While researching air currents, I came across the idea that updrafts rise due to the force of buoyancy. Buoyancy is a force that acts in the opposite direction to gravity on an object in a fluid, and it works not only in water (liquid) but also in gas. Fluids seem to be found all over the Earth, so the buoyancy force acting on fluids may be a force that works in most places on Earth.
Buoyancy-driven weather
When air warms, the movement of its molecules becomes more active, and as it expands it becomes less dense than the surrounding air, making it lighter. The surrounding cold air pushes up the warm, light air, creating an upward buoyancy that creates an updraft. This updraft creates clouds, so it can be said that buoyancy creates weather and atmospheric circulation.
The ability to stay on the surface of water
Buoyancy in water is used by creatures living in and under the sea, and it appears that buoyancy is also what allows fish to stay in the middle layer using their swim bladders and jellyfish to drift through the water. Microorganisms and plankton use buoyancy to stay in the surface layer where there is light and carry out photosynthesis. Buoyancy and photosynthesis at the water’s surface seem to go well together. Also, being able to float and survive without having a sturdy body to resist gravity may be an advantage of being in the water.
Plants also use buoyancy
Trees grow their roots in the direction of gravity and their trunks in the opposite direction to gravity, so they apparently have sensors that tell them the direction of gravity. Cellular organelles called amyloplasts are so dense that they sink in the direction of gravity within the cell, while surrounding objects float up due to buoyancy, and apparently function as part of a sensor that detects the direction of gravity, like an atolus. The force that a plant exerts in the opposite direction to gravity is called anti-gravity, but it was buoyancy that determined this direction. Buoyancy is amazing.
The mountains are floating too
In the long term, the mantle also seems to be considered a fluid, and its buoyancy causes the crust to float on the mantle, sinking due to gravity and rising due to buoyancy. The weight of a mountain must be considerable, but it is supported by the crust floating on the mantle, so it can also be said to be supported by buoyancy. This balanced state is called isostasy. There are areas of glaciers where the balance is not good, and the areas that have sunk due to the weight of the glaciers continue to rise as the glaciers melt and become lighter.
Amazing buoyancy
Buoyancy brings about atmospheric circulation and weather, supports the lives of underwater creatures, acts as a gravity sensor for plants, and supports mountains and land. The phenomenon of floating due to differences in density is amazing. At first glance, it may seem like a movement that eliminates things that are not the same, but in the end, it produces many functions, so it may be important as a force that pairs with fusion. Buoyancy is amazing. The depth of the power of the Earth is amazing.
