# What keeps a cloud together?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-a-cloud-together/66311>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 23, 2001, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-a-cloud-together/66311 "2001-05-23T16:28:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-a-cloud-together/66311/1 "2001-05-23T16:28:51Z")

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I was flying home from Fargo on Sunday, looking, out at the clouds as the plane descended into Newark, and started wondering: Why don’t the clouds just dissipate? What keeps them together?

I took a look at Britannica, NOAA, the Weather Channel, Google searches, etc. but never found much explanation. There’s lots to look at on how clouds _form_, and what eventually might _make_ clouds dissipate, but nothing on what keeps them together in between.

Takers?

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-a-cloud-together/66311/2 "2001-05-23T16:59:11Z")

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There is no bonding action between the water droplets within a cloud.

Precipitation occurs with one or more of the following:  
Increase in humidity,  
Decrease in temperature,  
Decrease in pressure.  
Clouds are simply patches of ordinary air which exceed a certain significant point of atmospheric conditions.

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**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-a-cloud-together/66311/3 "2001-05-24T01:58:36Z")

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Just a few days ago, some one asked the same question. If you did a search on the SDMB, you would have found:  
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=69734](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=69734)

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2001, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-a-cloud-together/66311/4 "2001-05-24T02:38:58Z")

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No wonder I had Deja Vu…I answered THAT post TOO!!!

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**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2001, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-a-cloud-together/66311/5 "2001-05-24T03:08:37Z")

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Oh, goodness, that’s embarrassing. I actually did search the SDMB, but of course my phrasing wasn’t spot on and by the time you run something simple, like “cloud” and “together,” you end up with 800 threads…

Sigh. My kingdom for a proximity operator in the SDMB search engine…

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**Author:** ![MrDeath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/22d042/32.png) [@MrDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDeath)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2001, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-keeps-a-cloud-together/66311/6 "2001-05-24T10:14:21Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by OxyMoron \*  
> **Why don’t the clouds just dissipate? What keeps them together?**

[Diallel lines.](http://www.allanstime.com/UnifiedFieldTheory/gravity.htm)  
::grin, duck & run::