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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle

What force holds a tornado together?

Texas tornado ... how does it do that? Photograph: Jason Weingart/Barcroft Images
Texas tornado ... how does it do that? Photograph: Jason Weingart/Barcroft Images

What holds a tornado together? The winds, and thus the air molecules, are travelling in a tight circular path, often at hundreds of miles an hour. In order to make something travel in a circle, there must be a force on it directed towards the centre of the circle (like the sun’s gravity keeping the planets in orbit). The only force that seems to be available is pressure difference, but even if the centre of the tornado were a vacuum, the difference would only be one atmosphere, which doesn’t seem sufficient. What am I missing?

Chris Evans, Earby, Lancs

• Post your answers – and new questions – below or email them to nq@theguardian.com

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