AIR PRESSURE AND WIND YSTEM

14
Key Learning Points
The moe eier phenomenon of weather such as

.Atmospheric pressure and factors that bring

l e s laghtning must be dealt in detail incuding
about its variation.
FRutiNIs to te taken as this may be the time the
.Factors affecting wind flow on Earth's surfare
hili gets b eaware ot thesephenomenon
.Windstorms.
Destructions caused by storms and its
preventive measures.

our planet
A tmmosphere thick layer of air blanket that surrounds
is a

Earth.Living on Earth is quite like living below a sea of air. Although

we

are not onstantly aware of it, pYessure upon us. This

air exerts a lot of DSIIAT
goes unnoticed because the pressure within our body is able tob
The atnosphere exerts about
the outside pressure. You can feel the pressure of force 15 tonnes
ounterbaiante
ceated by air by simply observing the leaves moving or branches swaying (1 tonne = 1,000 kg) of air pressure
against a person.
on a tree.
If you go by a river side, you would have seen boats with a sail moving

easily. Fisthermen use the air pressure to their advantage.

We can measure pressure. We can increase or decrease the air pressure
gravity. force of
operate machines and to overcome the
and use it to

FACTORS ON WHICH AIR PRESSURE DEPENDS

becomes
tall mountain you will notice that your ears pop and your breathing
(0) Altitude : When you climb a
faster. air pressure decreases since there are
AS dimb a mountain, the number of air molecules decreases and
we

fewer molecules to put pressure on us.

ne
Air molecules This causes the ears to pop to balance the air pressure inside
950g 4200m ear and outside.

960g 3500m For the same reason some of your friends can get nose bleeg
and
the fine arteries burst as air pressure outside suddenly falls
9709 2700m
blood pressure stays relatively high.
980g 1800m As number of air molecules decreases that means oxyg
990g 900m molecules also decreases and in each breath we take In e
10000 Om oxygen, so we have to breath more often. So mountain cli
Atmospheric pressure may carry oxygen mask if they plan to climb, say the Mou
decreases at high altitude
Everest.

Air expands as temperature rises. Ajir molecules move apart and becomelessdense. L
(ii) Temperature:
molecules per unit area means less atmospheric pressure. Atmospheric pressure thus decreases
with

increase in temperature and vice versa."

-7
200 Zoom! in Science
 Japour: Moist air is lighter or less dense than dryair. Hence it exertsless pressure onus. iE
Water
Vapo
Air daoJA3I W
W e
k n o w

1.286g
nfair weighs1. Its
I water watervapour (not
liquid water) has a weight 0,8 g. So the air around us keeps getting lighter as
htreof
1moisture
content increases.

MINR presSure
oatal movement of air is calledwind.Itis caused by thehorizontaldifference atmospheric
in
lower level, similarly, air flows fróm area of higher pressure to area of lower
ows from higher level to
Materh
GUset- P.
highcv P -
ressure.
blow?
Why doeswind if itmay not be noticeable always) because
(even
yind blows
molecules have mass andweight.
a) Air
warm air.
heavier than
Wetha
) Cold air is sun rays warm the alr and it expands,
becomes lighter and rises up.
d During the day,
air blows to where warm lighter air
was.
(a) Cold heavier atmospheric pressure.
meaning more air molecules in an area, exerts higher
it
le) As cold air is heavier,
less air molecules in an area, it exertsless
As hot air is lighter, meaning
atmospheric pressure.
from higher level to lower level, air blows from high
() Like water flows area.
pressure area to low pressure
very close the wind blows
areas are
fthe high pressure and low pressure difference is very
fast. The wind blows very fast if the air pressure
very
large. S« E
Measurement of Wind Direction N
observed with the help of a wind vane
The direction of the wind can be on top.
cock'because it has a cock sitting A wind vane
commonly called The weather
Measurement of Wind Speed
an instrument
called the
measured with
Ihe speed of wind is usually
anemometer. Cup anemometers mainly used by meteorologicala
are
that spin around
cups on arms
Stations. It consists of 3-4 metal or plastic revolutions made by
A dial at the base records the number of
Vertical pole. indicates the speed of
the wind.
une cups in a given period of time, which
or blows hard,
the air around us
un nature the air around us blows slowly An anemometer
cools at night. These changes
neated by the sun during the day and
9EES
have a great effect on our weather pattern.
Let us do few activities to understand our nature
better,

