WEBVTT - How Wind Works 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.200 Heart Radio. Hey, I'm welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:15.680 and there's Chuck and Jerry's here too, and this is 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:20.040 stuff you should know. Get another edition of our never 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:25.480 ending Please don't ever let it in um Earth Science Week. 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:29.400 That's right? Uh? Can I tell you a quick story? 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:35.680 Have added you edged? I know, actually considered what I 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:38.800 should say. The astute listener with it heard you go 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:45.559 before he said yes, hopefully Jerry can edit them. Uh. So, 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:47.400 I think I may have talked about this before, but 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.239 I had aims at one point, and not like the 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:54.200 most passionate aims. But I thought about being a meteorologist 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.920 for a little while in college because I was headed 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.960 toward a journalism may juror. And I think I mentioned 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:05.160 before my best friend from high school, the the map 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.760 illustrator today Ra. We we sit around and watch the 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:11.840 Weather Channel, largely due to Rad's influence, and I just 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:15.360 always thought it was cool. I took a meteorology class 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:22.080 in college and it kicked the poopoo out of my body. Yeah. 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.920 I had a similar experience with astronomy. Yeah, so I 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:27.720 knew what, like you wanted to be an astronomer and 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:29.360 then you're like, this is too hard. I thought it 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:31.280 was gonna be like, look at this star, this is 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.720 pretty awesome. And then like the first day, like the 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.039 sigma like signs shows up, I'm like, I don't know 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:39.039 what to do with this. So I think, I think 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:41.600 I get where you're coming from. Yeah, so that kind 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:46.560 of dashed my dreams of being a meteorologist, because you know, 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.680 I mean we I think people can teach themselves things, 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.080 and like, part of the hard part of our job 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.360 is to teach ourselves something really like that. People go 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:59.120 to school for four years to study, and I think 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.400 you can sort of teach yourself stuff. But unless there's 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:06.280 a you have just a fundamental, weird innate understanding of 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:08.520 that stuff, it's just really challenging. Like if you're not 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.280 a math person, you can learn math, but not like 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.919 someone who just really gets numbers. Sure, Yeah, definitely makes 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:18.200 sense totally. And I'm not sure we've ever really by we, 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:22.480 I mean humanity, have put our finger on what that 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:26.360 distinction is that it'd be interesting to know what some 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:29.400 of the hypotheses are. Maybe we should do a podcast 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.800 on it. Yeah, that'd be good. So anyway, that's a 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:36.040 long winded way, long winded way of sort of saying, 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:38.800 you know, I did this over and over and studied 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:41.640 wind of the past couple of days, and I I 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.960 kind of get it enough for this show. But but 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:48.400 I'm not going to be a meteorologist for a very 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.280 good reason. Yeah, I'm with you. Um, I've got it 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:53.920 just enough. That feels like there's a massive opening on 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:55.880 the side of my head and everything I know about 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.440 when could just fall right out at any moment. But 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:00.800 it's in there for now, keep it shut for the 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:03.280 next forty But I'm trying. I've got my hand cover. 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:08.079 It's really gooey in there. It's more complex than you 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:10.440 would think, but some parts are easier as well. Yeah, 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.440 And I mean, like, even if you're talking about wind, um, 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:16.960 you can kind of break down what what wind is 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:20.360 and what causes wind and what creates wind um into 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:23.880 basically three different things. The first one is heat, which 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:27.880 we'll get into. Another one is pressure differences we'll get 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:31.079 into that as well, and then the rotation of the planet, 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.160 which we will get into in this episode. But yeah, 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:39.080 that's it gets a little tricky. Yes, agreed, Totally agreed, Um, 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:41.000 And I say, we just dive in and we start 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.520 with pressure differences creating wind, because I think it's the 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:46.000 simplest thing to understand, and I think once you have 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:49.920 pressure differences down, you can move on to the heat part. Yeah. 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:51.760 I mean this was this the grab stir Did he 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:53.880 help us with this one? Yes? And I have to 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:58.960 say the grab shirt did an amazing job angling this info. Yeah. No, 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:01.480 hats off to him. Is you know ed out? I 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:05.200 think ed always has a knack of uh delivering a 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:09.280 metaphorical type example that really hits home. And with pressure 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:12.520 he uses just a balloon filled with air where you 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:16.880 have high pressure and low pressure, and when you take 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.560 your fingers off the tip of that balloon, all that changes. 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:23.400 Because what wind is really always trying to do on 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:28.000 planet Earth is equalize and reach some sort of equilibrium. 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.200 And that's basically what's happening with wind. As you have 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:34.200 high pressure, which is you know, technically more air, and 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:37.800 that's gonna go flow away from itself because it wants 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.080 to equalize, and then it's gonna where there's less air, 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.000 the surrounding area is gonna flow towards the lower area. 