Potential Energy

Today, as I walked and rode to the office, the weather conditions were very ominous.  To most, it looked like any other morning, rather overcast, still air, and a slight mist.  But, to me, the air looked and felt like an atmospheric time bomb just waiting to go off.

The temperature was already in the mid 70's (F), nearly 25C.  The air was thick with humidity (I checked the dew point and saw that it was 23C (73F), and forecast to rise through the morning), and very still, with only a barely perceptible breeze (I could see the leaves moving, but I could not tell from which direction the wind had come).  As an atmospheric scientist, I knew that the amount of potential energy in the air around me was enormous, and it was only going to increase (it was only 6:30 AM, barely two hours after sunrise).  Soon, the low-lying clouds would evaporate, allowing the Sun to reach and warm the surface.  This would very quickly initiate convection, which would draw much more moisture high into the atmosphere.  The water in the air would condense in the cooler atmosphere above, but that would only add to the energy.  Consider that steam or water vapor is basically liquid water plus heat.  So, if you start with liquid water and add heat, you get water vapor.  But it works both ways: if you start with water vapor and change it to liquid water, you had to remove energy from the water vapor and put it into the atmosphere.  So, a sunny and humid day means there is a lot of energy ready to be put into the atmosphere: some from absorbing sunlight, some from the condensation of water vapor into clouds.  And energy in the atmosphere usually means thunderstorms.  So, the air feels about ready to explode with all of the fury of Zeus.  But, right now, the air is so thick and stifling, that I'm glad to have an air-conditioned room in which to work.

In my other home (well, one of my other home towns), there is another form of (formerly) potential energy on display.  For years, trees have grown in the forests of Colorado.  They are storing up the organic energy of the soil, water, air, and sunlight that they consume, in the form of wood and leaves.  In the Winter time, we are often very glad for this source of potential energy when we utilize it to warm our houses.  But, in the dry Colorado summer (which has considerably less water vapor: the dewpoint there recently was 25F, or -4C), this potential energy is far too easily converted into heat energy of a burning forest -- and sometimes only due to human negligence.  Right now, several of my neighbors are faced with the potential or actual loss of their home and/or lives as a result of a human caused forest fire.  Potential energy comes in many forms; but is useful only if managed properly.  If managed improperly, it is chaotic at best and destructive at worst.

Edit: It seems I neglected to actually post this after having finished writing it yesterday.  It turns out I was spot-on in my prediction, as a massive evening thunderstorm with very heavy rains caused flooding on the 小田急-小田原　線　(Odakyuu-Odawara line), which resulted in their service being suspended for some time.  I learned two new words in Japanese, though: 雷 (kaminari: thunder, or "God's voice"), and 夕立 (yuudachi: shower ...[edited]: actually, evening shower [/edit]).