12 5
Day Three: God creates the Mayim for Earth's Oceans and Seas
The Science of Water (Mayim) Have you ever noticed that the bottoms of clouds are flat? The reason for this phenomena is called the dew point . Dew point is defined as the temperature at which water vapor in the air condenses back into liquid water. The dew point is also defined as the temperature at which air becomes saturated with water vapor - when the relative humidity of the air reaches 100% . The higher the humidity, the more latent heat ( 540 calories ) is stored in the surrounding air. Also, the higher the humidity of the air, the warmer the air feels. That is why some days seem warmer than other days even though the air temperature is exactly the same.
Carefully study the picture on the left. As air rises it also cools. As air cools , the humidity in the air increases until it reaches a point where the air is completely filled with water vapor ( 100% humidity ). This is also the dew point . As the air rise s further ( above the dew point ) , the water vapor releases its stored latent heat back into the air and change s back into a liquid f orming a cloud . The faster the air rises the more latent heat is released and the cloud grows taller and wider. Now look at the picture on the right. Can you now explain why the cloud in the picture has a flat bottom? Can you also explain why you see rain falling from the bottom of the cloud? Rain, snow, hail and sleet are all forms of precipitation that fall back to earth to replenish the water supply.
Made with FlippingBook Converter PDF to HTML5