Sometimes clouds reach colossal sizes - even when on the ground and looking up from a great distance, one can only be surprised at their bizarre shapes and incredible volumes. For someone who has not yet gained knowledge about their nature, as well as for those who know that the clouds consist of very small water droplets, it often remains unclear why the clouds do not fall. How are they held in heaven?
What are clouds
As the reason for the question of why the clouds do not fall, so the rationale for the answer to it will be the knowledge of what these clouds are.
Each cloud is an accumulation of the smallest particles of water in a liquid state or in the form of ice. The size of such droplets can either be completely insignificant - much smaller than a millionth of a meter (otherwise - a micrometer), and reach several millimeters.
However, any small drop is still heavier than air. Why, in this case, only part of the moisture falls in the form of precipitation? How is the remaining mass held in the sky?
Why don't the clouds fall
A brief answer to this question can be given as follows: clouds remain in the sky due to the interaction of air molecules with water microparticles. The smallest they set an arbitrary trajectory during a collision, while the larger ones support warm air currents directed towards the droplets falling under the influence of the Earth's gravity, resisting their falling and rising to the region of lower temperatures from the heated earth.
If we analyze in more detail why the clouds do not fall, then we must first mention the Brownian motion - it is characterized by chaotic movement of the smallest visible fragments of solid matter in a gaseous or liquid medium, occurring due to a change in the position of the particles of this medium, caused, in turn, by thermal action . It is named after the scientist who discovered this phenomenon - Robert Brown.
Brownian motion is the random movement of microscopic visible particles of a solid suspended in a liquid or gas caused by the thermal movement of particles of a liquid or gas. It was discovered in 1827 by Robert Brown. Brownian motion never stops. It is associated with thermal motion, but these concepts should not be confused. Brownian motion is a consequence and evidence of the existence of thermal motion.
In Brownian motion, cloud particles are involved, the size of which is less than one millionth of a meter. Air molecules push these microdrops and make them move along an unpredictable trajectory.
Water particles that have reached the size of a micrometer or more are not subject to Brownian motion - they are too large and heavy for air molecules to successfully push them. Such drops begin to fall down under the influence of gravity. However, air resistance acts in the opposite direction, and its strength is proportional to the speed of the droplet. Due to this, the drop ceases to accelerate when falling and continues to move down at a constant speed. A particle of water flying in this way meets warm air currents on its way, which can slow down its movement, stop or even drop a drop up - in the opposite direction.
That is why clouds do not fall to the ground. Consisting of water particles of different sizes, they are held in the sky due to the characteristics of the air environment in which they are located.
The role of precipitation in cloud life
And what happens to very large and significant particles of water and drops that do not hang in the air and are not thrown upstream? Having accumulated in large quantities in one cloud, they turn it into a cloud and fall to the earth as precipitation - rain, snow, hail - or evaporate on the way to the earth's surface.
Also on this journey, drops can change their size - split into smaller ones or grow, merging with others.