Why clouds don’t fall
Thu, Oct 16, 2008
Post filled in: Feature Post, Physics, Science
Our day to day life puts us face to face with many very interesting natural phenomena, but the average man doesn’t try to understand them; if asked about some of the simplest things, most people would just laugh at such silly questions. But after thinking, the smile would slowly dissapear as they would realize the question is way more interesting than it seems. For example, take a few moments and think about why clouds don’t fall.
Seems to be quite an idiot question, but actually, it’s not. For example, let’s take a look at the clouds themselves. Clouds are made from droplets of water or frozen crystals, which are heavier than air. Still, they don’t. It’s really a really simple logic process, but you have to know some things. For example, clouds are made of really small drops of water. These small drops have a harder time falling than the bigger ones because the air pushes them back, and since they have smaller mass and not that less surface area, it’s harder for them to push the air than it is for big drops.
They fall slowly, but they still fall. So there’s something else that has to be considered; that something else is wind. We think of wind that goes parallel with the earth, from one side to another. But wind can also go in the opposite way than the earth for example, in what is called an updrift. They can stop these small drops from falling down.
But going a bit further from our question, we would think that it is possible for the drops to get bigger, until the wind is not strong enough to keep them from falling. But even then, it wouldn’t be correct to say that the whole cloud falls at once, just as a big chunk of cheese would. The biggest drops fall first, than the others, until there are no big enough drops of water. We know this as rain.
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Andrei is no scientist, but from an early age, he has been fascinated by science; that's why he went to college, and signed up for Geophysics. Feeling that there's a huge gap between science and average people, he rallied TP, started ZME Science, and gave it a green twist too.
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October 17th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Neato.
October 19th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Cool. I never even thought to ask the question. I love it when I get answers to those ones.
November 10th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Clouds don’t fall because science is a LIE! There is no gravity! It is the power of CREATOR!!!1!
:p
November 10th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
What exactly is the “ceiling”? If it was the wind holding the water from falling then the clouds would all be held at different levels in the sky. But there’s still a reference to the ceiling. I’ve seen days where the sun is shinning and the sky is blue and clear except for a bunch of white clouds in patches. And all of the clouds seem to be cut-off at the same point parralell with the earth. Can someone pleas explain!!
June 12th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
those clouds look scary looken
August 9th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
I’ve always wondered this since I was a kid, but no one was able to answer it for me. Now I have finally been enlightened. Thanks
November 4th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Last night the full moon disappeared behind a cloud and shimmered and shone; there was a silver nimbus surrounding the cloud and I thought next time I won’t forget to look up. There is nothing to stop me from falling into the beauty and mystery of the universe.
“I wandered lonely as a cloud…”
Name the poet; can you?
November 4th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Martin is with the clouds; he crossed over two weeks ago leaving Uboo and me behind to make sure he is never forgotten. If clouds were chocolate there wouldn’t be any!
And Jerry thinks clouds are cotton. He sees the world through stained glass eyes.