I know I could easily google this question myself but I’m worried that the answer might be something that causes me to be afraid of it when I experience it in the future. Much like when you’re sick and google your symptoms and it jumps to cancer, I don’t want to google this and learn that every time I’m in a turbulent plane I’m likely going to crash and die. So I thought if it’s explained to me like I’m 5, I’ll get a straightforward answer but one that also assures me that there is no need to be afraid of flying either.
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My dad is into planes, and from what I understand, turbulence is just the plane shaking either from wind or from flying through an area of thin air.
Turbulence is just regions where the air is moving up or down and sometimes all around. There are situations where there is a large column of air that is all moving down and the plane can fly into this and feel like you are falling (because you are) but it never lasts long enough in one direction (up or down) to cause any issues. Also the plane can compensate when needed. It just feels scary but a plane has never been brought down by turbulence. The only danger is things inside the plane hitting you which is why they always ask you to put things away securely and wear a seatbelt.
You can think of it as being exactly the same as a bump in a road.
edit: anger-danger
Sun heat ground.
Ground heat air on top of it.
Hot air go up.
But not all ground heat air at same speed or intensity.
So some air go up fast but some go up slow.
That creates the bounces we call turbulence.
Fun fact. Fly low in a smaller plane over the ground and get rocked by turbulence. Take it out over a large lake (Great Lakes or ocean) and watch the turbulence magically disappear bc that ground (water) will heat uniformly thus heating the air uniformly.
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