Preview

The Technology of the Doppler Radar, the Doppler Effect, and Christian Doppler

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
727 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Technology of the Doppler Radar, the Doppler Effect, and Christian Doppler
Nicole Dickerson

Dr. Ortloff

Intermediate Computer Literacy

September 29, 2011

The Technology of the Doppler Radar, the Doppler Effect, and Christian Doppler

Radar[1] hasn’t always been used for weather. When people first started using radars during World War II it was to provide information about aerial attacks heading towards them. Another way people were using radar was to try to prevent collisions like the Titanic hitting the ice burg and sinking. It wasn’t until after all of this that weather radar was finally developed.

Weather radar is being used to detect rain and hail in advance so that the meteorologist can give a warning of any severe weather that may be heading to your area. Regular radar pretty much just lets you know how much precipitation is in the clouds. Doppler radar is much more advanced than this. Doppler radar can tell if the rain is moving towards or away from the radar, which also tells the meteorologist that there is wind moving around in the clouds (Hatheway, Becca. “Weather Radar”)

The way that a radar works is a transmitter will send pulses out and then waves or echoes will be transmitted back on to a screen to show if and where an object is in relation to the radar. The reason why the computer is able to know how far away an object is; is by measuring how long it takes for radar waves to come back to transmitter. This method is useful to both the military and the meteorologist. The military is able to benefit from it because they can see their opponents before it’s too late. The meteorologist benefit in the fact that they are able to advise the local community of when to be prepared for any kind of rain or bad weather that may be heading their way such as tornados.

The Doppler Effect comes into effect when trying to find out if there is a tornado in the nearby area. The Doppler Effect is named after Austrian physicist Christian Doppler. Christian Doppler was born in 1803 in



Cited: Bringi, V. N. and V. Chandrasekar. Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar: Principles and Applications. Cambridge Univeristy Press, 2001. Hatheway, Becca. "How Radar Works." 11 June 2010. Windows to the Universe. 29 Sepetember 2011 . —. "The Doppler Effect." 11 June 2010. Windows to the Universe. 29 September 2011 . —. "The History of Radar." 10 June 2010. Windows to the Universe. 29 Sepetmber 2011 . —. "Weather Radar." 11 June 2010. Windows to the Universe. 29 September 2011 . O 'Conner, J. J. and Roberston, E. F. Christian Andreas Doppler. April 1998. 29 September 2011 . ----------------------- [1] Is short for radio detection and ranging [2] People who are skilled in preparing and laying stones in a building

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Radar was used a lot back in modern wars, mostly on ships for purposes like to avoid ship collision and to be able to find where the other boat and any other miscellaneous objects where and to either a. have the element of surprise or b. to avoid. Radar can also be used in the air, fighting while in flight can be even more dangerous than fighting by land or by the sea, but with the use of radar, planes can use antennas to detect other enemy airplanes, they might also have them in modern day airports to help the pilot find the landing strip while in the air, the radar will send transmitted information to the pilot that will help them prepare to land.…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the movie, a radar was going to be placed on a mountain top where…

    • 1545 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The radar had been disabled for over a year; the company was aware of this…

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    If you have ever been pulled over for traveling above the speed limit then you know how important a radar detector can be. These tiny devices can greatly reduce your chance of getting pulled over for speeding but do you know how they work? It is one of the technological advances that we seem to take for granted.…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The modernization of the United States’ air traffic control system has been a slow process encumbered with politics and reluctance for change. The purpose of air traffic control is the safe and expeditious flow of air traffic through the National Airspace System (NAS). Simply, air traffic contol’s job is to ensure that an airplane departs point A and reaches point B safely and as quickly as possible. The point of this is simple: to protect lives, to save aircraft operators money, and to protect the environment by reducing carbon emissions through shorter flight times. This is all done through antiquated technology that dates back to World War 2. Radar was…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Since its founding, FedRad had been pre-eminent in the radar field. FedRad’s scientists and engineers were prominent figures in the development of radar and, over the years, the name “FedRad” was synonymous with technical excellence in building radar equipment. Financial success had rewarded the company’s technical skills in the production of surface, navigational, and fire control radar equipment for the military services and large prime contractors. In recent years, however, sales, employment, and profits had declined appreciably as heavy competition reduced FedRad’s contract capture rate.…

