When you think of wind, you probably think of cold air. It can be dreadful for some people or wonderful for others. Well, wind is very important to our society, but before you know what those things are, you first have to know what wind is and how it works in order to understand the whole concept.
To begin with, wind is moving air and the reason why it blows is because of air pressure! Air pressure is created when one or more forces in the atmosphere meet. Basically it's gravity pressing against the earth's surface. Air pressure is the weight above you and is measured by pounds. The higher you go, the less air pressure there is, so the less wind there is, too. Pressure is also connected to temperature, so if one changes so does the other. For example, if you put a football into a refrigerator for a couple of minutes, when you take it out it will be deflated because the temperature dropped and so did the pressure causing the ball to deflate. Then when the ball gets warmer, it gains back it's original shape. But the atmosphere is a little different than a football. See, when the temperature rises that's when the pressure drops!
Well now that you know exactly what causes wind you can get ready to hear some interesting information on wind and its good and bad features. One way it is good is for sailing! Did you ever wonder how those sailors get over the ocean safely? Well, the answer is wind! The types of wind they use are prevailing winds. The way these winds work are that they keep blowing at one certain latitude and the sailors use that as a reference to guide them. Did you know that if the earth didn't rotate on its axis that wind would only blow straight north or south?
Well, of course when you think of wind you evidently think of cold weather. But that is not always true. In some cases, there is a wind called feon that is one of the strangest winds on earth. It is a hot, dry, winter-time wind that goes down mountains and slopes. Feons begin forming when warm air rises from lowlands to mountain peaks. As it rises it loses its moisture from evaporation. Then after it rises to the mountain peak, the air rapidly moves downward, becoming warmer by the time it reaches the foot of the mountain due to the fact that it lost its moisture on the way.
Forecasters use wind to predict the weather! Also, they tell us about the highs and lows in the weather. Highs often bring good weather, but lows bring storms. Wind isn't all wonderful! The reason some people aren't fond of wind is because it brings extremely big predicaments and destruction in some cases. Hurricanes, gales and especially tornadoes are all huge wind storms. Wind can be so powerful that it would blow a sailboat over across the ocean!
Believe it or not, wind brings electricity! See, modern wind mills are used to turn wind power into electricity in some cases! Wind is one of the most powerful forces on earth. Wind causes erosion because it wears down rocks and literally scoops out canyons!
Wind speed is measured with an instrument called an anemometer. This is just a series of cups built up on a shaft that can spin fairly easily. When the wind moves, so do the cups. So the faster the wind blows, the faster the cups spin like a pinwheel and that is how they record the speed of wind. The wind speed of a sneeze is 100 miles per hour!
Well, those are some interesting facts about wind and how it works! Thank
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