How do the clouds float right above us?

Question

when i was little, i always ride in the car looking out the window into the sky. i can see the clouds floating right above us. i've always wondered, why? or, how?

Answer 1

Clouds are formed when water vapor in the air is cooled and condenses as part of the water cycle. Clouds consist of billions of tiny water droplets (and even ice crystals) floating in the sky and appear in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on how and where they formed.

All air contains water, but near the ground it is usually in the form of an invisible gas called water vapor. When warm air rises, it expands and cools. Cool air can't hold as much water vapor as warm air, so some of the vapor condenses onto tiny pieces of dust that are floating in the air and forms a tiny droplet around each dust particle. When billions of these droplets come together they become a visible cloud.

Answer 2

It might go against your intuition, but water is lighter than air. H2O has an atomic weight (mass) of 18 (H2 X 1 + O1 X 16 = 18) and molecules of air are heavier - O2 is O2 X 16 or 32 and N2 is N2 X 14 which is 28. The heavier air molecules in motion can keep the lighter water molecules suspended until they form larger droplets and become too heavy.

Answer 3

Water vapour is lighter than air.Clouds consist of very small water droplets which are formed by the condensation of this water vapour on tiny dust particles , salt particles or tiny droplet of sulphuric acid (these are called condensation nuclei ).These absorb the water vapour,grow up,overcome the curvature effect and remain in suspension as droplets and these droplets form as clouds and float in the air as visible clouds.

Answer 4

The are a form of condensation.