ACTIVITY-1-
which it comes in contact.
Aim lOshow that air exerts pressure on surfaces with
water.
Materials Required:Plastic bottle,hatwater and ice cold
in it and leave for about 3-5minutes with
mineral water bottle. Pour some lukewarm water
Procedure: Take an empty plastic the battle tightly. keep it in shade and pour cold water over the
Then the water and immediately cap
the cap open. throw away
bottle.
Air Pressure and Wind Systems 201
 Observation: You will see that the
shape of the bottle gets
distorted. Why ? When lukewarm water
mineral water bottle. it
is poured
into the
gives out
vapour which drives out
air from the bottle. This
vapour inside the bottle condenses
on the wall of the Air
bottle on cooling which reduces the
amount ot air inside
thereby reducing the air pressure
inside the bottle. Ihe air
the bottle is greater and thus exertedby air outside
pressure the
presses hard on the bottle
D YPOU
surtace. making it distorted
Conclusion Atmospheric pressure is more than air
pressure inside the bottle as the air was driven
out. This
proves that air molecule puts pressure on outer wall of the A B C
Empty bottle Warm water thrown Cold water
plastic bottle and pushes it in. with lukewarm away and cap poured
water put tightly

ACTIVITY-2-
Aim:Io show that increase in wind speed leads to
drop in air pressure.
Materials Required Two balloons of
and straw.
samesize, strings.
a stick

Procedure: Inflate balloons of the same size and tie the thread
two
around the mouth of each one. Hang the balloons from a stick,
keeping a
distance of about 30 cm between the two. Blow through the straw
between the balloons.
Observation:The balloons come near each other. This happens because
the air is quite still around the outside of the two balloons initially. When
you blow in the space between the balloons. the increase in air speed
leads to a drop in air pressure: this exerts a greater pressure from the
sides of the balloon and so it pushes one balloon towards the other.
Conclusion:High wind speed reduces air pressure.

ACTIVITY 3-
Aim:To show that reduced air pressure can lift objects.
Materials Required: Stripofthin paper
Pracedure: Hold astrip ofpaper 3 cm wide and 8cm lang under your lower lip and
blow on the top surface.
Observation: Ihe strip ofpaper rises because the air which flaws acrassthe top
surface of the paper exerts a pressure which is less than the air pressure below.
where the air is stil. It is the higher pressure below which makes the paper rise.
Blowing over the paper reduces air pressure above the strip and the pressure from
below pushes the strip of paper up.
Conclusion: Ihus moving air can provide a'lit.Jetplanes use this mechanism in
flight.
202 Zoom! in Science -7
TVITY-4-

air expands on heating

w that
bottle. hotwaterand cold water
Required: Ballaon. glass
rials
:Inflate a balloon slightlyholdand place it on the neck of a glass bottle
twater in a basin and the glass bottle for about 2-3minutes
hot
o rsamehot
athe
h o tw a t e r

The balloon intlates stil further when the glass bottle is placedin
the air, likeall other substances is made up of tny
oorvation:

eThis is because
srticles called molecules Ihe heat makes these molecules move apart
eypand
The air the bottle thus spreads andtherefore. it needs more
nside
the balloon and intlates it
g t Setenters into
cold water on the bottle.
b
hothappens?

balcon detlstes because

the air molecules are, now atftected by the cold. and
ame oloser and
so it occupies only the space in the bottle and re-enters the

Balloon inflated Balloon deflated

Canclusion:Air expands on heating and also contracts on cooling.

