What causes water droplets to fall as precipitation?
Water droplets may grow as a result of additional condensation of water vapor when the particles collide. If enough collisions occur to produce a droplet with a fall velocity which exceeds the cloud updraft speed, then it will fall out of the cloud as precipitation.
Why does the condensed water then fall back to Earth as precipitation?
When molecules of water vapor return to liquid or solid form, they create cloud droplets that can fall back to Earth as rain or snow—a process called condensation. Water vapor rises into the atmosphere, where it condenses, forming clouds. It then falls back to the ground as precipitation.
What force causes precipitation to fall from the sky?
Precipitation occurs when water droplets or crystals condense out of air saturated with water vapor and fall from the sky to the ground. It may occur when evaporation causes the amount of water vapor in the air to increase or when air cools and its capacity to hold water decreases. Precipitation comes from clouds.
What happens to most of the water falling as precipitation?
Most of the water falling as precipitation flows to groundwater. Most of the water falling as precipitation returns to the atmosphere by transpiration and evaporation. Groundwater is made up of a network of underground rivers and lakes.
In what ways does precipitation occur on the Earth?
Precipitation occurs when water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into either liquid or solid forms. Precipitation is water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail. It is the primary connection in the water cycle that provides for the delivery of atmospheric water to the Earth.
How does precipitation affect the topology of the Earth?
In the case of air flowing over the mountains, precipitation is concentrated on the windward facing side and a rain-shadow occurs on the lee side. If air cannot flow over the mountains, more complicated flow patterns and precipitation distributions can result. As air approaches the topography, it slows down.
What are the 3 causes of precipitation?
Causes of precipitation :
- Cooling of air to the dew point temperature to produce saturation condition.
- Being a condensation of moist air masses.
- Growth of droplet.
- Accumulation of moisture of sufficient intensity to account for the observed rates of rainfall.
What force is most responsible for raindrops falling to Earth?
Raindrops, along with all things that fall, drop to the Earth because of gravity.
How does precipitation affect the topology of the earth?
Does all the water that falls as precipitation make it to the river?
When precipitation falls over the land surface, it follows various routes in its subsequent paths. Some of it evaporates, returning to the atmosphere; some seeps into the ground as soil moisture or groundwater; and some runs off into rivers and streams.
Why is rain called precipitation?
Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor (reaching 100\% relative humidity), so that the water condenses and “precipitates” or falls. Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud.