– What needs to happen for a cloud to release its stored precipitation to make it rain or snow etc?

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– What needs to happen for a cloud to release its stored precipitation to make it rain or snow etc?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Imagine drops of water on your window.

When they’re small, they “hang” on the window. They’re just not heavy enough to counteract the “sticky” force between water and glass. However, if multiple drops combine, at some point the power of gravity is stronger than the force that causes water to stick to glass.

Now, think about a cold bottle on a warm day. It gets condensation on it, right? That’s because cold air holds less water vapor than warm air. If you get air cold enough, the water “comes out” of it.

Combine these two ideas and you get rain. Condensation happens in clouds; if enough condensation happens, water droplets get larger. If they get large enough, the forces keeping them in the air aren’t strong enough to counteract gravity.