🔬7️⃣ Cloud Formation - Lab 7 Review

Cloud

An aggregate of water droplets and/or ice crystals that occur in the earth’s atmosphere and are visible from the Earth’s surface

Fog

A cloud touching the ground

Adiabatic process

A thermodynamic process in which a system does NOT exchange any heat with its surroundings (heating or cooling is a result of an INTERNAL process). In other words, heating/cooling happens through internal compression or expansion, not external heat transfer.

Diabatic process

A process with a DIRECT energy exchange between a system and its environment. These are “external” processes that include temperature change by radiation, conduction, and convection.

cloud condensation nuclei

Abbreviated to CCN or CN, these are aerosols or other atmospheric particles on which water condenses (“activates”) and promote cloud formation

100%

clouds are likely to form in areas with an RH of [#%]

cools, decreases, adiabatic cooling

An air parcel [terms] as its pressure [terms]. This is called [term cooling], and it’s how many clouds form.

collision/coalescence, collide, coalescence, bounce off, break apart

the main process of precipitation formation in warm clouds is called [term/term]. Large, rapidly falling droplets [term] with smaller, more slowly falling droplets; if they combine upon contact, this is called [term]. Sometimes, the droplets just [term term] each other or [term apart] because of a forceful collision.

faster, greater

larger droplets fall [faster/slower] than smaller ones because of their [lesser/greater] mass. using this principle, we can determine the mass/size the droplet has to be to overcome the updraft velocity and fall to the ground.

convection, conduction, radiation

Three common diabatic processes:

[term] = heat transfer through upward movement of molecules within a fluid

[term] = heat transfer by direct contact

[term] = heat transfer by transmission/emission of electromagnetic waves