Wikipedia: "Rather than appearing as a breaking wave, a tsunami may instead initially resemble a rapidly rising tide. For this reason, it is often referred to as a tidal wave".
What was always referred to as a tidal wave until recent years was indeed the sudden, rapid wave that flooded like a tide all at once. Tsunami (literally harbor wave) describes the same effect. They are noticeable when boxed into a harbor as opposed to open ocean. Nitpicking that they are not lunar tide really falls apart by using a name that restricts them to harbors.
Gotta agree with cpgatbyu here. "Tidal wave" is an ambiguous term with multiple possible meanings, one of which is, indeed, "tsunami." It's kind of misleading to ask if they are "the same thing."
In physics (and thus arguably in science at all), the term "tide/tidal" is well-defined as a consequence of a gradient in a gravitational field. This universal definition holds for any object in the universe and is not just linked to the ocean tides on the Earth. Your source itself indicates that there is no ambiguity in the scientic terminology.
I mean I guess it comes down to how strict you stay to the scientific terminology. In the spirit of trivia you probably do, but it does make it an awkward question when in normal speech they're often the same thing
Tidal waves and tsunamis can be used synonymously. I disagree with the "false" answer here. From Wikipedia: ""Tidal wave" may refer to a tsunami, a series of water waves in a body of water caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, although this usage of 'tidal wave' is not favored by the scientific community."
If I see someone standing on a beach and they shout, "There's a tidal wave coming!", I'm not going to stand there and see whether it's a harbor wave, a moon-controlled twice-daily tide, or a deadly wall of water coming. I'm going to immediately run to higher ground. Regardless of whether it's correct or not, people associate tidal waves with tsunamis. FWIW, it seems like an unintentional trick question to me, and yes I got it wrong.
Jet stream direction is a function of latitude. From 0 to 30 degrees, and 60 to 90 degrees (north or south) they flow east to west. Between 30 and 60 degrees they flow west to east.
A combination of atmospheric convection and the earth's rotation creates these zones, called "Hadley cells". The same phenomenon can be observed much more spectacularly on Jupiter.
I checked this before featuring the quiz and I checked again just now. Here's what Wikipedia says:
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow, meandering air currents in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth.[1] On Earth, the main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are westerly winds (flowing west to east)
The genders of hurricane names alternate with every storm, but the progression also alternates with every year, so that a male name kicks it off in even years and a female name starts it in odd years. For Atlantic storms, the first one of 2020 is Arthur; in 2019 it was Andrea. I paused before selecting the correct answer, knowing both were (sort of) true.
Forgive me for being a novice in this area, but I read that in the last 16 years, enough ice caps in Greenland have melted to fill Lake Michigan. So I thought that means in the last 120 years, sea levels would have risen a significant amount. Figured 20m seemed unrealistic but was still surprised to see it at 0.2m. So I guess I’m just wondering how ice caps melting really translate to rising sea levels.
Can we have explanations for more of the questions once the quiz is finished? For instance, question 4 could really use an explanation of why they aren't the same
I overthought the clue about country with coldest average temperature. I immediately thought of the correct answer first, then I thought maybe it was too easy, and perhaps that country had warm summer temperatures which would bring down the average so I went with one of the others which I thought had less extreme temperatures, and of course, got it wrong.
About the 9th question, I have experienced first hand that it has indeed gone over 100 degrees fahrenheit multiple times. Granted, I haven't seen it be that high for a while now, but it previously has in the years. I have lived in Hawaii for more than a decade already.
How is it possible that it hasn't been over 100 degrees in the southernmost state? I live in Chicago and I remember it getting up to 109 about 9 summers ago.
Hawaii being a group of small islands are entirely influenced by the ocean temperature. The pacific ocean does not get much above 85 degrees. Chicago is inland thus any modification by the sea is little. Lake Michigan is large and modifies the climate somewhat but not enough to keep temperatures below 100.
zanguini is right. The climate of Hawaii (or, let's just say Honolulu here since it's at sea level) is incredibly thermally stable, as almost all tropical climates are. It's been way hotter than Hawaii up where my family lives in Minnesota, but also way colder. Hawaii sticks in the middle, and is never that hot or that cold (at sea level), relatively. Hence why people say it's always nice. Personally I like the seasons, but different strokes for different blokes.
Technically the snowflake question should ask "What is the minimum angle of rotational symmetry of a snowflake?" and the answer should be 60 deg. Nice quiz though. 15/16, missed the sea level rise question
I read the PSU link. Without more time, I'm not sure I can understand the point they are trying to make. But first, let's read the question again. "Hot air can hold more moisture than cold air.". That's the word that you missed. I believe that the question is still correct. If there are any experts out there, please chime in.
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/scec/records
A combination of atmospheric convection and the earth's rotation creates these zones, called "Hadley cells". The same phenomenon can be observed much more spectacularly on Jupiter.
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/meteo3/node/2223
https://www.weathernationtv.com/news/myth-warm-air-holds-more-water-than-cooler-air-2/
Adding some explanations would be appreciated, like for question 4, or precisions concerning the temperature in Honolulu and average rainfall.