By: Tristan Sun
“What are clouds made of?” you ask.
There exist many different plausible answers, depending on who you’re asking. For example, if you asked a grown-up, you might get an answer with something about how warm and moist air rises. The air cools as it gets higher and millions of miniscule water droplets group up into clouds. Or something like that.
If you ask your science teacher, she’ll give you roughly the same answer but with more confusing words such as “the water cycle”, “evaporation”, “condensation”, “water vapor”, and “humidity”.
If you ask a computer scientist, you’ll get an answer about data and Linux servers, how they “optimize and secure IT infrastructure”, and help make the internet reliable.
But if you ask me, there are far simpler explanations for this phenomenon.
Whenever fighter jets fly through the air, they leave white trails, or contrails in their wakes for the same reason you see your breath when it’s cold. The atmosphere at the high altitudes of fighter jets is much colder than the jet’s exhaust, creating the white trails. Wind blows these contrails until they get together with each other and form clouds. Now, you may be wondering: “How do the tiny contrails from planes become giant clouds in the sky?” The answer is that the contrails from planes are very concentrated, so when the wind blows them, they spread out a great deal to form large fluffy clouds.
Some clouds look like giant puffs of whipped cream, while others resemble feathers, pillows, or fur. Another explanation for what clouds are made of can be found at ski resorts. To extend ski season and improve the reliability of their snow cover, many ski resorts create artificial snow in a process known as snowmaking. Large amounts of water and pressurized air are forced through a “snow cannon”, which turns the water into powdery snow. Most of these particles fall back to earth and become snow, but the finest particles float away into the atmosphere, where they unite with other clouds.
Next time your science teacher asks you what clouds are made of, you know how to respond!