What makes water fall out of clouds as rain?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: Tiny droplets merge until they're too heavy to float
Tiny droplets merge until they're too heavy to float ✓ — Cloud droplets are so small they drift on the slightest updraft. When they collide and merge, or when ice crystals grow at their expense in cold clouds, they become heavy enough to fall; one raindrop can hold about a million cloud droplets.
Thunder shakes water loose from the clouds — Most rain falls with no thunder at all, and thunder is just the sound of lightning heating the air. Rain begins when droplets grow heavy, whether or not there's a storm.
Clouds soak up water until they overflow — Clouds aren't sponges holding water; they're made of countless separate droplets floating in rising air. Rain falls when those droplets merge into drops too heavy for the air to hold up.
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