First of all, know that at the base of the long process whose steps we will see together, there is always an essential ingredient, which happens to be water vapor (that is, water in its gaseous state).
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Present in our atmosphere, although invisible, this water vapor can have many origins, such as the transpiration of plants, but remember that it mainly comes from the evaporation of water from seas, oceans, or lakes, under the heat of the Sun.
After its formation, in any case, our water vapor rises to the sky for reasons explained below.
(If necessary, you can skip this step and come back to it later, after the end of my presentation: this will not affect your understanding of the rest of the thread.)
As it ascends, it encounters increasingly cold air, which promotes its condensation into countless droplets suspended in the air.
However, to ensure this change of state, cold alone is not sufficient: the water vapor must also encounter a volatile microparticle,
You can’t even imagine the number and diversity of aerosols up there. There’s really everything: dust grains, sand, ash, and more.
Without their intervention to catalyze the transition from the gaseous state to the liquid state, the water vapor does not condense.
This means that any water vapor that does not encounter these nuclei will remain water vapor…
As for the droplets, even though it seems crazy, they will be visible from the surface of the Earth - not individually, of course, but as a whole, because these are what form clouds !
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Credit : NASA
(If necessary, you can skip this step and come back to it later, after the end of my presentation: this will not affect your understanding of the rest of the thread.)
However, to ensure this change of state, cold alone is not sufficient: the water vapor must also encounter a volatile microparticle,
Credit : David Babb & Minnesota Univ.
Without their intervention to catalyze the transition from the gaseous state to the liquid state, the water vapor does not condense.
As for the droplets, even though it seems crazy, they will be visible from the surface of the Earth - not individually, of course, but as a whole, because these are what form clouds !