how does water evaporate from the sea to form clouds, when the boling point of water is 100c ?
148234
This is a damn good question, and I’m going to do you the credit of assuming it’s your own and not a homework question.\n\nYou’re right, it’s odd that water can evaporate from an ocean at 25oC when by definition water doesn’t have enough energy to vaporise until it hits 100oC. The answer lies in the way that we define and measure temperature.\n\n“Temperature’ as we normally apply it, and as we apply it to ocean water, is simply a measure of the average velocity of the atoms and molecules. Or more simply when we say that water is at 25oC we are really saying that on average they are at 25oC. In reality that probably means something like  25% of the water molecules are at 5oC, 50% at 20oC, 24% at 30oC and the other  1% are at 100oC or even higher.\n\nThat tiny percentage of molecules that are at 100oC or higher, if they are on the surface, can escape the water body and fly ff into the air. That is how water manages to evaporate even when it is well below 100oC.\n\nEven more suprisingly you can see this happening even if the water is frozen. Even when the average temperature is below 0oC some individual molecules will still be at 100oC.Those molecules can evaporate, and you can watch an ice cube slowly shrink and vanish completely over time even though it never melts.
689575
High up in the atmosphere where rain clouds form, the temperature is freezing cold. At these aktltitudes the water can freeze. If there is turbulance a drop of water can freeze and be caught in an updraft. A layer of water can form around the frozen rain drop, freezing too. Thti small ice ball falls within the cloud and gets caught up in another up draft. If this continues a piece of hail is produced. It becomes too heavy to stay up and falls to the ground.\n\nIn still air the water is  in vapor form and as the temperature falls below freezing point, molecules of water coalesse and form crystals. If the air is freezing cold all the way to the ground, these crystals fall as snow. If the temperature is slightly above freezing point these crystals melt and form sleet.
18597
To save you some time, here is a great description in plain English:\n\nIt all begins when bitter cold air dives across the Great Lakes. As the cold air flows over the warm water, the relatively warm lake water heats the air's bottom layer as lake moisture evaporates into the cold air.\n\nSince warm air is lighter - less dense - than cold air, the heated air rises and begins to cool.\n\nAs the air cools, the moisture that evaporated into it condenses and forms clouds, and snow begins falling from the cloud if the air is humid enough.\n\nThe wind pushes the clouds over the land. As this happens, friction with the ground, which is greater than the friction between the lake's water and the moving air, slows the winds. This causes the air that's carrying the clouds to "pile up" - meteorologists call this "convergence."\n\nConvergence increases the amount of snow that's falling on the land compared with the amount falling on the lake.\n\nAs the wind continues inland it runs into hills, sometimes only a few miles from the lake, which forces the air to rise, which cools it. As the air cools, more humidity condenses to create even more snow. This is why the heaviest lake effect snow falls on hills inland from the great lakes. \n\nThe source also has an outstanding graphic depiction and explanation.
79449
Clouds are composed of small water droplets and/or ice crystals, depending on temperature. It's H2O in some form. Lower clouds are generally water droplets, while high clouds such as cirrus clouds are made up of ice crystals.
840814
the water cycle is what it says it is,the cycle water goes through.there has always been the same amount of water in the earth at all times.basically it is recycled.water from bodies of water is evaporated and rises into the atmosphere.it isnt all H2O.it contains all of the impurities and other elements also.the partcles form clouds and when they get heavy enuogh it rains.but it isnt just rain from the beginning.as it falls ,it starts out as frozen water(snow)and as it falls toward the earth,it melts into raindrops.i hope this helps.
133764
Well the sun comes out heats up the water and it turns into water vapor and goes through comdencation  which forms a cloud
514471
There is a difference between boiling and evaporating.\nAt 100 degrees water starts boiling. The temperature can not rise because al the energy you put in is used by the molecules to 'escape' and the water to change into gas. That is why damping water cools off. But water kan evaporate also at lower temperatures because molecules can 'escape'. The molecules are not as volatile as at 100 degrees, but they are volatile. Winds helps because the dryer the air, the easier it is to escape. Is the air humid, than the molecules can be caught in the water again. \nSorry I am not a chemist but I think this is it essentially.
476577
Evaporates water back into the sky so that it can come back to the earth in the form of percipitation.
