Final answer:
Suction vortices in tornadoes form due to the conservation of angular momentum, similar to how an ice skater's spin increases as they pull in their arms. The intense rotational speeds result from the decreasing radius towards the tornado's base, where high-rotation areas are more prone to develop stronger vortices with wind speeds reaching up to 500 km/h.
Step-by-step explanation:
Tornadoes are one of nature's most spectacular and destructive forces, characterized by their unique formation and the physics governing their motion. The formation of suction vortices within tornadoes can explain why some tornadoes have such intense destructive power. Tornadoes originate from supercell thunderstorms, which contain a rotating column of air on a horizontal axis. This rotation, combined with varying wind speeds at different atmospheric levels, causes the column to reorient and spin around a vertical axis, ultimately creating a tornado.
An interesting analogy to the intensification of a tornado's spin is seen in the behavior of an ice skater. When an ice skater pulls her arms in, the rotational rate increases due to the conservation of angular momentum, a principle that also applies to tornado dynamics. As the radius of rotation within the funnel decreases towards the bottom, the winds spin faster, reaching speeds up to 500 km/h. The law of conservation of angular momentum dictates that when the system's rotational inertia changes, without an external net torque, the rotation rate must increase to conserve angular momentum.
Meteorologists use the measurement of how wind changes over distance and the multiplication of vectors to assess the potential for tornado formation. High-rotation areas are more prone to develop tornadoes. When a tornado does form, the wind speed near the base of the funnel increases exponentially.
This is due to the funnel's constriction at the bottom, resulting in a higher rotation rate in a smaller area, much like a skater's spin quickens as they pull in their limbs. Thus, the decrease in the radius greatly increases the wind speed, leading to the formation of incredibly destructive suction vortices within the body of the tornado.