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Re: Reaching the pole. (was Nautical Almanac)
From: Trevor Kenchington
Date: 2002 Jul 2, 21:42 -0300
From: Trevor Kenchington
Date: 2002 Jul 2, 21:42 -0300
George Huxtable asked, amidst much else:
> What temperature does Mercury freeze at?
-39 Celsius or thereabouts. (-38.842 according to the CRC Handbook of
Chemistry and Physics, though I dare say that the third decimal place
depends a bit on assorted factors.)
I'm not sure of summer temperatures at the Pole but winter ones on the
Canadian prairies are said to drop below -40 (the point at which the
Celsius and Fahrenheit scales are numerically equal) from time to time
and I'd guess that the Pole is colder. So the mercury in Amundsen's
artificial horizon could well have turned into a useless lump of solid
metal.
Trevor Kenchington
--
Trevor J. Kenchington PhD Gadus@iStar.ca
Gadus Associates, Office(902) 889-9250
R.R.#1, Musquodoboit Harbour, Fax (902) 889-9251
Nova Scotia B0J 2L0, CANADA Home (902) 889-3555
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http://home.istar.ca/~gadus
