Why is it raining? How to explain to a child why it rains? There are different types of rain

Have you ever wondered what they are - real reasons rain? Oh, do you have your own opinion on this matter, which you consider to be the only correct one? Oddly enough, all people also have their own opinions. So, maybe it’s worth finding out what the real reasons for rain are for them?

Here comes a young man, serious and preoccupied, with a tube in his hand. It’s immediately obvious that he’s a student, and who else, if not him, should know the true reasons for the rain!

- Well, you give it! What are the causes of rain! Yes, every schoolchild knows this! At least he should know. Should I tell you about the water cycle in nature? About the fact that clouds are steam, it cools and falls to the ground in the form of raindrops? Or are you asking what the philosophical sense? Like, why does the grass grow, why does it rain, why do people die? Then I can’t say anything, we will only have philosophy in the third year!

Wow, I've caught a very smart student! Although he didn’t really say anything - he didn’t want to talk about the water cycle in nature, and, you see, they weren’t told about the true causes of rain yet! Well, no imagination!

— Reasons for the rain? What is this? Why is it raining? Ah-ah-ah, well, why - the Lord mourns the sins of men, so he comes! It’s true, it’s true, and there’s nothing to smile about! When people were mired in sin, the Lord sent down on them global flood, it rained for many days and nights in a row. But only after the Lord promised not to send any more floods did he feel sorry for the people! Since then he has only been crying, mourning our sins, here are the reasons for the rain, it’s time for people to think about how they live!

Well, that’s also a wow version! No one has proven that there cannot be such reasons for rain. Soooo, who's next? Yeah, here’s a schoolboy with a briefcase jumping across the lawn while the adults don’t see and swear.

- I know what causes rain! This is the water cycle in nature, we were told at school, water evaporates from rivers and seas, rises as steam up into the sky, and it’s cold in the sky, where the steam becomes water and flows, back into the seas and rivers. And then back to the sky! Everything seems to be... Ah! Another reason for rain is this: if it doesn’t rain, then all living things on earth will dry out and die, that’s why it rains!

Such a smart guy! I laid everything out as if on shelves. Let's go further, let's ask that little girl over there who, with a thoughtful look, is tormenting the daisy, probably telling fortunes. Love, you know, it’s love even at 8 years old!

- I don’t know the reason for the rain, we haven’t been to school yet... It probably rains when someone is sad, I’m always sad when it rains! And if, for example, you love someone, but they don’t love you, then you are sad, as if all the good things are over...

It’s also quite possible, although usually the opposite happens - and everyone becomes sad. Or maybe, indeed, the reasons for the rain are someone’s universal sadness, gathered at one time on earth...

Okay, let’s not be too sad, we’d better ask that little guy thoughtfully poking around in the sandbox. And what? As is known, the truth speaks through the mouth of a baby.

- Mom didn’t tell me what the reasons for rain are... Why does it rain? I don’t know... Oh, no, I know! My grandmother used to tell me that when it rains in the summer, angels pee on us from the sky! That's why I always hide from the rain!

Well, it's time to take stock. Everyone seems to know that rain is a phenomenon caused by the water cycle in nature; some even remember it. But everyone still has their own point of view on what the reasons may be. Of course, I would like to know what the true causes of rain are, but is it really that important? At least we talked to people.

Do you have your own versions - what are the reasons for the rain?

Have you ever wondered why it rains? Where does rain come from? What is rain? The rains are called precipitation, falling from clouds in the form of liquid drops with an average diameter of 0.5 to 6-7 mm.

Where does rain come from?

Under the influence solar heat Small droplets of water evaporate from the soil. Such drops are invisible to the human eye; they are also called steam or evaporation.
Most of the water evaporates from the surface of various bodies of water (lakes, rivers, seas and oceans), but it also evaporates from the leaves of trees, from the ground and from the surface of the human body.
Rising higher and higher, the steam enters the cold layers of the atmosphere and collects into water droplets and tiny pieces of ice. After all, the temperature at the top, where the clouds gather, is below zero degrees.
Inside the cloud, droplets and crystals constantly move and collide with each other, becoming larger and heavier, the crystals fall out of the cloud, gaining more and more mass, entering the lower part of the cloud or under it into layers with a temperature of 0 ° C and above, they melt, turning into raindrops .
Rain falls, as a rule, from mixed clouds, mainly from nimbostratus and altostratus, containing supercooled droplets and ice crystals at temperatures below 0 °C.

Interestingly, the larger the precipitation drops, the it's raining harder, but usually it goes away pretty quickly. The speed of such precipitation can range from 9 to 30 m/s (usually this is typical for summer or spring rain). But if the raindrops turn out to be small, then such precipitation can last for several days and even weeks - the water flies to the ground “slowly”, at a speed of 2 to 6.6 m/s, which is typical for autumn rains.

Now you know how water gets into the atmosphere and why it rains. Once on the soil in the form of rain, the water goes into groundwater, into the seas, oceans, rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water, and it all starts again and again. This natural phenomenon called the water cycle in nature.

