Knox Box of Miscellany

Dawn Knox – A rearranger of words into something hopefully meaningful…

Cloud Control – #MuseItUp

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Cloud

Cloud looking like a bird wing by the bell tower of St. Nicholas Church

I just watched a great BBC television programme about clouds. The scientists measured a small cloud and found it weighed 4 tons. Apparently, cumulo-nimbus clouds, which are the greatest water-bearers can weigh up to one million tons.  And what’s more, the world’s clouds can carry one hundred and twenty nine billion tons of water, holding it in the sky.

How on earth do they hang in the air?

Well, apparently energy released by the condensation of water, known as latent heat, helps keep them afloat.

Before rain can for, molecules of water vapour need something to collide with and condense on, such as dust or sea salt . The scientists showed that some bacteria are present in the clouds on which molecules of water can condense. Ice forms around bacteria at a higher temperature than it does around dust and this is the prelude to rain. So clouds with bacteria will rain more easily.

Will that have implications for weather prediction and possibly weather control? It might be useful in very arid regions of the world where more rain is needed.

Over the last few days, Essex has had a lot of rain and sadly, the roof of St. Nicholas Church is peppered with holes which woodpeckers have made. This means that rain finds its way into the building. In order to repair the roof and to make it woodpecker-tight, we need to raise lots of funds. My fundraising effort is my ebook, ‘Daffodil and the Thin Place’, which can be bought here and all profits will go to the church renovation fund. #MuseItUp

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