Why does wind blow?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: Air moves from high to low pressure
Air moves from high to low pressure ✓ — Correct! Wind happens because air moves from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas. The sun heats Earth's surface unevenly - some areas get warmer, creating low pressure as warm air rises. Cooler air (high pressure) rushes in to fill the space, creating wind. The greater the pressure difference, the stronger the wind!
Trees wave and push the air — Wrong. Trees don't create wind - they move because of wind! Wind is air in motion caused by pressure differences in the atmosphere.
Temperature makes air vibrate — Wrong. Temperature changes air density and pressure, but doesn't make it vibrate to create wind. Wind forms when air moves from high-pressure to low-pressure areas.
More Weather & Climate questions
- Why can a small shift toward larger hail raise damage so much?
- Why do hail researchers simulate the paths individual hailstones take through a storm instead of just counting how many thunderstorms occur?
- Why does hail reach the ground smaller and less often in the tropics than in mid-latitudes?
- Why can one hailstone have both clear and cloudy ice layers instead of growing in one simple up-and-down path?
- Why is the coldest storm top not the best place for hail to grow?
- Why do supercells make 5-cm hail when ordinary storms usually cannot?