Horse latitudes
Alright kiddo, let's talk about something interesting today - horse latitudes!
So, you know that the Earth is like a ball and it spins around itself to make day and night happen. But did you know that the Earth also spins around the sun? It takes a whole year for the Earth to go around the sun, and as it does that, it gets warm in some places and cold in others.
Now, one place on Earth where it can get really hot and dry is around 30 degrees latitude, both North and South. This area is called the horse latitudes. Do you know why they are called that?
Well, a long time ago, people used to sail ships across the ocean to trade with other countries. Sometimes, when they were going through the horse latitudes, the wind would stop blowing and the ship would be stuck there for days or even weeks. That was very bad because they would run out of food and water and the horses they were transporting would get very sick.
So, the sailors would sometimes throw the horses overboard to save the other cargo and themselves. It was a very sad thing to do, but they didn't have any other choice. That's why this area is called the horse latitudes.
But why does the wind stop blowing in the horse latitudes? That's because of something called the subtropical high pressure zone. It's like a big bubble of hot air that sits on top of the Earth's surface around those latitudes. The air moves in a circular motion, but there's not much wind inside the bubble. So, sailors call it the "doldrums" because they feel bored and powerless without any wind to move their ship.
But don't worry, kiddo. Nowadays, ships have engines to power them and airplanes fly over the horse latitudes. So, no more horses are thrown overboard and we can learn from history to make things better in the future.
So, you know that the Earth is like a ball and it spins around itself to make day and night happen. But did you know that the Earth also spins around the sun? It takes a whole year for the Earth to go around the sun, and as it does that, it gets warm in some places and cold in others.
Now, one place on Earth where it can get really hot and dry is around 30 degrees latitude, both North and South. This area is called the horse latitudes. Do you know why they are called that?
Well, a long time ago, people used to sail ships across the ocean to trade with other countries. Sometimes, when they were going through the horse latitudes, the wind would stop blowing and the ship would be stuck there for days or even weeks. That was very bad because they would run out of food and water and the horses they were transporting would get very sick.
So, the sailors would sometimes throw the horses overboard to save the other cargo and themselves. It was a very sad thing to do, but they didn't have any other choice. That's why this area is called the horse latitudes.
But why does the wind stop blowing in the horse latitudes? That's because of something called the subtropical high pressure zone. It's like a big bubble of hot air that sits on top of the Earth's surface around those latitudes. The air moves in a circular motion, but there's not much wind inside the bubble. So, sailors call it the "doldrums" because they feel bored and powerless without any wind to move their ship.
But don't worry, kiddo. Nowadays, ships have engines to power them and airplanes fly over the horse latitudes. So, no more horses are thrown overboard and we can learn from history to make things better in the future.
Related topics others have asked about: