Re: How do you make it rain in a class room?

Message ID: 877033178.Es

Nikki -

Sorry about the delay. Hope this is still of use to you. If you need further information, please contact me directly. (email: cdharris@mtsu.edu)

You asked "How do you make it rain in a class room?"

The short answer is: you can't.

Now for the long answer. Rain is the product of a rather complicated process involving one of two mechanisms: 1) formation of very tiny water (cloud) droplets via condensation and their coalescence (joining together) to create larger and larger droplets until these droplets are so heavy that they begin to fall as rain; 2) condensation of water vapor, evaporated from water droplets, onto ice crystals slowly results in the formation of larger and larger ice (cloud) crystals, which eventually become heavy enough to fall. If they melt on the way down to the ground, these crystals produce rain, if not, snow. Both of these explanations are oversimplifications, but they should do.

In either case, the conditions required to create rain cannot be replicated in the classroom.

Now, if you want to make water droplets that are a product of condensation on a SURFACE, that is a different story. Just direct the steam from a pot of boiling water or a humidifier at a piece of glass (the colder, the better) and you will have big water drops forming in no time. Do this long enough, and the drops will begin to fall. Voila! -- rain (sort of). You may have seen this happening, for example, on tile ceilings in a shower. However, keep in mind that this is really more like dew than rain.