Karl Kruszelnicki explains why they seemingly defy gravity. Clouds must have weight, because water has weight. A cloud is many, many tiny “clumps” of water, either liquid or frozen.
This begs the question “Why don’t clouds have gravity?”
Clouds are composed primarily of small water droplets and when it’s cold enough, they form into ice crystals. So, the vast majority of clouds that we see every day are composed of water droplets and/or crystals that are too small for gravity to have an effect on them.
Why do clouds cause rain?
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.
You see, think of clouds as Floating in the air, like a buoy floating in the water. Gravity is “pulling down” the air, and that is why the air is denser closer to the surface of the Earth, and the clouds (water vapor) are merely floating in the air. And, of course, when the water droplets that are floating become too dense to float then they fall as rain.
These clouds are not actually behind the sun, rather this is an optical illusion caused by the way cameras pick up light. This is fully explained on the webpage I linked below, but I will give a summary. Cameras have a limit to how bright of a light they can see. Some clouds let more light through than others .
Why are clouds not made of water?
1) Clouds are not made of water in the gaseous state. They are in the liquid (water droplets) or solid (ice crystals) state. Water vapour is invisible and cannot be seen. 2) While it is true that the force that each droplet exerts on the Earth is virtually zero, that does not have anything to do with the droplets staying in the air.
Why do clouds sometimes make snow rather than rain?
It should be noted that condensation by itself does not cause precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, hail). The moisture in clouds must become heavy enough to succumb to gravity and return to earth’s surface. This occurs through two processes. In cold clouds ice crystals and water droplets exist side by side.
Why do clouds look dark before rain?
Clouds appears black :. In th atmosphere any object’s colour is dependent on the ability to reflect wavelengths of light. When an object does not reflect any colour, it appears black. Thayswhy tiny droplets of water in rain clouds: Scatter the white light of the sun. Red is scattered first, and violet the last. At high altitude no rays of the sun reach the bottom of the cloud., and more items.
This is why, storm clouds are dark black or grey. Explanation: Most clouds appear white, because sunlight reflects off the water droplets. If the clouds are thick, the droplets scatter or absorb the light and less solar radiation can travel through them. This is why, storm clouds are dark black or grey.