why is air cold?

Question

I know cold is based on particle/molecule speed, but wind blows very fast in a blizzard for example, why is it still cold?

Answer 1

What do you mean...?

Answer 2

Air is whatever temperature air is...

Temperature is a measure of the random movement of the molecules (a measure of kinetic enregy). The more energy, the more movement (and banging around against each other) and the higher the temperature.

Air at the pole can get very cold (the molecules are sluggish). Air at the equator or over tropical deserts can reach much higher temperatures because it receives far more energy (from the sun and from the objects it touches, like hot sand).

Air that is cooler than 35 C (around 95F) feels cool if it passes over the skin with a certain speed. As soon as the air takes heat from the skin (the skin is cooled and the air is warmed up), it is taken away and replaced by air that is cooler than the skin. Hence a feeling of coolness.

In addition, the skin has surface moisture. If the air is hot enough (from 20 up to 40 or even 45) and dry enough, the moisture evaporates into the dry air. Passing from liquid to vapor, water needs a lot of energy per gram. It takes this from the skin and from the air, hence a feeling of coolness if there is a breeze (and if the air is dry).

If the air is humid (especially if it is saturated), there is no room between air molecules for additional water molecules, so the sweat does not evaporate and the air feels hot and heavy.

Answer 3

I asked a very similar question some time ago because I was confused about cold, moving air.

Air coldness is related to the speed of the air molecules themselves. The slower they (on average) are, the less energy they carry and the colder they feel when you are surrounded by them. If your own temperature is higher than that of the air, energy will be transferred from you to the air and, in turn, your own skin will will cold. Normal air molecular motion is measured in hundreds of metres per second, so air can be cold even if it's blowing a gale because the "bulk" motion of the air is nothing compared to the internal molecular speed.

As the air gains energy (from the sun or other sources), the molecular energy increases and the average speed goes up. We then feel that as the air getting warmer.

Answer 4

Air is cold when the molecules in the air, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, are not moving fast enough and are moving quite slow and bombarding each other less frequently, therefore it has low kinetic energy. Another way for air to be cold is at high altitudes where there is not a lot of molecules up there due to low pressures so the mocules are bouncing and bombarding each other at a slower rate. Air is hot because the molecules are moving quite fast and bouncing off another at a high rate and have a lot of kinetic energy.

Answer 5

it is to do with convection currents
hot air rises and cooler air flows in to replace it
this is also why it is cold at the seaside during the day but at night at the seaside it is warmer
also if the oxygen and nirtogen molecules in air are cold they will move slower

Answer 6

Air is cold because there's an absence of heat and light from geothermal and old sol sources.