What are clouds made of? How do clouds form? How do they stay afloat? How much does a cloud weigh?
For such a common sight in our everyday lives, there are definitely a lot of interesting questions you could ask of clouds.
This video goes about tackling them and some of the answers might surprise you.
You can discover more about some of the rarer cloud types in our '7 Rare cloud types' Amazing Weather video here: [ Ссылка ]
You can also find out more about clouds and how to spot them on our website: [ Ссылка ]
Although clouds might look like they are made of gas, they are actually a large mass of tiny drops of liquid water or ice crystals Clouds are usually formed when air rises and the water vapour within it cools. When cooled, the water vapour collides with and sticks to tiny particles floating in the air - these are known as condensation nuclei, which include aerosols such as salt and dust. As the vapour rises and cools, these nuclei provide the surface for the vapour to condense onto. When enough vapour condenses around the nuclei, a cloud droplet is formed. These droplets are so small that a cubic metre of air contains 100 million of them. However, combined to make a cumulus cloud, they can weigh as much as 500 tonnes. That’s roughly 100 elephants. Thankfully the individual water droplets, unlike elephants, are so tiny and spread out that they stay afloat.
Sometimes these water droplets combine to become larger drops or crystals. And if they become large enough and too heavy, they will gradually fall from the sky as - you guessed it - precipitation
Music: Back in Summer by Nicolai Heidlas
You may also enjoy:
– Podcasts exploring weather and climate [ Ссылка ]
– Daily weather forecasts [ Ссылка ]
– Deep dive in-depth forecasts [ Ссылка ]
Make sure you subscribe so you never miss a single lesson about the weather or climate [ Ссылка ]
We are the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, and every day of the week we bring you a morning weather forecast and an afternoon weather forecast so that wherever you are in the UK we have you covered. Forecasts and any weather warnings are accurate at time of recording.
To ensure you have the most up to date weather information, check the hourly forecast and live warnings on the Met Office website or app.
How do clouds form?
Теги
how do clouds form?what are clouds?what are clouds made of?cloudcloudscloud formationhow do you make a cloud?how do clouds work?how do clouds float?how do clouds form short answerhow do clouds form for kidswhat are clouds for kidswhat are clouds and how do they form?how do clouds stay afloat?how much do clouds weigh?