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:48.280 So as it relates to wind, there's basically more wind 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:52.200 and the winds are faster when those two disparities are 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:55.599 the greatest. Yeah, if you get a parcel of air um, 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:57.640 which is just a kind of a stable mass of 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:02.120 air as far as meteorologist at concerned, that's really high pressure, 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.680 and you get on this really low pressure that along 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.440 the edges of those two places, there's gonna be much 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:10.840 higher wind than if they're a lot closer between high 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.480 and low. If they're closer to the same And so 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:18.080 that's I mean, that's wind right there. Um, it just 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.640 changes in differences in pressure. Different parcels of air coming 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:23.960 up against one another and saying I'm gonna fill you up, 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:26.240 and then the other one says, fill me up. And 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:29.560 that's the filling up. Is the wind the movement of 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:35.120 the air. Yeah, so pretty easy, I think. So Yeah, 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.640 it's just where does those where do those um differences 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:45.280 of pressure come from? Are you? Are you asking me? Yeah, Well, 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:47.800 they come from the well, the heat is a big 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:51.000 source where all this comes from. Which and you kind 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:53.200 of well, I thought you hinted, but then we did 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:58.240 a different take and you've rescinded that hint. But the 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:02.360 sun when it heats the earth it heats the surfaces 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:04.080 of the Earth. It doesn't really heat the air so 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.200 much as it heats the surfaces whether it's water or 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:11.240 land or like asphalt or sand or green grass, and 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:15.520 they all have different temperatures, and that disparity is kind 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:17.880 of the key to it all because that's going to 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:20.720 reflect back up and that's kind of what heats the air, 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:24.240 is the reflection of that sun onto these various temperatured 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:28.320 surfaces or not temperature, but I guess ability to soak 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.760 up that sun maybe, right, yeah, because it's not it's 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.039 not at all uniform. Like you said, all these different 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.440 kinds of materials found on the surface of Earth, like 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.880 absorbed heat differently and radiate heat differently. So that means 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.760 that the air above it that's getting heated by that 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.039 land is going to be different than a different parcel 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:49.640 of air like over water, right yeah. And so because 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:54.120 um heat has to do with pressure and typically is 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:59.680 associated with low pressure, UM heat warms air, makes it expand, 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.359 which makes it less dense, which means it starts to 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:06.320 float up away from the Earth's surface. And as it's 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.560 floating up away from the Earth's surface, because of that 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:15.360 um that equilibrium that air seeks areas of higher pressure 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.480 like move in to fill that vacuum that space that's 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.800 being left by that lower pressure parcel of air that's 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.160 floating up into space because it's warm, right, And this 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:29.280 is that circular it's called convection. Like you've ever bought 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.880 a or seen a bad infographic on a convection of 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:38.120 and it's it's bound to have like red pulsating circular 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.680 arrows right, kind of going up and then back down 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:43.720 again in a circle. And that's what it is. That's 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.080 all it is, is convection. It's the same thing remember 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.760 that visions cookware in the eighties that you could see through. 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:51.640 So if you ever watched a pot of water boil 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:54.000 in one of those things, that's convection as well. Like 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.320 those bubbles going up, the hottest ones start to float 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.560 and they're replaced by cooler stuff that in in its 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:02.960 place starts to get heated up and starts to float. 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.920 And so what you've got is basically like a circular 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.440 conveyor belt like a ferris wheel almost where the air 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:12.440 that's heated at the I think so too, especially if 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:14.120 we're talking about one of those ferrist wheels. Where the 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:19.800 little cabins spin all the way around on their own axis. Terrifying. Yeah, 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.240 so you've got a ferris wheel, and as the ferris 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:25.440 wheel goes up the warm air that becomes less dense, 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:28.000 and it rides to the top, and when it hits 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:29.800 the top, it's colder up there than it is at 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:31.960 the surface, so it starts to cool down. So it 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:34.680 comes back down the other side. And as it's coming 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:37.880 down because it's cooler, other air that replaced it before 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:40.840 is going up because it's gotten warmer in its place, 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:45.760 and it's just this constant moving ferris wheel. Like you said, convection, 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:50.240 that's convection rising and falling parcels of air in this case, 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:52.280 but it can also be you know, bubbles of air 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.120 and water for boiling, or pockets of air in your 0:08:55.160 --> 0:09:00.880 convection of it or something. Right, So, now, everybody, we 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.880 talked a little bit about the Coriolis force or the 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:07.720 Coriolis effect before. I don't remember what it was in 