Clouds can weigh tons, depending on how big it is, because it can contain a lot of water droplets over time. However, it manages to stay afloat because it isn’t as dense as the air beneath it, allowing it to stay within the cold air at a certain altitude.
Even though a cloud seems to float in air, both the air and the cloud have mass and weight. Clouds float in the sky because they are less dense than air, yet it turns out they weigh a lot., and how much? About a million pounds!
Next, you can use the density of a cloud to find its mass: Density = Mass / Volume0.5 grams per cubic meter = x / 1,000,000,000 cubic meters500,000,000 grams = mass.
One cloud weighs as much as 100 elephants! Clouds appear to float so effortlessly in the sky that one would think that they are weightless. However, this is actually far from the case. A single cumulus cloud weighs 1.1 million pounds on average. To put this into perspective, that is equal to the weight of about 100 elephants or 2,500 donkeys!
What does the average cloud weigh?
Assuming the weight of air as 1.225 kg/m³LWC values for different clouds based on the above tableAssuming the volume occupied by water droplets is negligible.
The total mass of the cloud particles is about 1 million kilograms, which is roughly equivalent to the weight of 500 automobiles. But the total mass of the air in that same cubic kilometer is about 1 billion kilograms–1,000 times heavier than the liquid!
Are water clouds heavier than other clouds on other planets?
Solid water clouds would certainly be heavier than those made of gas or water molecules. The clouds of Jupiter and Saturn are made of layers of ammonia, ammonium hydrosulfide and underneath them, water. These would definitely be heavier than the clouds above earth, Venus and Mars planets.
Why do clouds float in air?
Clouds float in air that is dense enough to support them. Mostly this is because of variations in the temperature of the atmosphere. Temperature affects the density of gases, including air and water vapor, so a cloud experiences evaporation and condensation.
How do clouds stay up in the air?
Where these low clouds are, the air weighs around one kilogram for every cubic metre – 4,000 times more than the water did. Given the volume of our cumulus cloud, that’s 1 billion kg, or one million tonnes. That is why the cloud can stay up in the air – the tiny water drops are held up by all that air.
How much do clouds float in the sky?
Clouds float in the sky because they are less dense than air, yet it turns out they weigh a lot., and how much? About a million pounds! Here’s how the calculation works: Finding the Weight of a Cloud. Clouds form when the temperature becomes too cold for the air to hold water vapor. The vapor condenses into tiny droplets.
Roughly classified by type of cloud these densities range from about 0.05 g/m 3 (grams of condensed water per cubic meter) to 3.0 g/m 3. It’s worth noting that, even in densest clouds, the weight of this condensed water inside it is thousands of times smaller than the weight of the air holding it!