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What do convection currents affect?
Convection also plays a role in the movement of deep ocean waters and contributes to oceanic currents. Inside Earth, the convection of mantle material is thought to cause the movement of the overriding crustal plates, resulting in events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Can convection currents cause things to move?
Convection currents within the mantle provide one potential driving force for plate movement. The plastic movement of the mantle material moves like the flow of mountain glaciers, carrying the lithospheric plates along as the convection movement in the mantle moves the asthenosphere.
How does gravity affect convection currents?
The driving force for natural convection is gravity. For example if there is a layer of cold dense air on top of hotter less dense air, gravity pulls more strongly on the denser layer on top, so it falls while the hotter less dense air rises to take its place. This creates circulating flow: convection.
How do convection currents play a role in the plate movement?
Convection currents describe the rising, spread, and sinking of gas, liquid, or molten material caused by the application of heat. Tremendous heat and pressure within the earth cause the hot magma to flow in convection currents. These currents cause the movement of the tectonic plates that make up the earth’s crust.
How do convection currents and gravity move tectonic plates?
In the mantle, heat from deeper in the Earth causes the overlying mantle to circulate. Mantle convection currents move very, very, slowly. It is possible that as the mantle convects, it drags the overlying plates along with it. It is likely that both convection and gravity contribute to the movement of the plates.
How the convection current affect the movement of tectonic plates?
How are convection currents used to move fluid?
The convection currents tend to move a fluid or gas particles from one place to another. These are created as a result of the differences occurring within the densities and temperature of a specific gas or a fluid.
How does the gravitational field affect convection currents?
In the gravitational field, the presence of a fluid density gradient does not ensure the existence of the natural convection currents. This problem can be demonstrated from the following figures, where the fluid is enclosed by two large horizontal plates with different temperatures.
What happens if all convection currents are stopped?
Suppose, if all the convection currents on earth are stopped, it would affect us the worst. The amount of heat that is radiated from the sun sets the earth’s surface temperature. If there is no convection, then the equator will get hotter and hotter and the north and south poles would become cooler and cooler.
How is convection related to the Gulf Stream?
Convection drives the Gulf Stream and other currents that turn over and mix up the waters in the world’s oceans. Cold polar water is drawn down from higher latitudes and sinks to the ocean bottom, pulled down toward the equator as lighter, warmer water rises to the ocean’s surface.