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Global Guide to Tropical Cyclone Forecasting:
Chapter 9: Ready Reckoner

9.6 USEFUL CONSTANTS

9.6.1 Universal Constants

Avogadro's Number, NA 6.02247x1026 kmol-1
Base of Natural Logarithms, e 2.71828
Boltzmann's Constant, k 1.381x10-23 J K-1 molecule-1
Gravitational Constant 6.673x10-11 Nm2 kg-1
pi.gif (73 bytes) 3.1415927
Planck's Constant, h 6.6262 x10-34 J s-1
Speed of Light, c 2.998x108 ms-1
Speed of Sound in Air at 0oC 340 ms-1
Stefan-Boltzmann Constant, theta.gif (70 bytes) 5.6696x10-8 W m-2 K-4
Universal Gas Constant, R 8.3143x103 J K-1 kmol-1

 

9.6.2 The Earth

Angular Velocity, hshoe.gif (98 bytes) 7.292x10-5 s-1
Gravitational Acceleration
at the surface,		 g 9.81 ms-1
Radius:

Mean,
Equatorial
Polar

  

RE

  

6370 km
6379 km
6357 km
Volume 1.083x1021 m3
Surface Area 5.1x1012 m2
Mass 5.988x1024 kg
Mean Density 5.529x103 kg m-3
Mean Distance to Moon 3.8x105 km
Mean Distance to Sun 1.49x108 km
Orbital Speed around Sun 2.977x104 ms-1
Azimuthal Speed at Equator 465 ms-1
Solar Irradiance 1.38x103 W m-2

 

9.6.3 The Atmosphere

Density of dry air at 0oC and 1000 hPa 1.29 kg m-3
Gas Constant:

Universal
For Dry Air,

  


Rd

  

8.31436x103 J K-1 kmol-1
287 J K-1 kg-1
Mass of Atmosphere 5.3x1018 kg
Molecular Weight of Dry Air 28.966 kg kmole-1
Specific Heat of Dry Air:

at Constant Pressure,
at Constant Volume,

  

cp
cv

  

1004 J K-1 kg-1
717 J K-1 kg-1
Standard Sea Level:

Pressure,
Temperature,
Density,
Speed of Sound,

  

ps
Ts
s
cs

  

1013.28 hPa
288.16K
2.225 kg m-3
331.3 ms-1

 

9.6.4 Water

Density of Water (0oC) 1.0x103 kg m-3
Density of Ice (0oC) 0.917x103 kg m-3
Gas Constant for Vapour, Rv 461.5 J K-1 kg-1
Molecular Weight of Water Vapor 18.016 kg kmol-1
Specific Heat:

Water Vapour:
   Constant Pressure
   Constant Volume
Liquid Water at 0oC
Ice at 0oC
Latent Heat:
   Vaporisation at 0oC
   Vaporisation at 100oC
    Fusion at 0oC
    Sublimation at 0o

  


   1810 J K-1 kg-1
   1350 J K-1 kg-1
4218 J K-1 kg-1
2106 J K-1 kg-1
   2.5x106 J kg-1
   2.25x106 J kg-1
   3.34x105 J kg-1
   2.83x106 J kg-1

Contents Chapter9.7


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