    • 2564 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Doppler Effect

    • 2328 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The Doppler effect, named after Christian Doppler, is the change in frequency and wavelength of a wave as perceived by an observer moving relative to the source of the waves. For waves that propagate in a wave medium, such as sound waves, the velocity of the observer and of the source are relative to the medium in which the waves are transmitted. The total Doppler effect may therefore result from motion of the source, motion of the observer, or motion of the medium. Each of these effects is analysed separately. For waves which do not require a medium, such as light or gravity in special relativity, only the relative difference in velocity between the observer and the source needs to be considered.…

    • 2328 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    doppler shift

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Doppler is the apparent change in wavelength (or frequency) of an electromagnetic or acoustic wave when there is relative…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Solar Storms

    • 1593 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Nolan, Steven S. "Electromagnetic Pulse-Thinking the Unthinkable." Modern Day Publishing Co. Inc. (2011): 1-34. Print.…

    • 1593 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1940, as a result of World War II, Alvarez and a group of scientists built a radar system to help…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Types of Radars

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There are two types of radar displays in common use today. RAW VIDEO Raw video displays are simply oscilloscopes that display the detected and amplified target return signal (and the receiver noise). Raw video displays require a human operator to interpret the various target noise and clutter signals. On the left hand display of Figure 1, an operator could readily identify three targets and a ghost (a ghost is a phony target that usually fades in and out and could be caused by birds, weather, or odd temporary reflections - also referred to as an angel). Target 3 is a weak return and hidden in the noise - an operator can identify it as a target by the "mouse under the rug" effect of raising the noise base line. SYNTHETIC VIDEO Synthetic video displays use a computer to clean up the display by eliminating noise and clutter and creating it's own precise symbol for each target. On the right hand display target 1 comes and goes because it is barely above the receiver noise level - notice that it is quite clear on the raw video. Target 3 wasn't recognized by the computer because it's to far down in the noise. The computer validated the ghost as a target. The ghost might be a real target with glint or ECM characteristics that were recognized by the computer but not the operator.…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Doppler radar works on the principle of Doppler Effect. Doppler Effect is the frequency shift between the transmitted and the received signal observed when source is transmitting an electromagnetic wave moving relative to an observer. The difference in the frequency between transmitter and the receiver is known as Doppler shift or the Doppler frequency. The transmitted and received signals can be represented as…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do you require a sneak top at what lies underneath your feet? Is it accurate to say that you are responsible for finding covered frameworks and underground utilities? Assuming this is the case, you could profit by using Ground Penetrating Radar administrations. The accompanying article will disclose everything you need to think about GPR.…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Electronics

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range, altitude, direction, or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as aircraft, ships, motor vehicles, weather formations and terrain. The term RADAR was coined in 1941 as an acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging. The term has since entered the English language as a standard word, radar, losing the capitalization in the process. Radar was originally called RDF (Radio Direction Finder) in Britain.…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Nature of Geography

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Meteorologists study atmospheric sciences and they perform a wide range of tasks, such as predicting weather patterns, measuring temperatures, air pressures and also includes broadcasting the analysed data to the public in a simple-to-understand way. However, they are only part of a wide spectrum in meteorology. Other meteorologists may include those involved in archive meteorology, which involves researching, verifying and reporting on past weather-related events. Meteorologists may also become teachers and professors in the field of specialty. The ‘typical weather forecaster’ may expect to work in a studio with various trackers and tools, then later working in a studio, interpreting the weather patterns displayed for the public. Most of the time, a meteorologist will use a computer, to manipulate data collected by other tools, devices and instruments, such as satellites, gauges and meters. Beware, meteorologists are not to be confused with climatologists, who study the long term trends rather than short term weather changes, as meteorologists do.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics