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Discovery

The Wild and Windy Tale

Discovery

BBC

Science

4.3 β€’ 1.2K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 17 October 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How do winds start and why do they stop? asks Georgina from the Isle of Wight. What's more, listener Chris Elshaw is suprised we get strong winds at all: why doesn't air just move smoothly between areas of high and low pressure? Why do we get sudden gusts and violent storms?

To tackle this breezy mystery, our curious duo don their anoraks and get windy with some weather experts.

Dr Simon Clark, a science Youtuber and author of Firmament, convinces Adam that air flow is really about the physics of fluids, which can all be captured by some nifty maths. The idea of pressure turns out to be key, so Hannah makes her own barometer out of a jar, a balloon and some chopsticks, and explains why a bag of crisps will expand as you walk up a mountain.

Professor Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Scoiety, reveals how the dynamics of a simple sea breeze – where air over land is heated more than air over water – illustrates the basic forces driving wind of all kinds.

Then everyone gets involved to help Adam understand the tricky Coriolis effect and why the rotation of the Earth makes winds bend and storms spin. And Professor John Turner from the British Antarctic Survey explains why the distinctive features of the coldest continent make its coastline the windiest place on earth.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Ever wondered what the world's wealthiest people did to get so ridiculously rich?

0:05.4

Our podcast Good Bad Billionaire takes one billionaire at a time and explains exactly how they made their money.

0:11.9

And then we decide if they are actually good, bad or just plain wealthy.

0:15.5

So if you want to know if Rihanna is as much of a bad guy as she claims,

0:19.2

or what Jeff Bezos really did to become the first person in history to pocket a hundred billion dollars,

0:24.6

listen to Good Bad Billionaire with me, Simon Jack, and me, Zingsing.

0:28.4

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:31.1

I'm Gene Lee.

0:32.1

And I'm Jeff White.

0:33.2

And we're back with a brand new episode of our podcast, The Lazarus Heist,

0:37.6

recorded in front of a live audience in New York City.

0:41.1

That's our new special live episode of The Lazarus Heist,

0:44.0

the podcast about hacking and North Korea.

0:46.5

And we're returning soon with a second season.

0:49.1

So what better moment to listen to the whole of season one?

0:52.0

Or if you've heard it already, listen again.

0:54.2

Remind yourself of the whole story.

0:55.8

For the new episode and for the whole of the first season,

0:59.0

search for The Lazarus Heist, wherever you found this podcast.

1:05.7

Hello and welcome to the curious cases of Rutherford and Fry on Discovery for the BBC.

1:10.8

This is the program where you send us in the queries,

1:14.1

questions and conundrums that you are curious about.

...

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