Eli5 Why does air pressure push in all directions and not just down

Question

If air pressure is gravity pulling air down why does it also push up and to the sides?

In: 0

Answer 1

It doesn’t, it simply moves in the direction of any lower pressure areas. If that happens to be in the direction our senses perceive as “up”, that’s the direction in which it will “push”.

There are far more complexities at work here but this *is* ELI5.