Why are the tops of clouds all poofy and fun, but the bottoms are totally flat and boring?
In: Physics
Well I guess the puffy and fun is probably what you mean is towering
Cumulonimbus cloud.
* Hot air = can hold a lot of water (hot air+water = less dense)
* Cold air = can’t hold a lot of water (cold air = more dense)
Let’s say if you have a cup of air and it has 30C temperature it can hold 1L of water. If the temperature becomes 32C the cup expands and can hold now 1.2L of water. If it cools to 28C, the cup shrinks and now it can only hold 0.8L of water.
So and now to the explanation.
Imagine now: you have a super hot day at a beach, suddenly comes a very cold air mass. As cold air mass is more dense it pushes the warm air up very quickly. Warm air raises, as air rises it cools ~2C* per 1000ft and at the same time the airs ability to hold on to water diminishes (cup becomes smaller). At some point it reaches a temperature where the humidity is 100% (dew point / cup is now full and overflowing), “overflowing”water starts to condense and the flat bottom is born. The hot air mass is cooled, but it’s still relatively hot air vs surrounding temperature so it keeps on rising, and it keeps on cooling and the water keeps on overflowing the cup and condense.
So you have 1 specific altitude where condensation starts = flat bottom. And the remaining condensation brings out very nice, puffy, fluffy clouds.
AAAAAAND a crappy weather is inbound 🙂
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