A Wonderleaf question
How do clouds float?
a real page from the book
Clouds stay up because their water is split into specks so tiny that each one sinks very slowly. Gravity tugs, but moving air rubs against those droplets and rising warm air often carries them upward, so the cloud can hang in place while its droplets are constantly moving.
The lovely part is that a cloud is not sitting still like cotton on a shelf. Its droplets are being made, lifted, nudged, joined, and lost. When enough droplets join into larger drops, gravity takes over, and the cloud sends rain down.
Wonder words
- droplet
- gravity
- updraft
- vapor
Try it out
Hold a feather and a small pebble at shoulder height, drop them together, and notice how air changes their fall.
Read the whole picture book
Watercolour scenes, straight answers, about three minutes cover to cover.
Open the picture bookKeep wondering
- Why do mountains change the weather?
- Why is frost sparkly?
- Why is the sky sometimes gray?
- Why do clouds change shape?
- How do meteorologists predict the weather?
- Why does the air smell different after rain?
One more wonder: Why is space so dark?
And the next question?
Ask anything — Wonderleaf writes and illustrates a picture book for it. That's the whole idea.
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