• Question: are clouds affected by gravity

    Asked by monty to Adrian, Gaia, Jim, Scott, Vicky on 5 Mar 2016. This question was also asked by lazyluke135.
    • Photo: Adrian Buzatu

      Adrian Buzatu answered on 5 Mar 2016:

      Yes, everything is affected by gravity. It’s because their density is lighter than that of the air at the earth level that they float. This behaviour is described by Archimede’s law.

    • Photo: Scott Lawrie

      Scott Lawrie answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      Of course. It’s just that clouds are lighter than air so they ‘float’ on it, just like a ping-pong ball floats on water. Imagine a balloon. When it’s empty it sits on the table because of gravity! Fill it up with helium, though, and it’ll float in the air because helium is so light. It’s not that gravity doesn’t affect the balloon (or a cloud), it’s just very light compared to the air around it.

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