate 23 Where a Compass Points EarthStart here A compass doesn’t point at the North Pole. It lines up with Earth’s magnetic field — and the magnetic pole it heads for keeps moving. Open →
- Plate 25 Seeing Through the Earth With Earthquakes EarthGoing further No one has been to the centre of the Earth. We know it holds a liquid outer core and a solid inner core because earthquake waves went for us. Open →
- Plate 30 Why Clouds Don’t Fall SkyStart here An ordinary cumulus cloud holds hundreds of tonnes of water, yet it floats. The secret is how astonishingly small its droplets are. Open →
- Plate 33 See the Flash, Then Hear the Thunder SkyStart here Lightning and thunder happen at the same moment, but light arrives almost at once while sound covers only about 340 metres a second. Count the seconds between them and you know how far away the storm is. Open →
- Plate 35 The V Behind a Ship EarthGoing further A big ship, a small boat, even a swimming duck: the V-shaped wake behind them opens at almost exactly the same angle, about 19.5° on each side. Open →
- Plate 49 Ice Rings Around the Sun SkyStart here In thin high cloud, the ice crystals are tiny hexagonal prisms. Sunlight passing through them paints rings, spots and coloured arcs around the Sun. Open →
- Plate 50 Why Rivers Wind EarthStart here Rivers on plains are rarely straight. In each bend the water swirls, cutting the outer bank and building the inner one, until the loop is cut off and left as an oxbow lake. Open →
