Why Do Clouds Stay Up?

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There's nothing wrong with having your head in the clouds!
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Subscribe to It's Okay To Be Smart: bit.ly/iotbs_sub
Big thank you to my favorite cloud scientist Dione Rossiter for help researching this episode!
"The Cloudspotter's Guide" by Gavin Pretor-Pinney amzn.to/1s3kk2S
The International Cloud Atlas: bit.ly/1q0kgLy
William Rankin - The Man Who Rode the Thunder • William Rankin, The Ma...
Bacteria that live in the clouds: www.pnas.org/content/110/7/257...
Mass of a cloud: mentalfloss.com/article/49786/...
Amazing facts about clouds: blog.ted.com/2013/07/16/8-illu...
A beginner's guide to being a cloudspotter: www.theguardian.com/lifeandsty...
How clouds affect climate change: • Cloudy climate change:...
The clouds and bushes in Super Mario Bros are the same thing: www.todayifoundout.com/index.p...
Produced for PBS Digital Studios
Joe Hanson - Host and writer
Joe Nicolosi - Director
Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen IncKate Eads - Associate Producer
Katie Graham - Director of Photography
Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics
John Knudsen - Gaffer
Dalton Allen - Post-production Intern
Theme music:
"Ouroboros" by Kevin MacLeod
Stock images via Shutterstock
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Опубликовано:

5 окт 2014

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Комментарии : 635

@zarith87 9 лет назад

Im an airline pilot... each time i fly, when i see overcast comulus clouds around the horizon it looks like a land mass from above the clouds.. when the aircraft descending and approaching to the same level of the overcast cloud really feels like u crashing into an alien world which has white fluffy land mass... its amazing...

@AliAliDillyDally 9 лет назад

I like how this channel is devoted to answering simple questions we all wonder about but are often ridiculed the moment we actually ask someone. Seriously. I used to ask my science teachers questions like this all the time and my peers would tease me relentlessly--even though they often didn't know the answers to these questions either. It's refreshing to see someone answering these questions with the dignity that they deserve. Just because a question sounds stupid, doesn't mean that it isn't worth answering.

@siyacer 4 года назад

Questions are called stupid by stupid people

@caseyhamm8822 2 года назад

what your classmates forgot is that asking a question isn’t about admitting that you don’t know, it’s about admitting you want to learn

@inmaculadasanchez4514 Год назад

Coñ

@marshallsweatherhiking1820 Год назад

Its not trivial and most people don’t know. Most people don’t know why the sky is blue either.

@marshallsweatherhiking1820 Год назад

This doesn’t actually answer the question at all. No mention of fluid drag resistance or terminal velocities. He explains how upward air currents form, but these currents are still far too weak to hold up any solid object larger than a raindrop. The real answer is that the weight-to-drag-resistance ratio is roughly a function of radius, so very small droplets have a very slow fall speed that can be countered by even the weakest updraft.

@eugenio5774 8 лет назад

at first I was like "what a dumb question" but then I realized that I had NO idea about the answer. there are no dumb questions in science.

@hafsakhan8216 2 года назад

Dude the question was not dumb you were

@jamesfryer8946 2 года назад

Amen

@royalfelineandtracygrant Месяц назад

Exactly! Science has zero dumb questions, you could ask something as silly as “what is a cat?” And get an interesting scientific answer.

@KishoreShenoy1994 8 лет назад

I think clouds are much heavier now, with so much data in them.

@JeffreyCVogt-ch9yf 8 лет назад

indeed. lol

@abdullahjabbar8673 8 лет назад

data barley weighs anything..

@makismakiavelis5718 7 лет назад

Especially with all that "big data"

@general_prodigy 7 лет назад

nah, too cringy to be good

@quwandathornton 4 года назад

😂😂

@Murkrust Год назад

I fell in love with the sky last year. Thanks for making this.

@Lizzi190 9 лет назад

Just a few days ago I was telling my friend how I find clouds truly fascinating. I have tons of pictures on my iPhone. ☁️☁️☁️

@wolfboyft 3 года назад

4:40 awww that's a sweet quote

@lance8524 9 лет назад

It's because they're high

@caryleangelag.limbasan6483 9 лет назад

Lol

@lolrandom3768 6 лет назад

😂😂

@saeedurrahman2056 5 лет назад

Do you love to wake up early in the morning 🌅

@yageruoy8109 5 лет назад

Like Elon musk

@changedaccount9154 3 года назад

Oh yeah orbiting like a moon

@faisal3398 7 лет назад

4:45 NOW YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ON SUNSETS EVERY SINGLE DAY WHERE I LIVE

@HelenRainier 8 лет назад

Love the Carl Sagan reference: pale blue dot.

