How much water is in a typical cumulus cloud?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around calculating the volume of water in a typical cumulus cloud, specifically focusing on a cylindrical cloud with given dimensions. The problem involves understanding the relationship between the number of water drops and their volume in cubic centimeters, as well as converting units to cubic meters.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Mathematical reasoning, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the need to calculate the volume of a water drop and how that relates to the total volume of water in the cloud. Questions arise about whether to multiply the volume of the sphere by the range of water drops to find lower and upper limits.

Discussion Status

Some participants have provided guidance on calculating the volume of the water drops and the overall volume of the cloud. There is an ongoing exploration of how to apply these calculations to find the required limits, with no explicit consensus reached yet.

Contextual Notes

The original poster has converted units to cubic meters but is uncertain about the next steps. The problem requires consideration of both the volume of individual water drops and the total volume of the cloud.

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Homework Statement


A cubic centimeter in a typical cumulus cloud contains 50 to 500 water drops, which have a typical radius of 10 µm. For that range, give the lower value and the higher value, respectively, for the following.
(a) How many cubic meters of water are in a cylindrical cumulus cloud of height 2.7 km and radius 1.0 km?
give the lower and upper limit

Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution



i have converted the units to m cube because that's what the answer wants but i just don't know how to continue
 
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You need to work out the volume of a sphere 10um in diameter - this and the 50-500 gives you the volume of water in 1 cc
Then you need to know how many cubic cm there are in a cubic metre.

The volume of the cloud is the area of circle of radius 1.0km times the height 2.7km, work this out in cubic metres.
 
so do i multiply the volume of the sphere with 50 and 500 separately
 
Yes you would because it says to give the upper and lower limit.
 

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