ACTIVITY-5
Am: To show that hot air expands and rises.
Materials Required: Apaper spiral. hotplate and string.
Procedure: Draw a spiral on a square piece of paper and cut
centre of the spiral.
aiong the spiral lines. Make a little hole in the
Thiread the spiral through the hole and fasten it to a stick with a
t . Hang the spiral over a heat source a hotplate or even a
-
o Hotpiate
watt lectric bulb.
Ubservation: The spiral begins to spin on its own.
Ihs is because the air is warmed up by the heat from the hotplate
lighter it rises up. As it comes in contact with the spiral.
dME arbeingis channelled between the strips, pressing against them and making t spin round.

Conclusion:Cald air when heated rises up an expansion.

Allte bove activities help us to understand the behaviour of wind and climatic patterns in earth's atmosphere.
CE there is unequal distribution of heat received by sun's rays from the equator to the poles, pressure belts
are created on different latitudes of the earth's surface. The cause of pressure belts is also due to the fact that
Carth consists of both land and sea which show difference in their heating patterns.
E
E US discussthe cause of alternate high and low pressure belts over the earth's surface.

1. UNEQUAL HEAT DISTRIBUTION FROM EQUATOR TO POLES

0 Spherical shape of the earth, different parts of the earth are heated unequally. The equatorial region
ves a great amount of heat throughout the year. Warm air, being light, the air at the equator rises, creating
pressure.At the polar regions, the cold air sinks and an area of high pressure is created. Thesewindsblow
from no
and south pole towards the equator. In this way wind circulation is set up from the
pole polesto the
warmer latitudes.

Air Pressure and Wind

Systems 203
 Deflection of Winds
If the earth did not rotate on its axis, all winds would blow
straiah+.
high pressure to low pressure area, and die down when the r r
equalised. But the earth rotates and moves from west east, pressur
to
this rotation on its axis, the winds curve and are deflected as
d
and due te
The direction of this turning effect is stated in Ferrel's law.
the
they blow

nqual heating of eath

Ferrel'sLaw Coriolis Effect
Any object or fluid moving horizontally The curving
ausnmg md tlon nattem motion of the
in the northern hemisphere tends to be wind is called
Nvth
pole deflected to the right of its path of effect. Its effect isCoriolis
zero
ehectson k gt
motion and to the left of the path of equator, i.e, there is noat
motion in the southern hemisphere. deflection in the
Thus a wind which would normally wind
direction at
equator. This
blow from north to south is deflected deflection is maximum at
towards the west in northern the poles.
hemisphere.
lection o
2. UNEVEN HEATING OF LAND AND WATER
South pole
->wind direction () Land and Sea Breezes: You have read about land and sea
deflection breezes in
the chapterof 'Heat and Temperature'. Let us recall that land
Deflection effect of the
earth s rotation heated faster during the day but also loses its heat fast after gets
whereas water takes much longer time to get warm but also sunset,
time to cool. Land and sea breezes influence longer
only a narrow of strip
Day land, about 20-30 km wide along the
coast.
Night
t t tWarm air During day time, an area of low pressure
nises develops over the land because it
geis Sool ad breezes
heated faster than sea. The adjoining
Cool sea sea, which is still cooler develops a
breezes comparative high pressure. Cool breeze ises
called
"sea breeze'" starts flowing from
high pressure area of sea to low
Sea pressure area of land. The reverse Land
happens during night and "land breeze" Sea
Sea breeze starts blowing from high Land breeze
pressure over land
to low pressure
over the sea.
(i) Monsoon Winds: The word monsoon has
been derived from the
Arabic word 'mausam which means season. India lies in the
Northern
Hemisphere. In the months of May June we experience summer.
During summer, the land masses, especialy in Asia become extremely
DIsiGKT
hot. This causes the development of low pressure areas. As the The winds that blow out of the
land
mass of the Indian subcontinent gets heated a zone of Low region of ndian ocean follow the
pressure direction oflprevailing trade
develops over it. On the other hand, the Indian ocean remains winds which is S.E.
relatively cold and a zone of High pressure exists over it. Wind blows direction. AS
SOon as they cross the Equator
from zone of high pressure to the zone of low pressure. These winds they are deflected (by Coriolis
carry a huge amount of moisture and create monsoon cloud over torce) and they blow as S.W.
Indian ocean and move over the Indian subcontinents. monsoon.
204 Zoom! in Science -7
 Winter
S u m m e r

