Dear Tom,
If I throw a bucket of water from a hot air balloon at say 15,000 feet, will this water appear as rain drops or as big globs when it approaches ground level?
Don Sadecki, Westchester
Dear Don,
You'll get raindrops at the ground. Larger drops fall faster than smaller ones, but drop size has an upper limit. It's a matter of drop stability.
German physicist Dr. Philipp Lenard made the first accurate measurements of raindrop sizes, shapes and fall speeds around 1900. He found that raindrops can attain sizes no greater than one-fifth inch in diameter; they become unstable and shatter at larger diameters, and the largest drops fall at about 20 mph.
As a large raindrop falls faster and faster, the friction of its passage through the air causes it to flatten, then to bulge upward in the middle rather like an inverted paper bag, and finally to shatter into smaller drops that fall more slowly.
If I throw a bucket of water from a hot air balloon at say 15,000 feet, will this water appear as rain drops or as big globs when it approaches ground level?
Don Sadecki, Westchester
Dear Don,
You'll get raindrops at the ground. Larger drops fall faster than smaller ones, but drop size has an upper limit. It's a matter of drop stability.
German physicist Dr. Philipp Lenard made the first accurate measurements of raindrop sizes, shapes and fall speeds around 1900. He found that raindrops can attain sizes no greater than one-fifth inch in diameter; they become unstable and shatter at larger diameters, and the largest drops fall at about 20 mph.
As a large raindrop falls faster and faster, the friction of its passage through the air causes it to flatten, then to bulge upward in the middle rather like an inverted paper bag, and finally to shatter into smaller drops that fall more slowly.
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