Class Response: Global and Local Winds

All winds are caused by the uneven heating of the earth's atmosphere, however there are more than one kinds of winds. There are global winds which include the doldrums, the horse latitudes, the trade winds, the polar easterlies, and the prevailing westerlies. Then, there are local winds. The doldrums are located at zero degrees latitude, or the equator. There is very little wind here and so it makes it difficult for the sailors to travel in these parts. In fact, many actually get stuck in the doldrums. Also, horse latitudes are where the sailors needed to heave their horses off of their boat because they weighed them down too heavily when they ran out of food. Moreover, the trade winds are good for sailors, they are steady with clear skies. Contrarily, prevailing westerlies are stronger winds, and the polar easterlies are cold and steady winds. Unlike local winds however, all of these winds blow in a certain direction. Although, they do not blow from north to south or east to west directly, they are slightly curved corresponding to the rotation of the earth on its axis. This is called the coreolis effect. This is what makes local winds different from global winds; the fact that they can blow in any direction as apposed to global wind which blow in specific directions.

Class Response: Kites

This month during science class we are learning about wind. What better way to strate how wind works than to experience it hands on with a kites experiment?And so, that is just what we did. After we had made our kites, we went outside and tried to fly them. Unfortunately, all our attempts were fruitless. At first, i just concluded that there was no wind that day and left it at that, however after learning more about wind I can understand why there was no wind. For instance, wind is caused by the uneven heating of the earth's atmosphere, and so that is why there is a lot of wind by the beach. In fact, since the water is so close to the land on the beach, a lot of sea breezes and land breezes are formed. That is because the water is not as hot as the land, so as the hot air over the land rises, the cool air over the sea comes in to replace the old air. This is an example of a sea breeze. Unfortunately for us, we were not at the beach where we can experience such a breeze, and at that time the air around us was equally heated so there was no need for the air to move about, therefor causing no wind.