@jeffreyd.robertsonjr.5728 9 лет назад

Very happy to have the sources!! And the additions are awesome too!

@googleisshit2266 9 лет назад

I saw some epic cumulus clouds, forming into awesome cumulonimbus thunderstorms. I love summer.

@jonutsthedanklordpayton 2 года назад

As someone who lives in the mountains the clouds are super cool to be in

@tommoric376 8 лет назад

yo man I'm 17 and at college hated science at school but u have made me love it thanks

@isilanes 9 лет назад

The video surely doesn't actually answer the question in the title. The body of air and water vapor within the cloud can certainly stay up because of bouyancy but *not* the water droplets. If for density alone, they'd drop, no matter their temperature (if liquid). I assume the water droplets in the clouds are so small that they are held there by the force of upward wind and brownian motion of the surrounding gas. If they coalesce to drops so big this effect does not suffice, it rains.

@unvergebeneid 9 лет назад

Brownian motion doesn't help, does it? It acts in all direction uniformly (don't give me something about a pressure difference, not at this size). It's the effect that the surface area of a water droplet is huge compared to its volume when it's that small, so the droplet is utterly dominated by the air around it. Therefore, when the air rises, so does the water. I'm afraid da Vinci got it all wrong. Clouds aren't bodies without surface (2:17) but bodies with enormous surfaces. And that's exactly the reason why they float.

@besmart 9 лет назад

Actually, the condensation nuclei act somewhat like a vapor and are held up by buoyancy due to the heat released by condensation. Others, like lenticular clouds or high altitude clouds, are held up by vertical wind currents or temperature layers. Density definitely is a real reason though!

@BazzleJoe 9 лет назад

Individual cloud droplets will fall on average, but they are so small and light, they will do so extremely slowly. The vertical component of the large scale wind pattern can far overwhelm the rate of fall of a cloud droplet (outside of a cumulus-producing updraft, winds aloft are mostly horizontal but can glide upwards or downwards at a rate as much as a few centimeters per second). So the vertical motion of the air which carries the cloud droplets is primarily responsible for maintaining or destroying a cloud (another act that can destroy a cloud is dry air entrainment, which is dry non-cloudy air turbulently mixing into the cloudy air and causing evaporation). Also, any cloud droplets that theoretically do fall out of the bottom of the cloud will fall into warmer air and will quickly evaporate.

@MartinHoeckerMartinez 9 лет назад

Penny Lane If the concentration isn't uniform Brownian motion can cause the group to move just very slowly. Getting dragged around by the wind is a lot faster!

@unvergebeneid 9 лет назад

Martin Hoecker-Martinez What concentration are you talking about in this case?

@Zerepzerreitug 9 лет назад

this video was highly appropriate for me. I was just discussing this with my dad the other day. Good to know we weren't _that_ far off from the answer.

@caitlinmenger8716 Год назад

Thank you for this video: my toddler asked me today how clouds stay in the sky and I needed help putting it into words, this was perfect :)

@paradigmdevelopmentcenter 6 лет назад

This is a GREAT video for classroom discussion! Thanks!!!

@alice16399 9 лет назад

So at 3:23, Does it mean that rain can actually make you sick?

@alice16399 9 лет назад

Anyone?

@VladVladislav790 9 лет назад

Shit, raining bacteria, now that's something to worry about

@KaptainKokosnoed 9 лет назад

***** Is shit not in your vocabulary?

@raelpeta1006 8 лет назад

KaptainKokosnoed Seems like it.

@gabbycutiemuffin 6 лет назад

Literally No one yes it happened to me before

@brennuvargr4638 6 лет назад

Totally recommend The Cloudspotter's Guide... I carry it everywhere I go. Amazing book. Definitely needs an update, however, seeing as 'new' cloud classifications have been added to the International Cloud Atlas as of this year. :)

@gzk6nk 3 года назад

I suggest you revisit lenticulars (which form downwind of mountain ranges, not over the mountain itself, and remain stationary relative to the ground as they mark the peaks of downwind wave systems which glider pilots love). What you described is orographic cloud (which forms when mountains force air to rise ).