8661
Well I spend some time googling for it but I didn't find any research on the topic.\n\nHowever, logicaly, a water spout would suck up the water as salt water since its a mechanical function, not an evaporative one.\n\nThat said, there is the concept of seeding a cloud with salt to cause rain to form.  It seems unlikely however that a salt in solution would come out of solution in the cloud, however maybe it could be MUCH diluted since most of a cloud would be freshwater.\n\nWith evaporation, the salt remains in the ocean.  In the case of the spout, the salt water is picked up and the returns down as salt water.\n\nThe logic here is that the salt HAS to return back to the earth somehow.
390105
What are clouds?\nA cloud is a large collection of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals. The droplets are so small and light that they can float in the air. \n\nHow are clouds formed?\nAll air contains water, but near the ground it is usually in the form of an invisible gas called water vapor. When warm air rises, it expands and cools. Cool air can't hold as much water vapor as warm air, so some of the vapor condenses onto tiny pieces of dust that are floating in the air and forms a tiny droplet around each dust particle. When billions of these droplets come together they become a visible cloud. \n\nWhy are clouds white?\nClouds are white because they reflect the light of the sun. Light is made up of colors of the rainbow and when you add them all together you get white. The sun appears a yellow color because it sends out more yellow light than any other color. Clouds reflect all the colors the exact same amount so they look white.\n\nWhy do clouds turn gray?\nClouds are made up of tiny water droplets or ice crystals, usually a mixture of both. The water and ice scatter all light, making clouds appear white. If the clouds get thick enough or high enough all the light above does not make it through, hence the gray or dark look. Also, if there are lots of other clouds around, their shadow can add to the gray or multicolored gray appearance.\n \nWhy do clouds float?\nA cloud forms when air heated by the sun. As it rises, it slowly cools it reaches the saturation point and water condenses, forming a cloud. As long as the cloud and the air that its made of is warmer than the outside air around it, it floats!\n\nHow do clouds move?\nClouds move with the wind. High cirrus clouds are pushed along by the jet stream, sometimes traveling at more than 100 miles-per-hour. When clouds are part of a thunderstorm they usually travel at 30 to 40
1132230
Standing in any cloud you would get wet. Clouds are made up from condensation from rain water. It is water droplets that make the clouds in the first place.
551276
The water cycle: water evaporates on the Earth's surface (oceans, plants...), gets into the athmosphere, forms clouds then falls back to Earth as rain or snow, and the cycle restarts.
173251
A cumulonimbus cloud forms in rising air (updraft).  The air cools as it rises, and at a certain point the water vapor in the air condenses into water droplets, forming a cloud.  Around a large Cb there is often downdraft - the air gets warmer as it subsides, and any water droplets (=clouds) will evaporate.
833749
Clouds are water vapor. Think of it like a pocket of fog in the sky.
479562
Clouds are formed when water vapour in the air is cooled and condenses as part of the water cycle. Clouds consist of billions of tiny water droplets (and even ice crystals) floating in the sky and appear in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on how and where they formed.
28572
At dusk, the land has begun to cool but the ocean, being water, retains heat longer than the land does.  The temperature differential causes a wind to blow out toward the ocean due to the rising warm air over the ocean.  This wind blows the clouds out into their thin and whispy shape.
27398
You can observe this yourself by breathing on a mirror. As the condensation evaporates from the mirror, you have completed the water cycle. Water evaporates into the atmosphere from the ocean, lakes, rivers, and from soil and plants, and even from your skin and breath. When the air reaches saturation (100% humidity) due to cooling or changes in atmospheric pressure (or both) the water condenses  from vapor to liquid (or solid) and falls to earth as rain, snow, sleet, hail, or maybe only as dew. This water may then form streams and rivers and return to the ocean where it may evaporate again into the atmosphere or it may sink into the earth where it becomes groundwater that may take many thousands of years to emerge again, or may be pumped to the surface from a well and used for drinking water or irrigation. It is a continuous cycle that may take only seconds or may take thousands of years to complete the cycle depending on the path of the water.   \n\nWhy do I get the feeling I'm answering your homework question? Now if you'd asked about delta O18 (a heavy isotope of oxygen) I could have told you how the water cycle concentrates water composed of hydrogen and heavy oxygen atoms and how this is used to study paleoclimates using ice cores and sea shells. Have a good day.