Eli5: If heat is energy, how does cold wind exist? How can air move (have cold gusts of wind) if it’s not hot? Where does the energy for movement of cold air come from?

Question

I asked this in school and the teacher thought I was trolling and didn’t answer me. It’s been like 20 years and I still think about it, it drives me crazy lol.

In: Planetary Science

Answer 1

You are right that heat is energy, more specifically it is the kinetic energy of the particles. Cold air has slower moving particles than hot air. This means cold air is denser than walm. However importantly the cold air is still moving and still has energy.

Wind comes from cooler, denser air filling in the gap left by walm air as it rises. Think of a mushroom cloud, very hot air risers and the cooler air fills up the gap left.