Since things heat up when they move faster (i.e. particles and the definition of temperature), why does air feel nice and cool in a breeze, or from a fan? Why isn’t the air warmer than normal when it’s moving faster?
In: Physics
The speed of wind is very small compared to the speed of individual air particles. The average speed of particles in the air is about 300-400 metres per second. Compare that to a normal wind speed of less than 3 metres per second. Adding 3 m/s from wind to 300 m/s barely makes a difference.
Wind feels cold because when you stand still, your body warms the air around it. The warmer air around your body prevents you from losing heat as quickly.
Wind replaces the warm air with cold air again, letting you lose heat more quickly and feel cold.
**Edit:** A fun consequence of how wind cools you down is that, assuming the air is saturated with water, or you’re not sweating (somehow), if the air is warmer than 37 C (body temperature), wind will actually warm you up, since it’s pushing hotter air in to replace the air that already lost some of its heat into your body.
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