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.040 I don't remember either, because we we definitely have talked 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:18.720 about multiple times about your sink or toilet drain. Right, 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.280 So here's what I understand. The part where I get 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.040 a little fuzzy is how as it relates to wind, 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:25.760 And I know that you've got that down, So I 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.280 think we should make a pretty good dance partners here 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:34.079 and two. But I do understand, like the Coriolis force 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:39.120 only affects objects that are moving around something that's rotating, 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:41.160 and in this case we're talking about the Earth. But 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:43.719 like it's it's very easy for me to understand that 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:48.080 if a plane takes off in Miami and tries to 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.240 fly to Seattle, it's not like by the time it 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.480 gets to Seattle, the Earth is going to be in 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:56.679 a different position. So Seattle is because it rotates, So 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:58.960 Seattle is going to be in a different place. So 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.000 when you look at the little map, it's not going 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.439 you can't fly in a straight line from Miami to Seattle. 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.080 You have to fly in a curve to meet up 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.880 with where Seattle is eventually going to be. Yeah, So 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.120 that all makes sense to me as it relates to wind. 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.680 It kind of even after reading this like eight times, 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.280 got a little still a little hazy. So the way 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:18.720 that I saw it described that makes the most sense 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:22.320 to me is that, um, the Earth being like a 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:26.480 sphere or kind of like a sphere, of shape. Um, 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:30.000 But every part of the planet rotating, making making a 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:33.240 full rotation in twenty four hours means that some parts 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:36.160 of the planet have a lot further distance to travel 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:39.280 than other parts of the planet. So the equator, equator, yeah, 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:43.280 the equator has to travel about forty kilometers in twenty 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:46.600 four hours, but as you go closer to the polls, 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.199 there's a lot further distance. I think it like, um, 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:54.000 like eighty nine degrees north latitude, right right below the 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:57.720 North Pole, it has to travel sixty nine miles in 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.520 twenty four hours. So no part of the Earth can 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.959 arrive before another part of the Earth within twenty four hours. 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.600 It just doesn't work like that. So some parts of 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.640 the Earth travel more slowly than others. Still, you you 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:14.520 got it so far, Okay. Now what I saw is 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.439 that if you fire, say like a cannon from the 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:22.480 equator towards the North Pole. When you're firing, I just 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.480 it's like one of those cannons that the cannonball is 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:28.600 filled with candy, so you're not it's not hostile at all. 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:32.200 It's a very fun cannon exactly. I think we just 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:36.160 invented a new great thing. Um. So when you shoot 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:40.640 that cannonball north towards the North Pole. You're shooting it 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:44.320 at the speeds that the cannon was already traveling, which 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:46.760 is something like a thousand miles an hour on the equator, 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.959 and as it gets further and further north, it's reaching 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.160 a part of the Earth that isn't moving as fast 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:56.240 as the equator. So that means that the cannonball actually 0:11:56.240 --> 0:11:59.040 appears to curve to the right because it gets ahead 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.400 of the Earth as it's traveling. So that cannonball is 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:06.920 gonna land um east of your target of the North Pole. 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:10.160 Got it? Yeah, But see what's confusing me now is 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:11.960 the thing that you set me that said to explain 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:15.040 it best was from a surfing website and it had 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:19.439 to do with Spanish roundabouts. Okay, that's another way to 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:23.400 put it to you. So we have well, we haven't 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:25.160 quite reached that. We haven't quite reached that. I have 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:28.480 one more part of the cannonball to say. If you're 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.600 at the polls and you're you shoot a cannon toward 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:36.200 um the equator, you're shooting it from a slower place 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:38.640 to a faster place, so the cannon is going to 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.199 curve behind your target to the west. Of the target, 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:46.120 But to you, the person firing the cannon, it's still 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:49.240 curved to the right. So no matter where you're firing 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.760 a cannon from, whether the equator or the poles, it's 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.719 going to curve the same way in the northern or 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:57.880 the southern hemisphere, to the right in the north, to 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.400 the left in the southern hemisphere. Now out we we 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:05.439 hit the roundabout part. Okay, are you do you want 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.920 to take that one? Well, I mean sure, it's it's 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:10.760 sort of common sense. If you drive on the right 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.320 hand side of the road and you enter a round about, 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:18.080 you're gonna be going counterclockwise around it, and if you 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:19.760 drive on the left hand side of the road, it 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:24.600 will be the opposite. Is it. Is it really that simple? Yes? 