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Isn’t it both fun and relaxing to lie down on the grass and look up at the clouds, identifying all sorts of animals and objects from their different shapes? When doing this, it’s easy to see that all clouds are not the same. They take on many shapes—and those shapes change even as they roll across the sky, right before your eyes!
We’ll let our friends over at Whyzz help us explain what makes clouds different from each other.
What are Clouds?
Let’s start by getting a better understanding of what clouds are.
Although they look like giant bunches of cotton, clouds are actually made up of water droplets that are so tiny and light, they float through the air. When many of these droplets float up into the sky and hold on to each other, clouds are formed!
Cloud Shapes are Caused by Air
Clouds get their shapes from the air that surrounds them. Air temperature is always changing, affecting the shapes of the clouds. Since clouds are made up of millions of tiny pieces of water, when they are really high up in the sky where the air is very cold, the water droplets freeze into floating ice crystals. When we observe these clouds way up in the sky, they look like wispy strands.
However, the air tends to be warmer lower in the sky and, when it’s not cold enough for the water droplets to freeze, the water collects in a very wet form, similar to fog. When we see these lower, wet clouds, they appear fluffy. They can also be stretched out and flat, covering the sky like a blanket!
When the air is windy, it pushes and pulls clouds, causing them to be squeezed and stretched in different directions. This is when you can really see (or imagine!) some pretty neat shapes.
Next time you’re enjoying some outdoor time cloud gazing, you can thank the air and the wind for providing such amazing art in the sky!
Looking for more Never Stop Asking "Why?" questions? Catch up on all of the past "Why's" on the blog!
