Why don t small water droplets fall from the clouds what is holding them up?

When this water falls as rain it clearly has a significant mass so why don’t clouds fall? In fact, the small water droplets that make up clouds do fall slowly. However, the drag force of the air dominates over the gravitational force for small particles. The drag force increases as the size of an object decreases.

Why a big rain drop falls on the ground while tiny one remain suspended in air?

The terminal velocity depends on the size, shape and mass of the raindrop and the density of the air. Tiny cloud droplets can stay in the atmosphere because there is upward moving air that overcomes the force of gravity and keeps them suspended in the cloud.

What makes rain fall as a drops?

Clouds are made of water droplets. Within a cloud, water droplets condense onto one another, causing the droplets to grow. When these water droplets get too heavy to stay suspended in the cloud, they fall to Earth as rain.

What is the process in which heavy clouds change into rain?

Condensation is the process of water vapor turning back into liquid water, with the best example being those big, fluffy clouds floating over your head. And when the water droplets in clouds combine, they become heavy enough to form raindrops to rain down onto your head.

What is the heaviest cloud?

Cumulonimbus (from Latin cumulus, “heaped” and nimbus, “rainstorm”) is a dense, towering vertical cloud, forming from water vapor carried by powerful upward air currents.

Why does rain fall as drops instead of cubes or cylinders?

Why does rain come in drops and not in a continuous stream? When warm wet air rises, it cools and water vapour condenses to form clouds. In a cloud there are lot hygroscopic particles and normally drops form by absorbing moisture by these particles. Rain is restricted to drops of water that fall from a cloud.

Do raindrops touch each other?

A Drop is Not a Drip But the molecules don’t form a skin. The water molecules stick together because they are more attracted to bonding with each other than they are to bonding with air. So, the water molecules in raindrops cling together, in their round little community, until…

How do water molecules change in water cycle?

When water changes state in the water cycle, the total number of water particles remains the same. The changes of state include melting, sublimation, evaporation, freezing, condensation, and deposition. The water particles in each state behave as energy is absorbed or released. .

What causes rain to fall from the clouds?

Within a cloud, water droplets condense onto one another, causing the droplets to grow. When these water droplets get too heavy to stay suspended in the cloud, they fall to Earth as rain.

How does rain form on the surface of Earth?

Dew is water vapor that has condensed back onto Earth’s surface—on grass or a car’s windshield, for example. In the cloud, with more water condensing onto other water droplets, the droplets grow. When they get too heavy to stay suspended in the cloud, even with updrafts within the cloud, they fall to Earth as rain.

What happens to clouds when they get too heavy?

When they get too heavy to stay suspended in the cloud, even with updrafts within the cloud, they fall to Earth as rain. If the air in the cloud is below the freezing point (32 °F or 0 °C), ice crystals form; if the air all the way down to the ground is also freezing or below, you get snow.

What happens to the water cycle when it rains?

As more rain falls, the coating becomes thicker. The ice can become so thick and heavy that tree limbs snap and fall across power lines, or the power lines themselves just sag and sag until they snap. Credit: NOAA. Clouds are the key element of the water cycle, since they are the transporters that move water from one place on Earth to another.