eli5: How do (presumably very heavy) clouds stay suspended in the sky? More specifically how are they floating AND flat on the bottom?

Question

And what causes them to suddenly drop all of that water in the form of rain.

Judging by the amount of rain they must weigh a ton.

In: 337

Answer 1

“Judging by the amount of rain they must weigh a ton.”

Actually they likely weigh much more than that. Estimates are that the average cumulus cloud weighs over a million pounds.

But like the previous posters said, they are also very large so their density is low. Air has different densities depending on temperature and humidity, so it is common for certain altitudes to have clouds that could not exist at a different altitude. This density difference is also why they sometimes have flat bottoms, as they are against a layer of air with different temperature/density.