warm/cold air intake, something thant made me think a bit. Options

[4-eyed-freek]

hey everyone! im a current student at UTI in chicago and last week my brakes teacher was lecturing on how stupid cold air intakes we and he kept calling them a warm air intakes, and he is right in a way..... BUT this week i started my basic engines class and my new teacher couldnt stress the inportance of a cai on a car because...(THIS IS WHAT HE SAID) if you think about it, your engine is running at somewhere around 212 in most cars. so the 100+ degree temp in your enigine bay that your cold air intake is taking in is actually colder than your internal engine thus meaning that the really warm air in you engine bay is actually cold air for your car.. so who is right?!?!?! i thought about this to myself and talked it over with other kids in the class and i got so many diff. answers. lets here what you guys think.

[4-eyed-freek]

well my brakes teacher doesnt know the differance... he was just saying that its a waist of time and money because your putting something on your car that sucks warm air into a warm engine.... my other teacher says its the best thing you can do because although you are taking in 100+ degree heat your engine is running at 212 ish. ... so thus makeing that 100+ temp heat actually good for your engine because its much cooler than what your engine is running at.