Why is strong wind able to sway and knock down a tree, but a human who weighs far less could easily wander through the same wind?
In: Physics
Surface area. The leaves cover more area that can be affected by the wind. The same tree with only branches wouldn’t be knocked over
I’ll explain in a true ELI5 sense:
Forces are generally affecting you in directions x, y, and z.
Now when you are fixed or immobile against one of those directions, the force tries to bend the object instead (think of trying to hold one end of a ruler with one hand and pushing the other end with your other hand) your hand provided resistance equal or greater to the push force, but only one one side (tree root) so one side end up being pushed, while the other not and a bend kind of reaction happens. now for the 5 year olds part:
Trees are immobile, people are mobile. Strong winds put out a lot of force. This force tries to move whatever it comes in contact with. Trees are still immobile, people have feet and are mobile. Wind forces tries to move tree, tree do not want to move, wind still tries to move tree, so the force ends up breaking the tree through bending moment. People can plant their feet to balance during a strong storm, but it doesn’t give equal resistance to the force from Wind, you end up moving slower or being pushed back depending on how strong the wind is.
Forces are either met by equal resistance, which makes something stable (equilibrium) or the Force is stronger, which affects the object by dispalcing it or breaking it. The power of those forces are highly determined by the receiving object’s surface area. So trees are more affected than humans and since most of their surface area is at the top, while they are rooted at the bottom, this creates a weak spot towards the bottom, that will break if the wind is strong enough
Latest Answers