Kids how do clouds form

Although the basic idea of cloud formation is easy to understand, there is much more to learn. In fact, clouds are considered one of the most challenging aspects of climate science. NASA has a fleet of spacecraft that orbit Earth, called satellites. Many of them study clouds, weather, climate and more.

Make a cloud in a bottle with this DIY project! How Do Clouds Form? The Short Answer:. Clouds are created when water vapor, an invisible gas, turns into liquid water droplets. A cloud is a large collection of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals. The droplets are so small and light that they can float in the air. How are clouds formed? All air contains water, but near the ground it is usually in the form of an invisible gas called water vapor.

When warm air rises, it expands and cools. When billions of these droplets come together they become a visible cloud. Why are clouds white? Since light travels as waves of different lengths, each color has its very own unique wavelength. Clouds are white because their water droplets or ice crystals are large enough to scatter the light of the seven wavelengths red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet , which combine to produce white light.

Why do clouds turn gray? Clouds are made up of tiny water droplets or ice crystals, usually a mixture of both. The water and ice scatter all light, making clouds appear white. If the clouds get thick enough or high enough all the light above does not make it through, hence the gray or dark look.

Also, if there are lots of other clouds around, their shadow can add to the gray or multicolored gray appearance. Why do clouds float? A cloud is made up of liquid water droplets.

A cloud forms when air is heated by the sun. As it rises, it slowly cools it reaches the saturation point and water condenses, forming a cloud. As long as the cloud and the air that its made of is warmer than the outside air around it, it floats! How do clouds move? Clouds move with the wind. High cirrus clouds are pushed along by the jet stream, sometimes traveling at more than miles-per-hour.

When clouds are part of a thunderstorm they usually travel at 30 to 40 mph. W hy do clouds form at different heights in the atmosphere?

The characteristics of clouds are dictated by the elements available, including the amount of water vapor, the temperatures at that height, the wind, and the interplay of other air masses. Warm air weighs less than cooler air. So a big bubble of warm air, filled with water vapour, slowly lifts off your school oval. As the bubble of air filled with water vapour rises upwards, it starts to cool down.

The higher it goes the cooler it gets. Eventually, well off the ground above your school, the bubble of air has cooled so much that the water vapour turns into liquid water. We call this point the condensation level. When the water vapour turns into tiny specks of liquid water, a cloud forms.

Clouds are simply liquid water: very, very small drops of liquid water. So small in fact, that they can be held up in the air by rising air currents. Back on the school oval: the day keeps getting warmer, more and more bubbles of rising air race upwards, cooling as they rise. When these bubbles of air reach the condensation level, more cloud forms. Because of all the rising air coming up, these clouds can be bumpy on the top, sometimes producing very high thick clouds looking like cotton wool or cauliflower heads.

Some clouds form as air warms up near the Earth's surface and rises. Heated by sunshine, the ground heats the air just above it.

That warmed air starts to rise because, when warm, it is lighter and less dense than the air around it. As it rises, its pressure and temperature drop causing water vapor to condense. Eventually, enough moisture will condense out of the air to form a cloud. Several types of clouds form in this way including cumulus, cumulonimbus, mammatus, and stratocumulus clouds. Some clouds, such as lenticular and stratus clouds, form when wind blows into the side of a mountain range or other terrain and is forced upward, higher in the atmosphere.