Think of your classroom as a miniature Earth. The teacher's desk at the front of the room is the equator, the warmest part because it's closest to the sun (imagine a big bright lamp shining right above it). The air around the teacher's desk gets really warm from the lamp.Just like warm air rises at the equator, imagine the warm air rising from the teacher's desk. As it rises, it carries up bits of paper (let’s call these moisture).Now, as the warm air (with the paper bits) moves up towards the ceiling of our classroom, it starts to cool down because it’s moving away from the lamp (the sun). As it cools, it can't hold onto the paper bits anymore, and they start falling down just like rain.Once the air has dropped off the paper bits, it’s cooler and heavier. This cool air moves towards the back of the classroom (these are the poles in our mini Earth). As it reaches the back, it sinks down.This cooler air now travels back along the floor of the classroom towards the teacher's desk to get warmed by the lamp again. This air picks up more bits of paper and starts to rise once more.This cycle is similar to how Hadley cells work on Earth, carrying warm air and moisture from the equator up into the atmosphere, then cooling, dropping the moisture as rain, and moving towards the poles before returning to the equator. So, next time you feel the warmth of a sunny spot or the coolness of the shade, think about how air moves in our big classroom — planet Earth!
