landed them in Massachusetts. The first study of a hurricane was done completely by accident. In 1680, an English pirate named William Dampier was caught in a hurricane while pirating around the Atlantic. His crew lost control of his ship and were forced to just let the hurricane blow them for hundreds of miles. When the storm had passed, Dampier checked his coordinates and found that he was within a mile of where he had been when the ship first encountered the hurricane, therefore concluding that hurricane winds move in a gigantic circle. He called hurricanes "vast whirlwinds."1 To consider how a hurricane is formed, one must first understand the five ingredients that determine whether a simple tropical storm will mature into a full-blown hurricane or just fizzle out. Those ingredients include: ocean water, the heat of the sun, air, wind, and the spin of the earth. Though many scientists disagree regarding the life of hurricanes, they almost all agree on their births. Hurricanes form when the heat of the sun warms some ocean water. The evaporating water forms a cloud or column of wet, warm air that moves upward. As this warm, moist air rises, more air rushes in to replace it. This air is also heated and moistened by the warm ocean surface. It begins to rise and form clouds, heating the air around it. Eventually, a large mass of warm, moist air with rain clouds is formed over the ocean. Because the air is warm, it expands. It becomes less dense and lighter, and forms an area Mytych 3of low pressure. More air near the ocean surface now rushes in. However, this air doesn't just flow straight in. It spirals in like water going down a bathtub drain.appendix a This spiral, or spinning motion, is caused by the rotation of the earth. The air goes faster and faster as it spirals inward.appendix b Then it rises in the clouds to form an eye and wall clouds. The whole storm, now spinning like a top, is carried across the...
