How do rain clouds defy gravity?
In: Physics
The same way the steam from a teakettle does.
Clouds are collections of teeny water droplets, condensed out of the air because the humidity right there is too much to keep all the evaporated water in the air.
The droplets are small enough that they weigh JUUUST a little less than the same volume of air, or exactly the same, so gravity doesn’t pull them down any faster than the air aroud them – they’re “neutrally buoyant”. So they float at the altitude they formed at, and so does the cloud they make up.
–Dave, fun fact: a cloud on the ground is, literally, a fog bank
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