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:26.640 It depends on which way the air is moving. So 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.760 if you're talking about around about do you remember our 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.280 episode we just did the short stuff on the direction 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:37.920 humans tend to travel. Yeah, yeah, right, if you're certain countries, 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:41.319 and we talked about how if you're entering a circle 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.319 and you go to the right, you you end up 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:47.400 going counter clockwise. But if you're in the circle and 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:54.079 you go to the right, you end up going clockwise. Oh, yeah, yeah, okay, 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.200 the same thing happens. So if you have a high 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.520 pressure system, air is flowing away from it, so that 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.640 air is coming out of the circle. But any direction 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.640 that that air is going, say in the northern hemisphere, 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:09.280 it's going to veer to the right. But since it's 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:11.960 coming outside of the circle, that means that all of 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:19.480 that air eventually is getting spun into a clockwise direction. Yeah. 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.840 If it's going into that parcel of air, that circle 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.600 of air, because it's low pressure, everything's coming into it 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:29.600 at a right hand angle, which means that the spin 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:33.480 of the air is counter clockwise. I love it. I 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.920 think it's really interesting. I was watching, as always, a 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.200 lot of kids science videos to learn this stuff, and 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.960 one of them had a sort of a map of 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:46.040 the hurricanes of the world and as far as like 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:49.720 the directionality, using just little lines and arrows, and it's 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:52.320 just fascinating to look at the band of the equator. 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:54.880 I don't know how wide of an area that is 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:57.760 that deflects it, but there are no hurricanes at the 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:02.600 equator or within that certain band of width around the equator, 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:04.920 and it's it's just cool to look at, you know, 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.320 above and below the equator. How these hurricanes approach it 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:10.680 and then almost are like no, no, no, no, thank 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:13.640 you and go and just take a turn. Yeah, they 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:17.040 get deflected by the air, the convection currents. They're right. Yeah, 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:20.200 it's really fascinating. I think it's fascinating too, And I 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:22.160 say we take a break and come back and talk 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:57.160 more about wind of all things. Let's do it all, right, Chuck. 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.680 So you're talking about how that that um, the movement, 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:05.680 that convection of air combined with the Coriolis effect creates 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:09.200 cyclones and hurricanes, depending on what hemisphere you're in in 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:13.000 the world, right, m hm um. It also like that 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:16.520 a cyclone or hurricane is a really tight weather system. 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:20.560 They're rarely that tight. They're usually much more spread out 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:23.320 and much looser, but generally the same thing. And because 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:27.400 of those two things, the convection currents and the Coriolis effect, 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:31.800 that means that air spreads around the world. It travels 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.480 around the world. If we didn't have a rotating planet, 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:36.600 we would just have a convection current that went from 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.000 the equator to the pulse, the equator to the pulse, 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.560 and that's it. But because of that Coreolis effect, it 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:46.160 spreads around the world, right, and in as it kind 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:49.400 of spreads around the world, it's also kind of staying 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:54.520 within a certain number of latitude and forms these large 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.960 giant cells, so that each band of latitude around the 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:02.240 world generally has its own weather. Yeah. I mean this 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:04.520 part is really cool and it it makes perfect sense. 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:07.000 You know, the equator is where it's going to to 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:11.199 be warmest on planet Earth, and as the air is 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:15.159 you know, reflected back up with the Coriolis effect and 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:17.720 it goes further north, it's going to start cooling down. 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:22.359 And they've basically figured out at about thirty degrees latitude 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:24.760 it will have cooled down enough at that point to 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:29.000 finally descend again. But when it's descending again, it's always 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:32.560 seeking that equal equilibrium. So it's gonna be pulled back 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:36.199 towards the equator again by the low pressure caused by 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.560 heating and rising to begin with. So again it's that 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.800 convection cycle. But they figured out that it's about thirty 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:46.000 degrees where that temperature change finally is enough for that 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.399 to happen again. Yeah, And so because of the Coriolis effect, 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:53.679 you have high atmosphere winds traveling from west to east 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.960 and then when they descend, they come back down from 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:00.280 uh east to west. In those form the trade winds. 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:04.520 In this giant cell that's called a Hadley cell, which 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:06.879 is between the equator and like you said, about thirty 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:10.600 degrees north latitude. That's one or two of those. Yes, 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:12.880 there's one in the north and there's one in the south. 