Rain occurs when water vapor ______________.
Responses
A evaporatesevaporates
B condenses
B condenses
The correct answer is B: condenses.
To understand why rain occurs when water vapor condenses, we first need to understand the water cycle. The water cycle is the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the Earth's surface. It consists of several processes, including evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff.
When the sun heats up bodies of water, such as oceans, rivers, and lakes, it causes the water to evaporate. Evaporation is the process in which water changes from a liquid state into a gaseous state, called water vapor. Water vapor is essentially water in its gas form.
As the water vapor rises into the atmosphere, it begins to cool down. As it cools, it loses some of its energy and starts to condense. Condensation is the process in which water vapor changes from a gaseous state back into a liquid state. It forms tiny water droplets or ice crystals, depending on the atmospheric conditions.
These water droplets and ice crystals eventually come together to form clouds. Clouds are collections of billions of water droplets or ice crystals, which are suspended in the air. When the cloud droplets or ice crystals grow too large to remain suspended in the air, they fall to the ground as precipitation.
Precipitation includes various forms of water falling from the atmosphere, such as rain, snow, sleet, and hail. Rain specifically occurs when the cloud droplets combine and form larger water droplets. These droplets eventually become heavy enough to fall to the ground due to the force of gravity.
So, when water vapor condenses in the atmosphere and forms cloud droplets, it eventually leads to the formation of rain.