What+is+rain+and+what+causes+it+to+rain?

Rain is water droplets that fall from a cloud. It takes millions of water droplets just to make up one single water droplet. If water droplets collide they will make a bigger water droplet. Water falls because a cloud has too much water and some of it must be released. The cloud will be dark if it has a lot of water because sunlight cannot get through the cloud. Rain is a type of precipitation; precipitation is anything that falls from a cloud. It could be snow, sleet, hail, or just rain. Rain is a very big part in the water cycle it forms most of the oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers. Water is the only liquid that can take three forms. It can be a gas when it is evaporating, a liquid as rain, and a solid as ice.
 * WHAT IS RAIN AND WHAT CAUSES IT TO RAIN? **

 Figure 1: The water cycle 

**Types of clouds ** The air always has clouds in the air but sometimes they are just not visible. Clouds are just water vapor in the air. Water condenses to form a gas that we call clouds. There are lots of types of clouds but some main ones are cumulus, stratus, cirrus, and cumulonimbus. A cumulus cloud is a cloud that you see on a normal day and looks like a lot of cotton balls together. A cirrus cloud is a little strip of a cloud that is about twenty thousand feet up in the air. Stratus clouds are less than five thousand feet to the ground. A cumulonimbus is also known as a rain cloud. These clouds are dark colored and when these clouds are around it is probably going to rain soon. Cumulonimbuses are very vertical they can take up about from six thousand feet to sixty thousand feet. figure two: cloud chart **Evaporation and condensation **Evaporation is water vapor that is invisible. Evaporation is the process of picking up water and the water travels through the air and eventually condenses to form a cloud. Heat is the cause of Evaporation. Places with more heat water will be evaporated quicker. Condensation is the process of water vapor turning into clouds. Condensation is also what makes a cold water bottle wet. Water Vapor condenses against a cold surface to form condensation. Condensation is formed when Water vapor has compressed until there is nothing less to compress. **Glossary ** Evaporation: Archaic. matter or the quantity of matter [|evaporated] orpassed off in vapor. Condensation:  the act of [|condensing]; the state of being [|condensed]. Precipitation: a casting down or falling headlong. **Citations ** <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dictionary.com. Precipitation, evaporation, condensation 2012. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Eyewitness books, Weather. Unkown. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ganeri, Aneta. Outdoor science 1993. London, Evans brothers unlimited <span style="background-color: #ebebeb; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">"**Rain.**" //Britannica Elementary Encyclopedia//. //Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition//.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2012. Web. 28 Sept. 2012.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">< <span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Wikipedia.org. Types of clouds, 2012,Wikipedia. 26 August 2012