The Physics of Natural Clouds

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How Clouds Form

text and photography by Bernhard Mühr
The "Karlsruher Wolkenatlas", www.wolkenatlas.de

What are clouds?

Clouds consist of small water droplets and/or small ice particles. The diameter of cloud water droplets is in the order of 0.01-0.02 mm. Clouds usually consist of a spectrum of different droplet sizes, the radii may range up to 0.1 mm.

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The Ash Cloud

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article from Magazine Edge 317
by John Brockman
Publisher & Editor, Edge

the full article is available under the following link:
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge317.html#ashcloud

On Wednesday April 14th, on the way to London from JFK, the pilot announced a slight delay into Heathrow in order to avoid the ash cloud coming out of the Icelandic volcano eruption. This was the first time I paid any attention to the subject. That flight must have been one of the last to arrive in Heathrow before airspace was closed. ...

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The Physics of Artificial Clouds

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What is a cloud?

Humidity – water vapor – is invisible. What we detect as a cloud are accumulated condensed water drops. In nature the condensation occurs when humid air moves into higher layers with a lower air temperature. Such a negative stratification is possible due to the decreased barometric air pressure – which is not conceivable indoors.

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