Why Is it Raining?

Why Is it Raining? exercise

• What is condensation?

  Hints

  How do the drops of water get into the cloud?

  Water from oceans, rivers, streams, soil and plants is heated by the sun.

  The water vapour cools down as it gets higher in the air. This can create water or cloud droplets that gather around small dust particles.

  Solution

  Condensation is the process in which water heated by the sun, rises through the air as water vapour.

• How are clouds formed?

  Hints

  First, the water in oceans, rivers, soil and plants is heated by the sun.

  The heated water then rises through the air as water vapour.

  Clouds are formed from the water droplets

  Solution

  1.The water in oceans, rivers, soil and plants is heated by the sun.

  2.The heated water from the oceans etc rises through the air as water vapour.

  3.This water vapour cools down because of the colder air.

  4.Next, the water, or droplets, gather around small dust particles.

  5.Finally clouds are formed from the water droplets.

• How are raindrops formed?

  Hints

  Light water droplets float in the air.

  Bigger drops form when more drops come together.

  Solution

  When the water droplets are light, they float in the air.

  When more drops come together, bigger drops are formed.

  When the drops become too heavy, they fall to the ground as rain drops.

• How are hailstones formed?

  Hints

  Hailstones start as raindrops.

  What type of weather could push them back up?

  Lastly, hailstones become too heavy and fall to the ground.

  Solution

  Hailstones first come out of the cloud as raindrops.

  Before the raindrops reach the ground, the wind pushes them back up into colder layers of air. There they freeze and fall down as hailstones.

  On their way back to the ground, they encounter water droplets that attach to them. In the process, they can be sent high into the air again and melt together with more ice particles.

  This process continues until the hailstones become too heavy and fall to the ground.

• What are the different kinds of precipitation?

  Hints

  There are 3 correct options.

  This is one type of precipitation.

  This is another type of precipitation.

  Solution

  Precipitation occurs when warm air pushes water vapour high into the atmosphere. When the water vapour cools, it condenses into water droplets that can stay liquid or freeze.

  All forms of precipitation start the same, but they end in different forms.

  The forms of precipitation here are: rain, snow and hail.

• Is it more likely to rain or snow?

  Hints

  Snow falls when the temperature is around the freezing point.

  Rain can begin as snow high in the clouds. The snowflakes become raindrops through the warmer air.

  It often rains in spring.

  Solution

  If the temperature is 15ºC and it is May, it is more likely to rain.

  If it is very cold outside, the temperature is 0ºC and it is February, it is more likely to snow.