Answer from Oksana[guru]
The sun warms the water in the ocean, in the sea, in the river, in any puddle.
The water evaporates, turns into transparent steam and rises upward, to where warm air currents carry it along with them, because warm air is lighter than cold air, it always tends to rush upward.
Light water vapor rises higher and higher from the earth heated by the sun and climbs high, to where it is constantly, even on the hottest summer day, very cold, like in winter.
The steam is warm, and when it touches cold air, it turns into tiny droplets of water.
The droplets are light, like fluff, they stay in the air perfectly, soar and move all the time, because everyone is pushing them; new and new streams of warm air rising from the ground.
Warm air throws droplets even higher, cold air drags them down; So they fly, tiny travelers, now up, now down; they dance, merge together, become larger.
There are very, very many of them, and all together they form a cloud.
At the top of the cloud the droplets freeze - it is very cold there; they turn into pieces of ice, grow, become heavier, and now they can no longer stay in the cloud and fall down. And when they fall, they melt, because it’s much warmer below; become droplets of water again, merge together - and goes to earth rain.
It rains because there is water
Constantly strives for the ground.
Because it's already cold
And in heaven someone can't sleep.
Because when I fell in love with you,
I got lost among three pines,
Because, not loving warmth,
Sad autumn has arrived.
The author of the poems, unfortunately I don’t know who...

Reply from Elena Maksimova[newbie]
When heavy black clouds gather in the sky, people say: “It will rain.” More often than not, it actually starts. But where did the clouds come from, and why does it rain from them? The reason for all this is the Sun. It heats the surface of the planet and the water in the oceans, lakes and rivers turns into steam. It mixes with air.
Rising warm air spreads water vapor into the atmosphere. Cooling down, the air gives up part of its load, and invisible water vapor becomes water again. Clouds form from its droplets. This process, the opposite of evaporation, is called condensation. Inside the cloud, tiny droplets gradually grow, collecting more and more moisture. Finally, the drops become so large that they can no longer be held aloft by air currents and fall to the ground as rain.
Evaporation occurs throughout the day. Water vapor rises into the atmosphere. But in order for it to turn into clouds consisting of tiny droplets, solid particles are also needed on the surface of which the steam could condense. If there are no or very few dust particles or ice crystals in the air, condensation may not occur.
This is how events develop on a warm summer day, when in the morning the sun shines in the bright sky, and in the afternoon the clouds thicken and rain pours on the ground, sometimes a strong but short shower. These are local rains. Long, lingering rains, for two to three days, or even a week, are brought from afar by powerful air vortices - cyclopes. Residents European plain rain pours water that has evaporated from the surface Atlantic Ocean. By determining the speed of movement of the cyclone, meteorologists can predict the time of onset of rainy weather.
Have you ever wondered why it rains? Who is crying there in heaven? Maybe someone is feeling bad there at this moment? It's so bad that I can't hold back my tears. And they drip to the ground, falling from the cheeks of an angel sitting on a gloomy gray cloud... And you know why it happens different rain? In summer, angels are happy, and their tears appear only from happiness. That's why it rains when the sun shines. And it is reflected in their eyes. And from these highlights we get a rainbow.
And by autumn, the angels begin to feel sad, they cry more and more often and hide their eyes in the clouds... Then the tears fall to the ground sadly, quietly... This is the autumn rain. In winter, angels begin to feel sad without love... And tears, falling from their eyes down to the ground, turn into snowflakes, cold, prickly... Here they are... different rains...
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Reply from Vitaly Norokh[newbie]
water evaporates, water drips. simple

Reply from User deleted[active]
and in the high layers of the atmosphere, steam condenses into water and falls to the ground - it’s simple

Reply from Anna[guru]
Rain is the result of a complex and long-term process involving the sun, earth and air. First the earth is warmed by the sun. As a result, the water of the oceans, seas, lakes, as well as the moisture contained in the soil, turns into water vapor. This steam is then mixed with air. This is how the evaporation process takes place.
And then, together with the lighter warm air, water vapor rises high into the sky, where it cools and turns into clouds. This process is called condensation.
What happens next to the water vapor inside the clouds? The tiny droplets of water contained in the clouds gradually grow, absorbing more and more moisture. Finally the drops become so heavy that the air currents are unable to hold them, and they fall to the ground as rain. That's why it rains.
The process of water evaporation occurs almost around the clock, and water vapor rises. But it doesn't rain every day. It is not always the case that invisible vapors turn into visible raindrops. This is explained by the fact that a certain surface is required for the condensation process to occur. If there are few or virtually no dust particles in the air, then condensation does not occur. Snowflakes and ice crystals that are high in the clouds facilitate the condensation process.
If warm and cold air currents collide in the atmosphere, it will most likely result in rain. Warm air contains a lot of moisture, which is cooled by cold air. air currents. Invisible vapors turn into heavy drops of water, which fall to the ground.

