The Bedtime Scientist

A question

How do clouds float?

A calm, true answer. Then, if the wondering keeps going, the whole episode.

The short answer

They are not as solid as they look. A cloud is made of water droplets so small that a million of them could fit inside one raindrop, and something that small falls very slowly.

An ordinary fluffy cloud can still weigh as much as a hundred elephants. It stays up because warm air is rising underneath it faster than the droplets can drift down. When the droplets finally win, it rains.

Go deeper tonight

Clouds: The Shape Water Borrows

The full episode, in one calm voice, with nothing that startles.

The episode

Clouds: The Shape Water Borrows

0:00 9:23
Sleep timer

Read the guide for this one in the morning.

This connects to

Water Air and pressure

One idea turns up in many different nights. Follow one and the library starts to join up.