Clouds come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, here's how these puffy whites floating over our heads form

Apr 25, 2015 10:03 GMT  ·  By

We Earth dwellers are all too familiar with the sight of clouds. So much so that, most of the time, we don't really notice these white balls of fluff floating over our heads. Well, not unless they decide to turn grey and drop rain on us.

Still, the fact of the matter is that, as unimpressive as they might seem to some people, clouds are actually one of nature's best works. To learn how clouds form, check out the video below.

As detailed in this short animation, clouds come into being when water in the form of vapors leaves oceans, seas and the like, and rises high into the atmosphere.

Having reached a certain altitude, the water vapors are exposed to environmental conditions that make them condense. What this means is that the water returns to a liquid state.

Interestingly, studies have shown that the water vapors that birth clouds don't condense all on their own, but around particles of dust and salt that are also present in Earth's atmosphere.

Every once in a while, the clouds forming in our planet's atmosphere end up packing one too many heavy droplets of water. When this happens, the water falls back on the ground in the form of rain.