NASA Reveals Dust Devil Data from Mars

saskboy writes "NASA reports that Martian dust devils could be much more destructive than previously considered. You may remember this past April when it was revealed that whirlwinds actually helped the current rovers by cleaning accumulated dust from their solar cells which increased their energy collection efficiency. But after studying the mini-storms more, they realize that the dust and sand particles could cause static electricity discharges, also known as lightning. The high speed grains of sand blowing around at about 30 meters/second (70 miles per hour) are nothing to blink at either, since they can damage astronauts or equipment on the Martian surface. The height of a Martian dust devil can reach 10km (6 miles), which means it's more like the size of a terran tornado."

Comments

A quick question

[zegebbers]

From the blurb : "The height of a Martian dust devil can reach 10km (6 miles), which means it's more like the size of a terran tornado."

Does that mean that a tornado is only on earth? Why are these referred to as "Dust Devils" and not tornadoes generally? Cheers

Re:A quick question

[MyLongNickName]

Answer: It doesn't. It is part of a growing phenomenon on Slashdot. Post a link to wiki that kind of relates to the thread. Someone is impressed that poster knows how to link... and hey it is WIKI after all... it must be informative: let's mod it up!

In actuality, naked links get used by folks to lazy to summarize the information themselves, but want some mod points. I called yours out as the link doesn't even answer his questions.

Have a nice day.