@DanielRenardAnimation 8 лет назад

I was on a ride this summer, a pretty thrilling one, that swings you vertically high into the air. Near the end of the ride, it stops at the very top and people are left hanging upside down for a few seconds. I looked out, straight into the horizon and the sky was full of lumpy clouds, with only a bit of the sky showing. It looked absolutely amazing. It felt like I could step out of the ride and walk on the soft surface of the clouds... of course, if I had gotten out of the ride at that point, I would've gone the other way, ramming head-first after a 40+ meter drop, into the ground. :( But it was nice to imagine!

@sibhatafewerki4676 6 лет назад

Your title is so amazing and smart, I would love to appreciate. " #It's Okay To Be Smart"

@adsepulcrum3392 7 лет назад

"A sunset with out clouds is just a disappearing circle" 😂😂😂

@Litio535 9 лет назад

Great vid!! I never new I didn't now why do clouds stay up even when blown away by the wind. Love the part about cluds putting the 'pale' in "pale blue dot".

@besmart 9 лет назад

Thanks!

@ianunderfoot 9 лет назад

The end was so great, A+. I wish I was back in my hometown for this challenge, California's clouds are so weak compared to the Midwest!

@besmart 9 лет назад

ianunderfoot Thanks! Good luck on the challenge, every cloud is a good cloud if you look at it right :)

@Anonystar 9 лет назад

Joe Hanson? More like Joe Handsome.

@celsojoven3525 3 года назад

GMA

@chicoanimation5964 3 года назад

Joe MAMA

@scienceforyou1368 2 года назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pvJ9NEXt4t0.html

@loren8666 2 года назад

@@chicoanimation5964 😭😭✋

@ThePromiseOfGod 2 года назад

Boondocks

@locust76 9 лет назад

Wait, the 1896 edition of the International Cloud Atlas was written by Tom Hanks?

@MooMooMath 5 лет назад

Thanks for the video. Educational and entertaining

@AKHILCHANDRANBS27 8 лет назад

It's Okay To Be Smart, your videos are amazing....

@hayarehman9695 4 года назад

I love your insteresting way of speaking ,thanks

@cesarcueto1995 3 года назад

Huh

@lavaseer8058 6 лет назад

Enjoyed the video!!! Pretty interesting

@chekmaytful 7 лет назад

wow thats really fascinating.

@daredevilskydiver 4 года назад

You speak well And keep the viewer captivated.

@cesarcueto1995 3 года назад

Thank you

@lloydturner9911 8 лет назад

Thx 4 nice tips

@puraveducation3276 6 лет назад

Thanks sir

@trangpham4176 2 года назад

great question! exactly what I've been burning to know. thank you :) a question that cropped up though, do the airborne bacteria live attached to the water droplets and go down with rainfall? Does it affect water supply from rainfall?

@rd-ec1lr 8 лет назад

thanks for the information:)

@darkdro4784 9 лет назад

Thanks for the video :D

@niclrose7317 7 лет назад

I read the book you recommended on salt, very good book :)

@wesleypimenta7288 6 лет назад

Great, very good! I like it that channel. Congratulations by the job. Brazilian greetings!

@jeakepopoul8158 6 лет назад

Thank you

@ianonymous6106 5 лет назад

Love your videos. Mate

@tayoomisore 9 лет назад

please do more videos on clouds soon!

@Kai-zj3xj 7 лет назад

thanks for the facts :D

@aliciali3526 6 лет назад

Useful

@Ndo01 9 лет назад

I was thinking about this just last week.

@stp_scott2990 9 лет назад

Can you do a video on whether the planets will ever align. Or if they already have, how often do they?

@silentisland7 8 лет назад

Hey! Great video! What's the background music between 3:10 and 4:10?

@CellRus 7 лет назад

wow, such a simple question but the answer is more complex than i thought. I always thought clouds stay up high simply because of density differences. But if its just density, that wouldnt explain how droplets of water dont drop. Very cool!

@smitagrangerk4846 4 года назад

Really nice video...clouds are cool..#cloudfacts

@elizabethacero7455 3 года назад

Estaba en busca de un vídeo tan claro como este. Gracias por eso... No sé inglés pero el traductor automático es genial :), lo entendí perfecto

@Jack-zb6qf 9 лет назад

I live in ireland ......so.....any blue sky is AMAZING

@artfuldodger6440 2 месяца назад

Nice thanks you this

@user-tk7xp3cz7s 7 лет назад

i love it

@oxidiu5880 7 лет назад

Funny and usefull, great job!

@Goku49 4 года назад

thanks

@royoetting502 5 лет назад

Pretty good and you did say you only covered a little. Didn't mention the bad things about clouds. One thing I like about lenticular clouds is they look so static but they are anything but static . Not a good place for pilots to be order under them.either.

