Why Do Clouds Stay Up?
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2014
- There's nothing wrong with having your head in the clouds!
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Big thank you to my favorite cloud scientist Dione Rossiter for help researching this episode!
"The Cloudspotter's Guide" by Gavin Pretor-Pinney amzn.to/1s3kk2S
The International Cloud Atlas: bit.ly/1q0kgLy
William Rankin - The Man Who Rode the Thunder • William Rankin, The Ma...
Bacteria that live in the clouds: www.pnas.org/content/110/7/257...
Mass of a cloud: mentalfloss.com/article/49786/...
Amazing facts about clouds: blog.ted.com/2013/07/16/8-illu...
A beginner's guide to being a cloudspotter: www.theguardian.com/lifeandsty...
How clouds affect climate change: • Cloudy climate change:...
The clouds and bushes in Super Mario Bros are the same thing: www.todayifoundout.com/index.p...
Produced for PBS Digital Studios
Joe Hanson - Host and writer
Joe Nicolosi - Director
Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen IncKate Eads - Associate Producer
Katie Graham - Director of Photography
Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics
John Knudsen - Gaffer
Dalton Allen - Post-production Intern
Theme music:
"Ouroboros" by Kevin MacLeod
Stock images via Shutterstock
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Im an airline pilot... each time i fly, when i see overcast comulus clouds around the horizon it looks like a land mass from above the clouds.. when the aircraft descending and approaching to the same level of the overcast cloud really feels like u crashing into an alien world which has white fluffy land mass... its amazing...
at first I was like "what a dumb question" but then I realized that I had NO idea about the answer.
there are no dumb questions in science.
Dude the question was not dumb you were
Amen
Exactly! Science has zero dumb questions, you could ask something as silly as “what is a cat?” And get an interesting scientific answer.
I think clouds are much heavier now, with so much data in them.
indeed. lol
data barley weighs anything..
Especially with all that "big data"
nah, too cringy to be good
😂😂
I like how this channel is devoted to answering simple questions we all wonder about but are often ridiculed the moment we actually ask someone. Seriously. I used to ask my science teachers questions like this all the time and my peers would tease me relentlessly--even though they often didn't know the answers to these questions either. It's refreshing to see someone answering these questions with the dignity that they deserve. Just because a question sounds stupid, doesn't mean that it isn't worth answering.
Questions are called stupid by stupid people
what your classmates forgot is that asking a question isn’t about admitting that you don’t know, it’s about admitting you want to learn
Coñ
Its not trivial and most people don’t know. Most people don’t know why the sky is blue either.
This doesn’t actually answer the question at all. No mention of fluid drag resistance or terminal velocities. He explains how upward air currents form, but these currents are still far too weak to hold up any solid object larger than a raindrop.
The real answer is that the weight-to-drag-resistance ratio is roughly a function of radius, so very small droplets have a very slow fall speed that can be countered by even the weakest updraft.
I fell in love with the sky last year. Thanks for making this.
The video surely doesn't actually answer the question in the title. The body of air and water vapor within the cloud can certainly stay up because of bouyancy but *not* the water droplets. If for density alone, they'd drop, no matter their temperature (if liquid).
I assume the water droplets in the clouds are so small that they are held there by the force of upward wind and brownian motion of the surrounding gas. If they coalesce to drops so big this effect does not suffice, it rains.
Brownian motion doesn't help, does it? It acts in all direction uniformly (don't give me something about a pressure difference, not at this size). It's the effect that the surface area of a water droplet is huge compared to its volume when it's that small, so the droplet is utterly dominated by the air around it. Therefore, when the air rises, so does the water.
I'm afraid da Vinci got it all wrong. Clouds aren't bodies without surface (2:17) but bodies with enormous surfaces. And that's exactly the reason why they float.
Actually, the condensation nuclei act somewhat like a vapor and are held up by buoyancy due to the heat released by condensation.
