AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Precipitation occurs when tiny droplets of water, ice, or frozen water vapor join together into masses too big to be held above the earth. They then fall to the ground as precipitation.

Detailed explanation-2: -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-3: -Water droplets may grow as a result of additional condensation of water vapor when the particles collide. If enough collisions occur to produce a droplet with a fall velocity which exceeds the cloud updraft speed, then it will fall out of the cloud as precipitation.

Detailed explanation-4: -Frontal Uplift When they encounter a warm mass of air, the warm air is forced up, over the top of the cooler air. As the warm air rises, water vapor in that air condenses and cools. As it does so, clouds form, eventually leading to precipitation.

Detailed explanation-5: -Clouds are made of water droplets. Within a cloud, water droplets condense onto one another, causing the droplets to grow. When these water droplets get too heavy to stay suspended in the cloud, they fall to Earth as rain.