Low pressure
SE
onsoop
High pressure
(H.P
LP
Himal P) elaya
N.W
Monsoon

LP
(Doldrums N.E. Monsoon LOw pressu
(Doldrums

Egual
Equator

H i g hP r e s s u r e

S.E. N.W. Monsoon

S.E. Monsoon
( H o r sl
e a i u d e

Trades HP
Winter Rain-Oit -
Monsoons Rains- tO
cold creating a zone-
becomes very
season (December month)
the Indian subcontinent
the winter zone Over It.
During hand still remains warm and has a low pressure
Indian ocean on the other of rë
high pressure. The These winds carry little water, hence bringing small amount
land towards sea.
wind thus blow from the
southern part of India.
during winter in the
Monsoon winds
Land and Sea breezes where there isa
and affect only 1. These originate in tropical areas
These occuralong the coastal
areas
This affects our whole
1. great land and sea contrast.
among a band of 20
km.
country. time.
months ata
2. It is a seasonal wind blowing for
2. It blows for a few hours daily.
the oceans to land and
the sea, and 3. During summer, it blows from
3. At night, it blows from the land to in winter it blows from the land to the
oceans.
the land.
during the day, it blows from the sea to
rain in summer to the areas over
of 4. It brings heavy
4. It has a moderating influence on the temperature which it blowS.
the coastal areas

Let us Revise
True or False. U
pressureincreaseswith a decrease temperature.
1. Atmospheric
in
2. Wind is caused due to the . movement ofair.
aMd LD JIAAN2 e
3.
Whydocoastalareas experiencemoderateclimate? OM p
4. What are winter monsoons?

STORMS h19 by I A P O PU
You must have observed wind blowing with great speed creates disturbances.in the atmosphere. They canrais
a lot of roof of large scale
dust, uproot huge trees, blow away the houses and cause
property. Such strong winds are called storms. They are called by diferent names as cyclones, hurricanes ane
destruction toliean
YPngons according to the geographicatzonein which they form.
oslalSystems 205
Air Pressure and Wind
 What causes storm? O
Storms are formed
along the margins of very large air mass ith
(rom moisuie
evaporation of water bodies) which are rising or falling relative
each other. When the warmer
air mass pushed úup against a mass of cooler
to
air the warm air tries to travel over the top of the cooler air and wrap
around It. 3
As cooler air is dense thereis
practically no mixing and the
movement along the front of the Effect of storms
two air mass is like it was a
movement along solid surface.
Dew Point
As the huge mass of warm air
rises a vacuum like situation is This is the temperature at
which moisture in the
created and cooler air gushes
mass of air begins to
rising
in at high speed. This is the
to water. It
dondense
first stage of a storm. depends on the
The warm air keeps on atmospheric pressure and
Land masS Oceans moisture content of the wind
rising and it begins to cool
(for every thousand feet of gain
one in altitude 1 to 1.5 OC drop of
temperature can be seen). At a certain point the moisture
moisture inin the
the air
air mass
mass
Electrical charge inin clouds
ectrical charge cloude
Condenses and begins to fall ne When more and more water
condenses begins to fall as rain. Local storms often end with a
shower. (Sometimes, these storms
contair hailf
the initial droplets collide in the douds
hot mass of air the molecules bounce
rises very fast and reaches greater height the moisture condenses to ice).
Lightning and thunder are very closely associated with storms. against each other very
forcefully as wind speeds are
Lightning very high. This knocks off
Lightning is a stream offlowing electrons. It occurs in two circumstances: electrons from the atoms.
(a) When the two fronts of negative charge and positive charge These electrons gather at the
discharge Lightning ocCurs. lower portion of the cloud
(b) When a huge mass of charged front of dloud discharge with the earth. forming a front of negative
This happens in two steps. charge. While the atoms of
) A very which electron is taken away
large mass of cloud develops negative charge on its lower
surface creating a huge front of negative charge (Fig. 1) forms a front of positive charge
at the upper portion of the
cloud.

