Hurricane force
Investigate data from weather stations including wind speeds in different units
Publisher: Texas Instruments UK
Editor: Barrie Galpin
Author: Linda Tetlow
Topic: Mathematics
Tags Environment , Exponential , Measures , STEM
The main activity is in two parts. It starts by looking at information displayed by a live weather station. Wind speeds and the different units used for their measurement are then considered including knots (nautical miles per hour), the Beaufort scale and the Torro scale for hurricanes. Students are asked to use TI-Nspire to find quick ways to convert between different units.
The activity makes unit conversion more relevant and interesting by using the context of live weather station data and wind speed scales including those for hurricanes and tornadoes. Detailed background weather data information is included.
An extension to the main activity looks at fitting functions to the mean wind speed for the different categories on the Beaufort and Torro wind speed scales.
This activity is one of seven in a booklet entitled Using Real World Data. This is part of a series of booklets presenting STEM Activities with TI-Nspire, published by Texas instruments in 2010.