Why does the wind blow a paper plate away but not a lunchbox?

Picture your picnic on a breezy day. Listen to the paper plate rustle beside your lunchbox. Why does the wind blow a paper plate away but not a lunchbox?

Let's follow one empty paper plate on the picnic blanket. Beside it sits your lunchbox, full of lunch. The same wind reaches both of them. They sit close together, right beside your spot for lunch.

Here comes a gust, which means a short burst of wind. Wind is moving air. That moving air gives things a push, even though you cannot see the air. Its push reaches the plate and the lunchbox beside it.

Earth pulls things toward the ground. That pull keeps the plate resting on the blanket. It keeps your lunchbox resting there, too. Both things have Earth's pull holding them down.

The gust catches beneath the paper plate's raised edge. The air pushes upward against the plate. What will happen if that push beats Earth's downward pull?

Up goes the plate! The plate is light, so Earth's downward pull is small. This gust gives it a stronger push upward.

Now the moving air carries the lifted plate along. The wind keeps pushing it away from the blanket. There goes the empty plate, across the grass.

Your full lunchbox is much heavier than that empty plate. Earth pulls harder on the heavier lunchbox. This gust cannot beat that stronger downward pull, so the lunchbox stays on the blanket. Lifting that lunchbox takes a stronger push than lifting paper.

Gust. This gust lifts the light plate, but the heavy lunchbox needs a stronger push.

May your next picnic bring you a cozy place and a lovely little discovery.