wind without air?

[alcanfor]

i often have discussions with my dad about what is and is not possible without the pressence of air. The other day for instance he asked me if it is possible to have wind without air. EX: if i was in space and a comet blew by will i feel wind from the comet's passing? I told him that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so i figured that if i waved a fan (action) there would be a felling of wind (reation). This was just a guess....i dont really know what im talking about.

 

If anyone knows the answer to the question, can there be wind without air, please post and let me know....preferably with an explanation that will prove or dissprove this theory.

 

---alcanfor-----

[DV8 2XL]

No air, no wind; no question.

[alcanfor]

y not?

[Bignose]

What we feel as wind is the momentum of the air molecules striking us or any object. Notice you don't feel a wind-force when you and the air is still.

 

If there is no air, there is nothing to carry the momentum, which is what we call wind.

[alcanfor]

i knew that wind was the transfer of energy from particle to particle...really fast, but i thought that there were particles in space.....but then again im only 15 and i never really payed attention while learning about space.

 

I seem to remember hearing about solar winds though.....what r those, cuz they sound a lot like wind to me........from the sun.....

[Klaynos]

There are particles in space, and depending where in space you where and how close to the comet you where you would be far more likely to be hit by the dust comming off of the comet.

 

A better examples is if I'm in a "perfect" vacuum and fanned a fan would something beside, yet not touching, the fan feel anything from this action. The answer is no. So there is no air, there is no wind from the fan. So if there was no "air" on earth, which would include dust particles, then there would be no wind.

[YT2095]

"Wind" is basicly dispersed particles of mater exerting a force upon a body, more often than not a Gas, however this is Not always the case, solar wind or electrostatic winds operate perfectly well in the absense of Air

[Janus]

i knew that wind was the transfer of energy from particle to particle...really fast' date=' but i thought that there were particles in space.....but then again im only 15 and i never really payed attention while learning about space.

 

I seem to remember hearing about solar winds though.....what r those, cuz they sound a lot like wind to me........from the sun.....[/quote']

 

The density of the solar wind is about 3,000,000 particles per cubic meter.

Compare this to the density of air at sea level, 7 x 10^26 particles per cubic meter. This means that the air around you now has 200,000,000,000,000,000,000 times more particles per given volume than interplanetary space.

 

So it prety safe to say that you would not be able to feel the solar wind.

[alcanfor]

ty everyone for the great answers. I have to go and tell my dad that he was right...again.....oh well. maybe this will be on a test someday. thanks again!!