Others, like lenticular clouds or high altitude clouds, are held up by vertical wind currents or temperature layers. Density definitely is a real reason though!
Individual cloud droplets will fall on average, but they are so small and light, they will do so extremely slowly. The vertical component of the large scale wind pattern can far overwhelm the rate of fall of a cloud droplet (outside of a cumulus-producing updraft, winds aloft are mostly horizontal but can glide upwards or downwards at a rate as much as a few centimeters per second). So the vertical motion of the air which carries the cloud droplets is primarily responsible for maintaining or destroying a cloud (another act that can destroy a cloud is dry air entrainment, which is dry non-cloudy air turbulently mixing into the cloudy air and causing evaporation). Also, any cloud droplets that theoretically do fall out of the bottom of the cloud will fall into warmer air and will quickly evaporate.
Penny Lane If the concentration isn't uniform Brownian motion can cause the group to move just very slowly. Getting dragged around by the wind is a lot faster!
Martin Hoecker-Martinez What concentration are you talking about in this case?
It's because they're high
Lol
😂😂
Do you love to wake up early in the morning 🌅
Like Elon musk
Oh yeah orbiting like a moon
Love the Carl Sagan reference: pale blue dot.
4:45 NOW YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ON SUNSETS EVERY SINGLE DAY WHERE I LIVE
Just a few days ago I was telling my friend how I find clouds truly fascinating. I have tons of pictures on my iPhone. ☁️☁️☁️
Very happy to have the sources!! And the additions are awesome too!
So at 3:23, Does it mean that rain can actually make you sick?
Anyone?
Shit, raining bacteria, now that's something to worry about
***** Is shit not in your vocabulary?
KaptainKokosnoed Seems like it.
Literally No one yes it happened to me before
Wait, the 1896 edition of the International Cloud Atlas was written by Tom Hanks?
4:40 awww that's a sweet quote
this video was highly appropriate for me. I was just discussing this with my dad the other day. Good to know we weren't _that_ far off from the answer.
Totally recommend The Cloudspotter's Guide... I carry it everywhere I go. Amazing book. Definitely needs an update, however, seeing as 'new' cloud classifications have been added to the International Cloud Atlas as of this year. :)
Your title is so amazing and smart, I would love to appreciate. " #It's Okay To Be Smart"
Joe Hanson? More like Joe Handsome.
GMA
Joe MAMA
ruclips.net/video/pvJ9NEXt4t0/видео.html
@@chicoanimation5964 😭😭✋
Boondocks
I saw some epic cumulus clouds, forming into awesome cumulonimbus thunderstorms. I love summer.
"A sunset with out clouds is just a disappearing circle" 😂😂😂
As someone who lives in the mountains the clouds are super cool to be in
great question! exactly what I've been burning to know. thank you :) a question that cropped up though, do the airborne bacteria live attached to the water droplets and go down with rainfall? Does it affect water supply from rainfall?
This is a GREAT video for classroom discussion! Thanks!!!
Great vid!!
I never new I didn't now why do clouds stay up even when blown away by the wind.
Love the part about cluds putting the 'pale' in "pale blue dot".
Thanks!
yo man I'm 17 and at college hated science at school but u have made me love it thanks
I suggest you revisit lenticulars (which form downwind of mountain ranges, not over the mountain itself, and remain stationary relative to the ground as they mark the peaks of downwind wave systems which glider pilots love). What you described is orographic cloud (which forms when mountains force air to rise ).
Thanks for the video. Educational and entertaining
Thank you for this video: my toddler asked me today how clouds stay in the sky and I needed help putting it into words, this was perfect :)
i have a question in my head for a long time now. tell me its stupid, but still. im going to ask anyway. in a different pbs channel there is a video about venus cloud cities. in that video, tha makers are suggesting we should colonise venus first via cities floating about 50 km above the ground, where there is the same pressure as on earth and it is just a bit varmer (70 degrees celsius). Could we theoretically send some photosynthetic bacteria there, that would float the same way as clouds, they would grow into colonies planetwide and eventually in like a thousand years terraform the planet, feeding on the CO2 and releasing oxygen? i mean, yeah, sure.. but come on, isnt it nice to dream?
bd you're not the only one wonderin'
bd yea you're not the only one,,.
