Have you ever looked up at the sky and questioned why the clouds up above dont fall? These fluffy masses of water beads and ice crystals appear like they should come crashing down to the ground, but they remain suspended high above us.
Credit: Pixabay.
The birth of a cloud: how water particles come together
Whats more, the condensation of increasing air contributes to the survival and development of the cloud by including new water vapor.
Condensation happens with the help of small particles floating around in the air, such as dust, salt crystals from sea spray, germs, and even ash from volcanoes..
Why clouds survive.
And besides air resistance, theres another force that is propping up clouds: the convection of air that produces an upward force.
Clouds are born when water molecules in the air come together to form tiny droplets or ice crystals. For this to happen, the parcel of air should be filled, i.e. unable to hold all the water it contains in vapor kind, so it starts to condense into a liquid or solid type.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Alex Novati.
Once the water beads or ice crystals have formed, they begin to grow larger as they hit one another. Eventually, they end up being big enough to be noticeable to the naked eye, and a cloud is born.
Clouds are born when water molecules in the air come together to form small droplets or ice crystals. If the air is really damp, condensation can take place at a higher temperature level than if the air is dry. Clouds are made of both air and water crystals, which together should be denser than air. Considering that a cloud is so spread out over a big area, its air resistance is big.
The more structured an item, the less air resistance. Considering that a cloud is so spread out over a big location, its air resistance is big.
As air rises, it cools, triggering the water vapor to condense into visible droplets or ice crystals. Whats more, the condensation of increasing air contributes to the survival and growth of the cloud by adding new water vapor.
The temperature at which condensation occurs depends on the amount of wetness in the air. Condensation can occur at a higher temperature level than if the air is dry if the air is very damp. This is why you typically see clouds forming on hot, damp days.
Clouds are made of both air and water crystals, which together should be denser than air. Clouds apparently float, defying gravity, even though denser things ought to sink.
If thats the case, why arent clouds falling? Thats because they technically do sink into the surrounding air– its just that they do so at such a small rate that for all practical intents and purposes, they drift.
Whilst clouds consist of a lot of water crystals and beads that are technically denser than the surrounding air, this water is spread so thin for miles that the effect of gravity becomes negligible. Additionally, if theres a powerful updraft, the cloud can keep elevation essentially indefinitely until it dissipates due to temperature level increasing, the cloud blending with drier air, or when the entire air front sinks with the cloud.
All the method back in the 16th century, Galileo Galilei revealed that all things totally free fall at the very same rate no matter their mass– but just in a vacuum. While the force of gravity is lowering on an item, forcing it to fall towards its surface, the air particles it collides with en route down also put in a force in the opposite direction. This is called air resistance or “drag”.
