Why Do Clouds Stay Up?

There's nothing wrong with having your head in the clouds!

Big thank you to my favorite cloud scientist Dione Rossiter for help researching this episode!

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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[zarith]

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]

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.

[eugenio]

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.

[KishoreShenoy]

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

[daredevilskydiver]

You speak well And keep the viewer captivated.

[jeffreyd.robertsonjr.]

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

[hayarehman]

I love your insteresting way of speaking, thanks

[HelenRainier]

Love the Carl Sagan reference: pale blue dot.

[alice]

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

[Lizzi]

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

[isilanes]

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.

[Caitlinabcdefg]

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 :)

[Zerepzerreitug]

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.

[faisal]

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

[MooMooMath]

Thanks for the video. Educational and entertaining

[Murkrust]

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

[tommoric]

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

[adsepulcrum]

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

[Litio]

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".

[paradigmdevelopmentcenter]

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