So, next time when someone asks you why clouds don’t fall to the ground, you tell them that clouds are composed primarily of small water droplets. And the reason why these big chunks of clouds don’t fall to the ground is because the air below is even heavier, pushing them back up.
Well, The reason the cloud we are watching does not seem to fall to the ground is the result of two other mechanisms acting on those cloud droplets. The most important of these is that the cloud, particularly our afternoon cumulus, has been formed within a rising current of air.
Some think that like everything on this planet, the tiny droplets that make up a cloud are drawn towards the Earth by gravity. But these droplets are so small that it’s hard for them to push past all the air beneath them. This means that they don’t fall very fast at all – in fact, only about one centimetre per second.
Why do clouds not fall?
Water is not lighter than air – water does not float. So why don’t clouds fall out of the sky ? The two biggest reasons that clouds stay in the sky are 1) small drops, and 2) wind. … Because small drops have less mass and more surface area than large drops, they have a harder time pushing the air out of the way.
Due to lower density of clouds buoyancy force dominates over gravity and hence clouds are not allowed to fall on earth. However, sometime you may observe darker clouds that gets heavy comes relatively closer to earth but even then the buoyancy dominates on gravity and they don’t fall. Originally Answered: Why there is no gravity for clouds ?
Gravity does pull the clouds. They are made up of many very small droplets of water which do fall under the action gravity. However, because of their very small size their Terminal velocity – Wikipedia is very low. Much lower than the speed of the air currents that caused the clouds in the first place.
Why do clouds float on air?
Actually, saying a cloud is floating on air is a bit of a misnomer. The cloud does not “float” in the air, because its water droplets are heavier than the surrounding air. The reason the cloud we are watching does not seem to fall to the ground is the result of two other mechanisms acting on those cloud droplets.
Chris – Now the reason that clouds stay up where they are is because there are strong winds pushing the clouds upwards. What do I mean by that?
Why does it rain on top of clouds?
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.
Also, why do clouds have flat bottoms?
The answer is and that’s why clouds have a flat bottom, because that’s the point at which the tiny water crystals particles inside, which are trying to fall downwards, meet the warm air coming upwards and the two balance each other out, and the form the cloud base.
Why do cloud droplets fall down so slowly?
The tiny cloud droplets have a very large surface compared with their mass, so the air slows them down even more than it slows the mouse and the final droplet speed is only about 3mm per second. The end result ? Individual cloud droplets are falling down, but very very slowly.
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.
What would happen if there was no air in the way?
If there was no air in the way, gravity would make a cloud droplet and a lump of lead fall at the same speed. But air pushes back on things that are falling through it, and that push becomes more important as the object gets smaller.