Weight vs. Mass of Clouds

Asked by: Christina Allen

Do clouds weight or mass?

Doing the math: 1,000,000,000 x 0.5 = 500,000,000 grams of water droplets in our cloud. That is about 500,000 kilograms or 1.1 million pounds (about 551 tons).

What’s the weight of a cloud?

about 1 billion 400 million pounds

and HOW MUCH DOES A CLOUD WEIGH? so for dry air… by Mike Staudenmaier, Jr. Answer: Thus, a ‘typical’ fair weather cumulus cloud “weighs” about 1 billion 400 million pounds, or about 800 million pounds less than dry air of equal volume.

Are clouds mass?

A cloud is a mass of water drops or ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Clouds form when water condenses in the sky.

How do you calculate the weight of a cloud?

The vapor condenses into tiny droplets. Scientists have measured the density of a cumulus cloud at about 0.5 grams per cubic meter.



Next, you can use the density of a cloud to find its mass:

1. Density = Mass / Volume.
2. 0.5 grams per cubic meter = x / 1,000,000,000 cubic meters.
3. 500,000,000 grams = mass.

What is the heaviest cloud?

Cumulonimbus cloud

Are clouds heavy or light?

They may look all light and fluffy, but the reality is that clouds are actually pretty heavy. Researchers have calculated that the average cumulus cloud – which is that nice, white fluffy kind you see on a sunny day – weighs an incredible 500,000 kg (or 1.1 million pounds!).

Can you touch a cloud?

Clouds are made of millions of these tiny liquid water droplets. The droplets scatter the colors of the sunlight equally, which makes clouds appear white. Even though they can look like cushy puffballs, a cloud can’t support your weight or hold anything up but itself.

Do clouds weigh like 100 elephants?

Viewed from a plane, clouds appear fluffy and light, but in fact the water droplets and ice crystals making up the average cumulus cloud (1km cubed in size) weigh around 550 tonnes – the same as a herd of 100 African elephants. Meanwhile, a towering thunderstorm cloud is equivalent to 200,000 elephants.

How heavy is a dark cloud?

Big, dark cumulonimbus clouds carry about six times as much weight as the cumulus cloud on average. A thin wispy cirrus cloud is 10 times lighter than a cumulus cloud. That comes to about 110 thousand grams of water or a twentieth of gram of water in each cubic meter.

What is a cloud made of?

Clouds appear when there is too much water vapour for the air to hold. The water vapour (gas) then condenses to form tiny water droplets (liquid), and it is the water that makes the cloud visible. These droplets are so small that they stay suspended in the air.

Can you touch a cloud?

Clouds are made of millions of these tiny liquid water droplets. The droplets scatter the colors of the sunlight equally, which makes clouds appear white. Even though they can look like cushy puffballs, a cloud can’t support your weight or hold anything up but itself.

How do clouds weigh a million pounds?

With a combination of pressure, air, and water, clouds are actually remarkably heavy. Though it may look weightless, the average cumulus cloud is packing an astonishing 1.1 million pounds. How does something so heavy float so effortlessly above us?

How big is a cloud?

Summer cumulus clouds vary in size, but a typical one would be about one kilometre across and about the same tall. This means we can consider it to be a cube, with each side measuring 1km across. That means our cloud is 1,000 x 1,000 x 1,000 cubic metres in size – and this makes 1 billion cubic metres.

Do clouds weigh like 100 elephants?

Viewed from a plane, clouds appear fluffy and light, but in fact the water droplets and ice crystals making up the average cumulus cloud (1km cubed in size) weigh around 550 tonnes – the same as a herd of 100 African elephants. Meanwhile, a towering thunderstorm cloud is equivalent to 200,000 elephants.

Why are clouds white?

But in a cloud, sunlight is scattered by much larger water droplets. These scatter all colours almost equally meaning that the sunlight continues to remain white and so making the clouds appear white against the background of the blue sky.