Extreme science
Bro this is so true and right
like sky island in One Piece anime
I was on a ride this summer, a pretty thrilling one, that swings you vertically high into the air. Near the end of the ride, it stops at the very top and people are left hanging upside down for a few seconds. I looked out, straight into the horizon and the sky was full of lumpy clouds, with only a bit of the sky showing. It looked absolutely amazing. It felt like I could step out of the ride and walk on the soft surface of the clouds... of course, if I had gotten out of the ride at that point, I would've gone the other way, ramming head-first after a 40+ meter drop, into the ground. :( But it was nice to imagine!
Enjoyed the video!!!
Pretty interesting
The end was so great, A+. I wish I was back in my hometown for this challenge, California's clouds are so weak compared to the Midwest!
ianunderfoot Thanks! Good luck on the challenge, every cloud is a good cloud if you look at it right :)
I love your insteresting way of speaking ,thanks
Huh
It's Okay To Be Smart, your videos are amazing....
wow thats really fascinating.
Thx 4 nice tips
You speak well And keep the viewer captivated.
Thank you
thanks for the information:)
Love your videos. Mate
Thanks for the video :D
2:14 so if it heats itself from the inside (center-ish), I'd assume some parts don't get heated enough. Would that be a reason why more water vapor builds up other than the colder temperatures from rising?
thanks for the facts :D
Thanks sir
Hey! Great video!
What's the background music between 3:10 and 4:10?
Can you do a video on whether the planets will ever align. Or if they already have, how often do they?
I read the book you recommended on salt, very good book :)
amazing video, i love clouds
Great, very good! I like it that channel. Congratulations by the job. Brazilian greetings!
Thank you
please do more videos on clouds soon!
Hey ..i know this video is kind of old but if you see this do you think you can do a video on how lightning is created?? That would be really cool -thanks,love your videos
QUESTION:
Ok so the water molecules evaporate and as hot air rises it goes up, and forms the cumulus cloud. The water molecules stick together. But this still doesnt answer how or why its STILL floating up there. It only talks about how it GOT there. So how does it continuously float up there when the the water has cooled down?
TwentyFourMillion EffectivePixels That's where the part about heat released during condensation comes in! It's a little counter-intuitive, but when water condenses from vapor to liquid, it gives off heat. This is the opposite of the cooling feeling we experience when liquid water evaporates into vapor.
The heat that is given off during condensation warms the cloud from the inside, increases the kinetic energy of the material inside, reduces its pressure, and keeps the cumulus cloud aloft thanks to buoyancy! But the average cumulus cloud only has a lifespan in the range of several (5-60) minutes, so even this process doesn't let them stick around for long.
Ahh. I get it now. Thanks for you time! :)
Why do some planes make clouds that don't go away while other planes don't?
Billy Jack GEMSAILS!
It's Okay To Be Smart But you didn’t even mention the biggest thing.... drag from air molecules. Cloud droplets do fall, just at a speed much much slower than the updraft that’s holding them up. Air drag increases as the square of radius and velocity while weight increases as the cube of radius - thus large drops have a greater terminal velocity than small drops. This is why a single rain drop will fall much faster than one million cloud drops - even if the weight of the one million cloud drops added together is greater than the weight of the single rain drop.
Useful
how does it rain in the winter up north what makes evaporation happen when it's that cold
Why would anyone be surprised if something can fly if 'it weighs as much as a jumbo jet'?
After all, a jumbo jet flies, that's the whole point of having them.
Good point
bad point
Why is it a bad point?
A jumbo jet has wings and stays airborne due to lift, which is only possible by moving fast enough. A jet will fall if it was just floating mid-air.
