It’s a rainy day! Have you ever thought about how rain is formed? The process by which water vapor and clouds cause rain will be explained here. Water vapor and clouds are key elements in the production of rain. The process in which water travels from the earth to the air and, eventually, back to the earth again is called the water cycle. In this cycle, there is a chain of events that clearly show a process of cause and effect.
Water is always in the air. Water in the gaseous form is called water vapor. Warm air can hold more water vapor than cool air. Because the warm, moist air is less dense than cool or dry air, it rises. When the warm, moist air rises, it slowly starts to cool. As a result of the air cooling, the water vapor in the air begins to transform into very tiny droplets of liquid water. Now, the tiny droplets of water condense on the particles of dust that are in the air. Subsequently, a cloud is formed. After a while, the cloud becomes colder and more water condenses. Then, the droplets of water in the cloud bump into each other to form larger drops. At one point, the drops of water become too large and heavy to stay in the cloud. Thus, the water falls to the earth as rain.
Without water vapor there would be no clouds, and without clouds there would be no rain. In the water cycle, everything depends on another step in the cycle. Water vapor causes clouds to form and clouds provide the setting for rain to form and eventually fall to the earth. This series of cause and effect is a crucial part in earth’s conservation of water.