Each person, raising his eyes to the sky, sees the so-called clouds. Of course, this does not always happen. The sky is clear, and sometimes with clouds. What are clouds? Where do they come from? What does “stormy sky” mean? What are clouds made of and where do they disappear? Over these issues, humanity has been puzzling for many years. To date, there is no mystery in their origin. So what is it?
Meaning of the word
In Russian, often one word has several meanings. To the question of what a cloud is, several answers can be given:
- The names of villages in Belarus and Ukraine. Yes, two settlements in two different countries have such an interesting name - Cloud. In order to better understand the meaning of such names, it is necessary to know the language of these countries and study the etymology of the word.
- Naming a large cluster of something or someone. For example, they often say “a whole cloud of mosquitoes”, “there are a lot of such shoes there,” “not just a crowd, but a whole cloud of people” and similar expressions. Simply put, a huge number of not only living creatures, but also objects.
- The name of the rain clouds.
We will discuss the third point in more detail, answering the question of what a cloud is. Indeed, most often it is used in this sense. So, we will consider the answer from the point of view of meteorology.
The clouds
To begin with, let's look at the definitions. Actually there is no such term in a scientific language. This word is used only in common people as a clarification that this is not about a white and fluffy cloud, but about weather-bearing, rain and slush. Meteorologists classify clouds into different groups.
There are three main groups:
- Cirrus. In this case, we are talking about feathers or threads of snow-white, light, almost transparent clouds. They can hardly even be called such in the philistine sense. These are rather thin fibers.
- Layered. These clouds are somewhat similar to a canvas folded into several layers. This is where the name comes from. Between the so-called layers there may be a gap, or maybe not - overlapping each other, they (layers) completely cover the sky.
- Cumulus. It is this group of clouds called clouds. These are more dense, similar to pieces of wool or cotton wool, with a clear outline of the cloud.
The difference between these three groups, if we take the main features, is in the appearance and mechanism of their formation.
Black clouds
So, all clouds consist of water vapor (condensed, that is, the smallest drops of water). When water droplets or ice crystals are collected in a certain volume, they become visible. These are the clouds. But what is a cloud? The answer to this question is very simple - it is a cloud carrying rain / snow, bad weather, slush, cold. They come with a bluish tint (when it comes to white clouds), but most often they are completely painted in dark blue, often called black. Often such clouds bring with them thunderstorms and showers. More precisely, they "carry" in themselves.
Conclusion
Of course, in order to be well versed in terminology in any field, it is necessary to study specialized literature. However, for a general idea, it is enough to read a brief overview.