Olivier Hokke And?
Doesn't change the fact that it's obviously possible for a jumbo jet sized object to stay airborne.
Really nice video...clouds are cool..#cloudfacts
I was thinking about this just last week.
How warm does the water compared to the surrounding air to be floating up?
You should start wingsuit flying ;-) you will love to fly along clouds.
if there was microscopic life living inside the droplets in clouds on jupiter or saturn, just as bacteria lives in our clouds, what kind of equipment would we need to go find it?
How high could a cloud get ? can someone give my an accurate link about the height of clouds ?
at 3:11, the 1896 Edition, International Cloud Atlas the drawing looks like a spitting image of Tom Hanks. Is that the real cover?
I didn't know why clouds stay up in the sky so thank you for this video.
yeah!
So you added a greenscreen at the end.
Did anyone add greenscreen effects of clouds?
Nice thanks you this
How do the clouds travel at 1000+mph ?
thank you for the homework can i take this book
would it be warm inside of a cloud?
Pretty good and you did say you only covered a little. Didn't mention the bad things about clouds. One thing I like about lenticular clouds is they look so static but they are anything but static . Not a good place for pilots to be order under them.either.
Hey.. Is there any force acting on the clouds?
Movie "Cloud Atlas" was great!
It's based the book of the same name ... just not _that_ book of the same name.
Penny Lane I know, just a random thought
Penny Lane , mlmll9cc h,,.lo,
I haven’t seen it, but I have seen "Stardust"! It was pretty good.
ruclips.net/video/pvJ9NEXt4t0/видео.html
i love it
Estaba en busca de un vídeo tan claro como este. Gracias por eso... No sé inglés pero el traductor automático es genial :), lo entendí perfecto
Funny and usefull, great job!
The cloud atlas... now I want to rewatch the movie lol
My class really likes your videos. It would be fun if you had questions they could answer.
thanks
wow, such a simple question but the answer is more complex than i thought. I always thought clouds stay up high simply because of density differences. But if its just density, that wouldnt explain how droplets of water dont drop. Very cool!
i love this intro plz don't change it (you already did) plz make it go back
to be more correct on the explanation:
warm air doesn't rise from itself. Cold surrounding air pushes it upwards. Just like objects less dense than water don't rise in water -> they're pushed upwards by the more dense water streaming underneath the object.
3:37 clouds evolving lmao
I just saw aloud fall out the sky. How did that happen?
So why do I not see cumulus clouds a lot in the winter?
We can see the droplets with a flashlight even the mist maker which is super tiny but the cloud droplets are bigger. When i see fog i see water that looks like sprinkling
I did not know all this about ⛅️
omg u are awasom & smart ,, I wish all rhea her just like u
Being an artist and a poet I have a very broad imagination, I distinctly remember once that I was looking up at the sky and freaked myself out because one looked like a giant face with jagged teeth that started to expand larger and larger so that it looked like it was getting closer and closer lol. I ended up giving myself a panic attack. :P
the first time I took mushrooms the clouds formed silken veils that covered everything, it was soo soothing lol
the complete 180 between your and my experience is funny to me
Thanks to the reference to Cloud Atlas 2012)
I live in Melbourne Australia and most of the time the sky is grey or blue
hey happy late birthday
3:03 Youre not too good with the jokes but this one was perfect.
Just to tell you this is my study guide for my States of matter test
@3:12 is that Tom Hanks on the cover of that book?
awesome video :D
Type falling clouds.
How do you wanna explain that?
why is Tom Hanks on the cover of the International Cloud Atlas (3:12) Maybe im just seein shapes in clouds.
I've seen a bunny shaped cloud before and it was the coolest thing ever
this really help me in science class\
Is there anything fluffier than a cloud?
Image around @4:20 is upside down. The image of the earth wasn't like that.
Chris Dodges 420 blaze it
No it's not
There is no up or down in space. 😂😉
I live in ireland ......so.....any blue sky is AMAZING