@BurninAss 9 лет назад

to be more correct on the explanation: warm air doesn't rise from itself. Cold surrounding air pushes it upwards. Just like objects less dense than water don't rise in water -> they're pushed upwards by the more dense water streaming underneath the object.

@arca5200 9 лет назад

Movie "Cloud Atlas" was great!

@unvergebeneid 9 лет назад

It's based the book of the same name ... just not _that_ book of the same name.

@arca5200 9 лет назад

Penny Lane I know, just a random thought

@datboyrob 9 лет назад

Penny Lane , mlmll9cc h,,.lo,

@thegeneralist5279 6 лет назад

I haven’t seen it, but I have seen "Stardust"! It was pretty good.

@scienceforyou1368 2 года назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pvJ9NEXt4t0.html

@Kevin_TCD 4 года назад

i love this intro plz don't change it (you already did) plz make it go back

@demolitionexpedition6155 6 лет назад

Hey ..i know this video is kind of old but if you see this do you think you can do a video on how lightning is created?? That would be really cool -thanks,love your videos

@jonasfelix7700 9 лет назад

You should start wingsuit flying ;-) you will love to fly along clouds.

@killgo3041 8 лет назад

Thanks to the reference to Cloud Atlas 2012)

@FNLNFNLN 8 лет назад

Why would anyone be surprised if something can fly if 'it weighs as much as a jumbo jet'? After all, a jumbo jet flies, that's the whole point of having them.

@lisafitzsimmons 8 лет назад

Good point

@reiiueafirfaea8981 8 лет назад

bad point

@richardcastanon635 8 лет назад

Why is it a bad point?

@OlivierHokke 8 лет назад

A jumbo jet has wings and stays airborne due to lift, which is only possible by moving fast enough. A jet will fall if it was just floating mid-air.

@FNLNFNLN 8 лет назад

Olivier Hokke And? Doesn't change the fact that it's obviously possible for a jumbo jet sized object to stay airborne.

@bedepal 7 лет назад

i have a question in my head for a long time now. tell me its stupid, but still. im going to ask anyway. in a different pbs channel there is a video about venus cloud cities. in that video, tha makers are suggesting we should colonise venus first via cities floating about 50 km above the ground, where there is the same pressure as on earth and it is just a bit varmer (70 degrees celsius). Could we theoretically send some photosynthetic bacteria there, that would float the same way as clouds, they would grow into colonies planetwide and eventually in like a thousand years terraform the planet, feeding on the CO2 and releasing oxygen? i mean, yeah, sure.. but come on, isnt it nice to dream?

@charlievane 6 лет назад

bd you're not the only one wonderin'

@HopeGamingforIdleGames 6 лет назад

bd yea you're not the only one,,.

@egeerkut9602 5 лет назад

Extreme science

@sapphireX111 4 года назад

Bro this is so true and right

@jesrielalsonado3767 4 года назад

like sky island in One Piece anime

@BlaahBlahblahh-fh4iv 19 дней назад

Earth science is amazing.

@abrarabdullaha3905 9 лет назад

omg u are awasom & smart ,, I wish all rhea her just like u

@jackieremis6533 9 лет назад

My class really likes your videos. It would be fun if you had questions they could answer.

@shanecarlson1057 4 года назад

@3:12 is that Tom Hanks on the cover of that book?

@DANGJOS 4 года назад

@It's Okay To Be Smart Also, clouds are filled with air that is more humid than its surroundings. Humid air is less dense than dry air, so that should be part of the reason.

@mikebauer6917 4 года назад

Humid air is buoyant as well (H2O vapor weighs less than N2, O2, ... dry air).

@user-tk7xp3cz7s 7 лет назад

thank you for the homework can i take this book

@sir_lawrencewoods6740 Год назад

I did not know all this about ⛅️

@derpysoilder2.160 7 лет назад

Just to tell you this is my study guide for my States of matter test

@shalomccs 2 года назад

Clouds were the weather forecast for the farmers long time ago.

@lessleyperez3869 6 лет назад

nice teacher

@saltandpepper6288 6 лет назад

I've seen a bunny shaped cloud before and it was the coolest thing ever

@rubychung5266 4 года назад

We can see the droplets with a flashlight even the mist maker which is super tiny but the cloud droplets are bigger. When i see fog i see water that looks like sprinkling

@Nemo-jq2rz 2 года назад

2:14 so if it heats itself from the inside (center-ish), I'd assume some parts don't get heated enough. Would that be a reason why more water vapor builds up other than the colder temperatures from rising?

