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What happens inside a cloud?
Micro-scale Processes - Rain Droplet Formation
Cloud updrafts and thickness also play an important role. In a thin cloud with weak updrafts, large droplets will fall through the cloud quickly and do not have much time to grow. On the other hand, a thick cloud with strong updrafts maximizes the time cloud droplets spend in the cloud and, hence, the size to which they can grow.
Finally, it is thought that coalescence is enhanced if colliding droplets have opposite electrical charges.
Questions to think about:
Next page -> Micro-scale processes - ice crystal formation
Links and resources
Micro-scale Processes - Rain Droplet Formation
Cloud updrafts and thickness also play an important role. In a thin cloud with weak updrafts, large droplets will fall through the cloud quickly and do not have much time to grow. On the other hand, a thick cloud with strong updrafts maximizes the time cloud droplets spend in the cloud and, hence, the size to which they can grow.
Finally, it is thought that coalescence is enhanced if colliding droplets have opposite electrical charges.
Questions to think about:
- How do droplets of different
sizes form in the first place?
- Why do big droplets fall faster than small droplets?
Next page -> Micro-scale processes - ice crystal formation
Links and resources