Children love to frolic in the summer rain, walk through puddles, measuring their depth, and launch boats along murmuring streams. And in childhood everyone, without exception, worries question – why is it raining?
When the sky becomes overcast with gloomy, dark clouds, the drops in them become heavier and larger. Not staying in the air due to own weight, drops fall to the ground - it is raining.
Where and why is there water in the sky, in the clouds and clouds?
There is a lot of water on earth - it is found everywhere: in lakes, rivers, seas, in the leaves of trees, even the human body consists of 80% water. Under the influence of the sun's heat, this moisture begins to evaporate from the surface of the earth. Very small droplets of water evaporate - so small that they are almost invisible - these droplets are called water vapor. Most of the water evaporates from large lakes and rivers.
You can see how evaporation occurs in the early morning - smoky white steam begins to spread over the river, sometimes it is also called fog. Also, when a kettle or pot of water boils, the water evaporates, forming steam.

The answer to the question - why does it rain: the water cycle in nature

As water droplets evaporate, they rise higher and higher into the sky, and the wind collects them into bizarrely shaped snow-white clouds. Over time, there are more and more water droplets in the cloud, and due to large quantity water, the cloud stops transmitting sunlight. It becomes larger, darker and heavier and is no longer called a cloud, but a cloud. And from this cloud, heavy droplets of water, connecting with each other, fall to the ground in the form of rain.
Sometimes, when it is very cold at the top, the droplets freeze and fall in small pieces of ice - this is called hail.
In winter, due to frost, the steam does not even gather in droplets, but immediately becomes snowflakes, which have a very diverse shape. In winter it doesn’t rain - instead of water, such fluffy snowflakes fall to the ground.
Water evaporates into the clouds, from there again to the ground, in the form of rain, snow or hail, once on the soil, the water goes into underground waters, saturating rivers, lakes, and seas. This cycle has a name - water cycle in nature.

You can do the following experiment at home: put a saucepan with a transparent lid filled with water on the fire. As water evaporates, it will rise to the top in the form of steam, remain on the lid in droplets, and then fall down, subsequently evaporating again. This way you can make your own rain at home and observe the water cycle in nature.

> Why is it raining?

How is rain formed?– description for children and adults: why it rains on Earth, diagram of the water cycle, amount of precipitation, rain on other planets.

Rain brings joy to farmers in the heat and sadness to melancholic people. You're happy about it if you can't stand the summer heat anymore and angry if you had to go shopping. However, why does it rain at all and how is it formed on the planet?

Let's start with the fact that rain is a liquid type of precipitation. Here you can’t do without deciphering the water cycle. It all starts with the Sun evaporating water from various bodies of water, provided that the air temperature is above 0°C. The steam then rises into the atmosphere, where it condenses into water droplets. Their weight makes them fall to the ground again.

This is the well-known water cycle in nature. It is often used to describe the journey of a liquid from bottom to top and back again. For the appearance of rain, two points are important: saturation and coalescence.

Saturation

In this process, invisible water vapor condenses on microwave particles, creating tiny droplets. Usually this criterion is conveyed under the guise relative humidity– percentage of total number water vapor that can persist at a certain air temperature.

The amount of water vapor retained before saturation (100% humidity) and transformation into a cloud depends on its temperature level (the warmer, the more).

Merger

This process occurs when the air becomes saturated. Then the water droplets begin to merge to create larger ones (occurs due to turbulence in the airspace).

They combine until their weight breaks through the air resistance and they fall as rain. It is important to understand that rain is the main source fresh water for many countries, and also provides the necessary conditions in various ecosystems.

Measurement

In order to record the amount of precipitation, special rain sensors were invented. Most often, they are represented by two cylinders (like a nesting doll) filled with water. The internal one is filled first and transfers water to the second. The remaining precipitation in the outer gives an overall estimate in millimeters.

There is also a clinometer, and most cheap option– a cylinder with a measuring stick. Precipitation is also monitored by weather radar.

Climate change

Of course, climate changes, like global warming, greatly influence the usual amount of precipitation. Increased carbon dioxide emissions have increased the mark average temperature all over the world. This means that much more water has evaporated.

For past century the amount of precipitation north of 30° increased, but decreased in the tropics. It may be noted that the Northern and South America, Northern Europe and Asia have become wetter. But the drought has intensified in Africa and southern Asia.

Rain on other planets

Yes we don't the only world where it rains. In our solar system there is wet precipitation, although it has virtually no connection with water. For example, on Venus it rains all the time, but you wouldn't want to walk under this stream made of sulfuric acid!

It forms high in atmospheric layer, where the wind accelerates to 360 km/h. But the droplets immediately evaporate because the surface is heated to 460°C. On Saturn's moon Titan, this is methane rain. It generally has an active hydrological cycle, where hydrocarbon takes the place of water.

Recently we received even more amazing curiosities. Liquid helium rain can occur on Saturn and Jupiter. It is believed that due to the enormous pressure on everyone gas giants there are “diamond deposits”. And this is not a joke. The planets contain methane, which when pressurized forms diamonds.

And another fascinating case is coronal solar rain. This occurs during a coronal mass ejection, during which the plasma cools and falls to the surface. Even whole splashes are created.