Let’s take a look!

Bill Nye the Science Guy

The wind all over the worlds is caused by heating and cooling of the Earth. The Wind can do work and make sailboats go.

Well, he went right toward the door.

Now, real wind doesn't come from a fan. No, in nature, the wind is caused by the heat from the Sun and the rotation of the Earth. That's what makes these intricate patterns of clouds that we see on this photo from space. It works something like this. This is our great big plastic wind box of science. These lights represent the Sun, and this ice represents the North and South Poles. So here's what happens. Energy from the Sun heats the land, and the land warms the air over the land. The air molecules get going faster; they spread farther apart, so they don't weigh as much for the room they take up. So cold air can push the warm air up. That's why we say warm air rises. So look what's happening. The smoke shows us that the air is sinking over the cold poles, flowing over the cities, and then rising over the warm parts. See it goes around in a great big circle, and that's what happens on the Earth. Now, there's one more thing. The earth is spinning. So, the winds start spinning. That's why the wind comes from all different directions. Wind is wild!

Bill Nye the Science Guy