AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Precipitation forms in the clouds when water vapor condenses into bigger and bigger droplets of water. When the drops are heavy enough, they fall to the earth. If a cloud is colder, like it would be at higher altitudes, the water droplets may freeze to form ice.

Detailed explanation-2: -As water droplets combine with each other (also known as coalescence), and grow, clouds not only develop, but precipitation may also occur. Precipitation is essentially water in its liquid (rain) or solid (ice) form falling from the base of a cloud.

Detailed explanation-3: -The most common types of precipitation are rain, hail, and snow. Rain is precipitation that falls to the surface of the Earth as water droplets. Raindrops form around microscopic cloud condensation nuclei, such as a particle of dust or a molecule of pollution.

Detailed explanation-4: -If the temperature is cold enough, ice crystals form instead of liquid water droplets. If the droplets or ice crystals within clouds grow in size, they eventually become too heavy to stay in the air, falling to the ground as rain, snow, and other types of precipitation.

Detailed explanation-5: -The temperature of the cloud and the air between the cloud and the ground create different kinds of precipitation. Rain: Rain made of liquid water droplets falls when temperatures in the air and at the surface are above freezing (32°F, 0°C).