@briibriisaddler6679 5 лет назад

I didn't know why clouds stay up in the sky so thank you for this video.

@kpurplicioustwin2374 5 лет назад

yeah!

@ViolettaSachra 9 лет назад

I already knew the story of the guy who was trapped inside a cloud, I read a report from him or something similar... truly frightening D:

@besmart 9 лет назад

ViolettaSachra That guy's toughness score is 10 out of 10, amazing story

@stevenwilson5556 6 лет назад

at 3:11, the 1896 Edition, International Cloud Atlas the drawing looks like a spitting image of Tom Hanks. Is that the real cover?

@UnFadingFox 9 лет назад

Being an artist and a poet I have a very broad imagination, I distinctly remember once that I was looking up at the sky and freaked myself out because one looked like a giant face with jagged teeth that started to expand larger and larger so that it looked like it was getting closer and closer lol. I ended up giving myself a panic attack. :P

@Murkrust Год назад

the first time I took mushrooms the clouds formed silken veils that covered everything, it was soo soothing lol the complete 180 between your and my experience is funny to me

@rd-ec1lr 8 лет назад

this really help me in science class\

@jordanweir7187 9 лет назад

awesome video :D

@sarahsherwood9184 6 лет назад

WOW

@Usrthsbcufeh 9 лет назад

I live in Melbourne Australia and most of the time the sky is grey or blue

@malihachhoa5066 9 лет назад

hey happy late birthday

@teekanne15 9 лет назад

Funny, I woke up really early today before sunrise... couldn't sleep any more and while i was waiting for my coffee in the kitchen I took some pics of the pink clouds on the horizon.

@robertsprague853 5 лет назад

fanjet engines do not produce cirrus clouds it's the mixing within occluded fronts and thermals that produce them around 20,000 feet whereas fanjet contrails happen at 30,000 feet and they dissipate rapidly and do not stay in suspension

@uniqueunique28 8 лет назад

You remind me of a guy I use to work with cool dude very smart

@longliveplanetawesome3223 7 лет назад

You should do a video about Carolus Linnaeus. He was born on May 23, 1707. You can post the video then

@purpleproductions358 8 лет назад

So you added a greenscreen at the end. Did anyone add greenscreen effects of clouds?

@canesvenatici9588 3 года назад

How warm does the water compared to the surrounding air to be floating up?

@vineyou1802 9 лет назад

QUESTION: Ok so the water molecules evaporate and as hot air rises it goes up, and forms the cumulus cloud. The water molecules stick together. But this still doesnt answer how or why its STILL floating up there. It only talks about how it GOT there. So how does it continuously float up there when the the water has cooled down?

@besmart 9 лет назад

TwentyFourMillion EffectivePixels That's where the part about heat released during condensation comes in! It's a little counter-intuitive, but when water condenses from vapor to liquid, it gives off heat. This is the opposite of the cooling feeling we experience when liquid water evaporates into vapor. The heat that is given off during condensation warms the cloud from the inside, increases the kinetic energy of the material inside, reduces its pressure, and keeps the cumulus cloud aloft thanks to buoyancy! But the average cumulus cloud only has a lifespan in the range of several (5-60) minutes, so even this process doesn't let them stick around for long.

@vineyou1802 9 лет назад

Ahh. I get it now. Thanks for you time! :)

@seedplanter7173 7 лет назад

Why do some planes make clouds that don't go away while other planes don't?

@breppapig559 7 лет назад

Billy Jack GEMSAILS!

@marshallbs 5 лет назад

It's Okay To Be Smart But you didn’t even mention the biggest thing.... drag from air molecules. Cloud droplets do fall, just at a speed much much slower than the updraft that’s holding them up. Air drag increases as the square of radius and velocity while weight increases as the cube of radius - thus large drops have a greater terminal velocity than small drops. This is why a single rain drop will fall much faster than one million cloud drops - even if the weight of the one million cloud drops added together is greater than the weight of the single rain drop.

@Kazedor 10 месяцев назад

3:03 Youre not too good with the jokes but this one was perfect.

@Flat_Earth_101 5 лет назад

How do the clouds travel at 1000+mph ?

@JinKee 9 лет назад

if there was microscopic life living inside the droplets in clouds on jupiter or saturn, just as bacteria lives in our clouds, what kind of equipment would we need to go find it?