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:16.800 And then around around the poles there are two other cells, 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:20.399 appropriately called polar cells. And because it's so cold, the 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.000 equator has its cells because it's so hot. The poles 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:26.680 have their cells because they're so cold that any difference 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.800 in temperature is like a radical difference in temperature. So 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:32.760 they have their own convection currents that operate at the 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:36.160 poles as well. That's right, Uh. And like you said, 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.400 that's the polar cell that hits it about sixty degrees 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:46.800 and it's just too too basically uh, temperatures of convection 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:50.520 happening on both sides of the Earth. And then in 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.639 between you've got what's called the feral cell and the 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.639 R R E L And this is between thirty and 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:00.879 sixty degrees obviously roughly, and right here, you know, the 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.800 heat differential isn't that much. It's not the you know, 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:06.600 super super cold or super super hot, so you're not 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:09.600 going to get as much like radical convection going on. 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:13.200 And most of the movement there is caused by the 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.720 Hadley cell below it and the polar cell above it, 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:18.720 sort of knocking it about in between. Yeah, which is 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.720 really cool because that means that the friction from the 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:26.640 Hadley cell below and the polar cell above it are 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:32.160 actually spinning the air in the Ferreal cell. And because 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.800 the polar cell and the and yeah, and the Hadley 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:38.879 cell are both spinning counter clockwise, they're like gears turning 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:42.080 a cog, and that cog is the Ferrell cell. And 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:45.000 because they're both spin encounter clockwise, they spin the Ferreal 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:50.440 cell clockwise. That's right. That's just so not so amazing 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:53.320 to me that this is happening at all times on 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:58.560 planet Earth. Yes, And because of the tilt of the 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:01.639 Earth on its axis as it rotates, which gives us 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:06.480 the seasons, the different different strengths and um amounts of 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:09.879 this kind of movement of air, and where they are 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.400 within that band of latitude that they exist in changes 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:16.800 over the course of a year, which gives us different 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:18.960 kinds of weather on different parts of the Earth over 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:22.479 different times of the year, that's right, and all of 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:26.040 this stuff going on, all of these the Haley cells, 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.600 the polar cells, and the feral cells all interacting with 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:32.320 the Coriolis force that we talked about and that you 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:36.600 wonderfully explained with candy cannons and all these different pressure 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:38.639 gradients that we explained at the beginning. All of this 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:42.760 stuff together causes the jet streams. Uh, if you've ever 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:46.399 flown there's an airplane, you know, and they say we 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.000 can we can make up some time if we fly 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.080 a little higher, or you know, if we're going you know, 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:54.120 east to west or west to east, things are gonna 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:56.240 like your speed is going to be different because of 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.119 these jet streams. They're super powerful and very focused in 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:03.280 bands a few hundred miles wide that just wrap around 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.640 the planet. And the polar jet stream that's that's the money. 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:08.119 When that's where you're really going to be able to 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:14.399 like utilize an airplane's efficiency at its maximum. The subtropical 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:16.760 jet stream isn't as powerful, so it doesn't get as 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:19.359 much pressed, but the polar jet stream can go like 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:22.560 two miles an hour, and that's when you know, when 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:24.480 you fly up in that thing. That's when you're it's 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:27.600 like walking on a moving sidewalk in an airport, Yeah, 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:29.840 but one that goes two hundred miles an hour. So 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:32.520 hang onto your hats, right, So you're still walking, but 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:36.000 you're getting that extra boost exactly. Um. And the reason 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:39.240 the jet stream is so powerful up north, the polar 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.159 jet stream is because the difference in temperature between the 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:44.920 Polar cell and the Ferrel cell is much different. It's 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.600 much greater than the difference in temperature between the Hadley 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.639 cell just above the equator and the Ferrell cell. Between 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:56.040 the Polar and the Hadley cells right right, And because 0:21:56.040 --> 0:21:59.760 of that temperature gradient, there's density differences. So air moves 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:04.720 really really fast, and it wants to go from the north, 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:09.640 from the poles toward the Ferreal cell into the mid latitudes, 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:11.880 but it can't. It can't go all the way down 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:15.000 because the pull of the Coriolis effect is such that 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:19.080 it stretches it out into a stream, and it's a 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:22.000 messy stream. It's not like a clear, easy going stream, 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:24.760 and it changes from point to point around the Earth, 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:26.720 and depending on the time of the year and even 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:30.120 time of the day. I would imagine, but it stretches 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:34.720 it out, and sometimes when the the difference in temperature 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:38.879 is so extreme, the jet stream can actually come down 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:41.760 further south. And that's what happens. Remember when we get 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:45.040 a polar vortex every once in a while, that's the 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:51.080 northern polar cell extending like so powerfully into the United States, 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:54.199 into the heart of the feral cell where most of 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:58.400 us in the US live. Right. I just think that's 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:01.320 fascinating And if you want us see that like in action, 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:04.760 there's a really cool video called NASA Satellite Sees Polar 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:08.840 Vortex on the move and it it's I guess satellite 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:14.119