Cloud Cloud Cloud

Earth's Surface
Earth's Surface

(Fig. 1 (Fig. 2)
Development of charge in clouds Positive charge develops on earth's surface Fig
Lightning occurs

206 Zoom!in Science-7 )

 hugefront of
The hugefront
of rnegative charge repels MOga chAUOE
electrons on the earth surface which move deeper and deeper
o the
into earth- creating a front of positive charge on earth's surface
the edrti
(Fig. 2) Lightning occurs when two
frontsdischarge (Fig. 3)
nunderstorms | o i a U
Thune

rstorms are sev

erstorms are severé local storms accompanied by lightning and thunder.
Tunder They occur mainly in tropical
araRslkeIndia IIA
hy do
lightning flash first?
we see the

Se the lightning flash first because of two reasons:

C d of sound waves is much slower than electron flow thus the Light
thunder we hear is more like a shock wave rather than ordinary www
Sound
SUnd wave wave follows

The speed of sound is even more insignificant as compared to light so

reaches us in fraction of a second while the sound Sound waves are slow
the fiash of light
folows it slowly.
s Ne discussedearlier, if the margins of the two large air mass get rotated the storm very quickly becomes very
on itself. This happens when winds from other region rush in and rotate
the
3noerous. The winds wrap back
som. It becomes very powerful
and draws heat from theocean which further intensifies the storm.

Cyclones
Thunderstorms have the
potential to develop into a

Latent Heat
We have learnt in class-VI
regarding changes in the
Sates of matter. The same is
the case with water. It changes
into water vapour on heating
which again condenses into
water on cooling. But when
water changes from its liquid
state to vapour, it takes up
heat (about 540 cals/g)
without any rise in
emperature. The same
amount of heat is given up or
released when the water
cyclone.
The huge amount of heat (in
terms of calories) taken out of
the atmosphere as a result of
into
changing of water vapour
water droplets at higher
sudden
altitudes leads to a
A Cyclone
release of heat (latent heat).
The air rises
the atmosphere warms the air around.
This heat released to directions
in pressure. More air blow from all
and causes a sharper drop air spirals inwards
the storm As more and more
towards the centre of
forced to riseThe cycle is
new incoming air is
towards the centre,
to the weather condition called cyclone.
repeated several times leading
Outward spiralling cimus
clouds
Outward spiralling
high-level winds

vapour converts into water. Descending-

This heat is called'Latent Heat dryair

which means hidden as the

extra heat does not indicate its 10-15 km high

presence by producing a rise in Storm moving at

temperature. 15-40 km/h

in
of prevailing wind
direction Wam moist air drawn in
Cyclones are also called typhoons or hurricanes according to tne ENCE

geographical zone in which they form. It is known by hurricane in

America and typhoon in Japan and Philippines. Cyclones can
cause DNSIGAT
total devastation, destroying everything in their path. In cyclones, Meteorologist infer that|
the wind spins at speeds around a central point called the eye o temperature changes brought
cyclone' where the pressure is lower, the diameter varying from
about by global warfming can
cause an increase in
10-30 km. The sky is clear and the air is calm. Around this calm area, frequency of
storms.
there is a cloud region wlth high speed winds, 150-250 km/h and

heavy rain.

DSIGHTT
As a natural happening, the
Low pressure
Lowpressure movement of cyclones is in an
9NO mb 980 mb
984 mb 9841 anti-clockwise direction in
98Smb . 988 mb northern hemisphere, while it is
.

clockwise in the southern

Southern hemisphere hemisphere.
Northem hemisphere Clockwise direction
Anti-clockwise direction
its direction.
In the Northern hemisphere the spin of the earth causes the wind to curve right to
In the Northern hemisphere
(i) Wind blows anti-clockwise around area of low pressure.
(i) Wind blows clockwise around area of high pressure.
In the Southern hemisphere the converse happens.
-Distended Tornadoes
ou These are violent storms which form very suddenily on
land. The highest windspeeds on earth occur in
tornado sometimes reach about 500 km/h. These are
Funnel
common and strongest in the U.S.A. A tornado looks like
a twisting funnel of air reaching from the sky with the

