Explore the Wind - It’ll Blow Your Mind Away!

We are surrounded by air, but it’s during a windstorm that we really feel the presence of air around us. But why do winds blow and how does air decide in which direction to go?

Why wind blows?

Wind is the flow of air in a specific direction and here are three key factors that cause winds to blow in a direction:

Temperature

When the Sun shines on Earth, its rays don’t reach our atmosphere uniformly and some places heat up more than the others. For example, the equatorial regions receive more heat from the Sun than other parts of the Earth. As a result, the temperature of air varies across different regions on Earth. The warm air is lighter than the cold air, so warm air rises up and the cold air from the surrounding areas moves in to replace the warm air. This causes a flow of air from colder to warmer areas.

2. Pressure

As we move on Earth towards the areas of higher altitude, the atmospheric pressure increases. This difference in land elevation on the Earth’s surface also affects air movement. The air moves from an area of high pressure to the areas with low pressure, creating a wind current. The difference in the pressure determines the speed of air, the greater the pressure difference, the greater the wind speed.

3. Earth’s rotation

The Earth’s rotation on its axis causes the air in the Northern Hemisphere to shift to the right and air in the Southern Hemisphere to shift to the left. This creates clockwise or counter clockwise winds, known as prevailing winds.

How do we use winds to improve our lives?

Humans have used wind to their advantage in many ways, for example, before we had engines to move vessels, we used sail-powered ships to explore the sea and travel. From history, we know that humans relied on winds’ speed and direction to establish quick, reliable routes to travel across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Wind is also a source of generating electricity (using windmills). The wind energy is environment friendly and sustainable, which means that the source of wind energy is not finite, and it can be sustained for foreseeable future.

Knowing and predicting the winds make our lives safe and comfortable in many other ways. For example, we need to know the wind speed/direction to fly safely. Similarly, engineers need to know the wind speed in an area to design safe buildings, especially skyscrapers.

Make your own tornado at home!

Tornadoes are one of the most severe forms of weather that Saskatchewan faces in the summer. They can be very exciting to watch on television but can also be dangerous.

Using the materials included in the Out of the Box Outdoor Science Kit, you can create your very own tornado in two bottles at home and amaze your friends and parents!

In addition to this activity, the kit includes supplies for 10 more hands-on science themed activities that you can perform to learn more about natural phenomena such as the Sun, stars, etc.

Learn more