What is a windvane?

Answer 1

A wind vane is a mechanical way of telling which way the wind is blowing. Some can be just a windsock that fills with air when the wind blows. Another might be iron, cast in the form of an animal like a rooster, that is set onto a spindle that lets the rooster turn easily.

Answer 2

A chicken/rooster with N-E-S-W on it.

Simplest wind direction indicator could be just a piece of string hanging from a nail.

But... simplest wind *vane* would be a horizontal rod balanced at and freely rotating around a vertical axis. One end of the rod has a thin, stiff vertical vane wider than the rod. It looks like a side ways stick with a stiff up and down flap at one end, that sick is on top of an up and down stick which is close to the middle of the side ways stick. Wind pushes against the vane and turns the stick so the vane is in opposite direction from where wind is coming from.

A wind vane can have other useful and decorative additions. The simplest is to paint the end or the vane so it can be seen easier. Many vanes look like an arrow with the vane with a shallow V shaped notch at its free end and an arrow head at the other end of rod, the head has to be smaller than the vane or the wind will push on it instead. The head and vane can be different colors. Below the arrow a horizontal non moving 4 armed cross with letters indicating the appropriate direction may be secured to the vertical support. Many vanes have a decorative feature on top of the horizontal rotating rod. The decoration is usually a thin vertical silhouette and has to be placed so as not to interfere with action of the vane. A rooster is a traditional and well known image but others are used, horse breeders may use a horse, dog breeders a dog, fishermen a fish etc. or some fanciful image with no real meaning can be used.

The arrow shaped rod with a rooster on top and above the directional cross piece is the traditional stereotypical American wind vane.

Some vanes have a propeller on one end as the wind catcher or a small one on end opposite the wind catcher.

The smaller or arrow end of a vane points in the direction the wind is coming from and winds are named for that direction. A North wind comes from the North. An ill wind blows no one any good, can come from any direction and can rarely be identified by a wind vane in time to prepare for it anyway.

I coulda saved a lot of time by telling you to go to Google Images. But I wouldn't have had as much fun trying to describe a windvane.

Answer 3

a wind vane is a geographical instrument that helps us to tell us which way the wind is blowing usally it is shaped like a cockerel it tells us whether the wind is blowing north, east, south or west.
A Wind Vane measure which direction the wind is blowing.
A wind vane measures wind direction. You might have seen movies with houses that have a rooster that has north south east and west on it and the rooster spins around. That is an example of a wind vane.

Answer 4

A wind vane is an instrument which is used to show the direction of the wind. It is commonly known as a weathercock.

Answer 5

It tells you which direction the wind is blowing from by pointing that direction.

Answer 6

A weather vane is an instrument used to detect the direction of the wind. Weather vanes are normally mounted on a roof peak and often are very ornamental.

Answer 7

It is observed periodically or recorded automatically.

Answer 8

the wind direction