Calculating Water in a Cumulus Cloud: Volume, Pop Bottles, and Mass

[dhago07]

One cubic centimeter of a cumulus contains 330 water drops, which have a typical radius of 10 μm. (a) How many cubic meters of water are in a cylindrical cumulus cloud of height 2.9 km and radius 1.0 km? (b) How many 1-liter pop bottles would that water fill? (c) Water has a density of 1000 kg/m3. How much mass does the water in the cloud have?

 

[Delphi51]

Find the volume of one drop. Find the volume of the cylinder. Watch out for units - might be smart to convert everything to meters at the start.

 

[dhago07]

Find the volume of one drop. Find the volume of the cylinder. Watch out for units - might be smart to convert everything to meters at the start.

But they have give that it is one cubic meter at the beginng that's what i don't understand should i use that or what is that

 

[Delphi51]

No, it says the water drop has a radius of 10 μm. That means it is a sphere. Use the formula for the volume of the sphere to find its volume. Express the 10 micrometers in units of meters first. You'll get a very small answer, of course.

 

[dhago07]

No, it says the water drop has a radius of 10 μm. That means it is a sphere. Use the formula for the volume of the sphere to find its volume. Express the 10 micrometers in units of meters first. You'll get a very small answer, of course.

"One cubic centimeter of a cumulus contains 330" that's what i am talking

Thanks buddy for you help.

 

[Delphi51]

"One cubic centimeter of a cumulus contains 330" that's what i am talking

Yes, 330 drops in a cc. So after you find the volume of one drop of water, you can multiply by 330 to find out how much water in a cc of cloud.

 

[dhago07]

Yes, 330 drops in a cc. So after you find the volume of one drop of water, you can multiply by 330 to find out how much water in a cc of cloud.

ok i found the volume of both what's next

 

[dhago07]

ok i found the volume of both what's next

Also how i should do the part b and c

 

[Delphi51]

ok you know how much water in one cc of cloud.
So how much in the whole cloud? Find the volume of the cloud. It might be handy do to this calc in centimeters for easy comparison with the water in one cc.

 

[dhago07]

ok you know how much water in one cc of cloud.
So how much in the whole cloud? Find the volume of the cloud. It might be handy do to this calc in centimeters for easy comparison with the water in one cc.

i did not get that i just got the volume of drops of water and volume of cylinder with the given hieght and radius in km

 

[dhago07]

should i divide the volume of cylinder by the volume of drops in meters

 

[Delphi51]

I'm not clear on what you've got. Thought you said you had the volume of water in one drop AND the volume in 330 drops, which is the volume of water in 1 cc of the cloud.
Maybe give the approximate numbers you have for all these volumes so we can write more clearly.

 

[dhago07]

I'm not clear on what you've got. Thought you said you had the volume of water in one drop AND the volume in 330 drops, which is the volume of water in 1 cc of the cloud.
Maybe give the approximate numbers you have for all these volumes so we can write more clearly.

ok i found the volume of one drop using 10 micrometer and than i multiply it by 330 drops . Than i foung the volume of the cylinder using height and radius

 

[Delphi51]

If you have the cloud cylinder volume in cc's, you can just multiply by the amount of water in 1 cc. If in different units, you must convert.