-Spray narrow on the ground. A tornado can be a fewit

end
metres to abouta kilometer in diameter, As it goes past,
A water spout sucks up anything on its path,including buildings, trees,
mI n
cattle, cars and drops them when its force decreases. Ifa
tornado forms over thesea it is known as waterspout.
seems to rise out of the sea like enormous dark grey
A Tornado
serpent. When it touches the water of the ocean, water is
0 sucked up.
Orissa Hit By Supercyclone
DESTRUCTION CAUSED DURING STORMS Orissa was hit by a severe cyclone on
Oct. 18, 1999. This so called
India has a long coastline of about 8041 km. The whole coastline supercyclone moved in from the Bay or
of India is vulnerable to cyclones. The eastern coastal regions of Bengalto hit coastal Orissa the second
India including states of Orissa, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are time within a gap of eleven days with a
more affected, the cycles of
which develop in the Bay of Bengal.
violent wind speed of 250 km/h
the it comes with
Whena cyclonic storm moves towards Sea coast, water enters the low
1.5 million people were rendered
heavy ráin, strong winds and high waves.
lying coastal areas because of high pressure gradient, high waves
homeless and the death toll rose to as
high as 10,000. Property worth crores
and strong winds. This causes severe loss of life, property and of rupees was destroyed.

208 Zoom! in Science -7

 reduction
insoilfertility. Further to it, heavy and continuous raintall cause
lood and pollutes water source, causing outbreak of epidermics. High
Your Wisdom
Speed strong winds damage buildings, trees, communication. system,
ites and radars give
ow do satellites
causing lossto life and property.
in advance?
vclone warning Safety Measures
naPOUS () Listen to the cyclone forecast and warnings on radio and T.V.

a OnJASpread thenewsto people in neighbourhood.

cloudBurst (ii) Keep alist of emergencytelephone numbers. Call people to action
rainfall for
t is a sudden copious do not react in panic. Assign them specific tasks of community
a short
period of time in-a small service.
air current in a storm
area. The (iv)Disconnect electrical appliances and avoid touching them.
rushing upward holds huge-
If theaîr (V) Keep emergency arrangements of household goods like dry food
amount of water.
Current suddenly stops,
the supply of matchboxes, candles, torches, medicines, clothes, ready
for instant use.
entire amount of water falls in a
small area causing huge vi) Stay indoors as far as possible. Avoid driving on roads or taking
problems. The rainfall can be as shelter under a tree.
much as 5 inches in one hour. (vin) Peopile living near coastline should be evacuated and moved tosafer
On 1st August 2005 (terrible places in cyclone shelters.
Tuesday) cloud burst over after a
(vii) Fishermen should not take the risk of venturing out to sea
Mumbai killed 500 people
cyclone warning.

Let us Revise
1. State two destructions caused due to storms. 030192 }0SS
2. What are the sýnonyms for cyclones?
high pressure system with high speed
winds revolving around it.
3. A cyclone is formed by a very
True or False.
4. Which part of Indian coast is more vulnerable to cyclones?

Quick Review of air which it exerts on us.

Atmospheric pressure is determined by the weight
increase in temperature and humidity.
Atmospheric pressure decreases with increase in altitude,
the air in the atmosphere.
Wind
isthe horizontal movement of
pressure to an area
of low pressure.
wind blows from an area of high
created over the earth's surface due to
ne alternate high and low pressure belts
are

a) unequal heat received from the sun, from equator

to the poles
surface.
(D)uneven heating of land and water over the earth's
Uneven heating of land and water causes land and sea breezes and brings about monsoon winds.

disturbances are called storms.

Ong Winds causing severe atmospheric areas : yclonesin India, Hurricanes in America and
>torms have different names in different geographical
Typhoons in east Asia.
yclones cause great destructions.
roper safety measures should be taken during a storm in order to minimize loss of life and property

Air Pressure and Wind

Systems 209