What is the volume of a rain drop?

[bjon-07]

One of my physics H-work questions asks, If one inch of rain fell on an one arce field, how many rain driops hit that field. I figure that each rain drop has a volume of .5 mL. Does this sound about right?

 

[ehild]

One of my physics H-work questions asks, If one inch of rain fell on an one arce field, how many rain driops hit that field. I figure that each rain drop has a volume of .5 mL. Does this sound about right?

The best way is to see it. Make water drops and estimate the size. You find it in the range of mm, don't you? Assume that the water drops are spheres of 4 mm diameter. What is the volume of such a sphere? It is about 33 mm^3, isn't it? 1 mm^3 = 0.001 cm^3 = 0.001 mL. So the volume of my raindrop is 0.033 mL.
Of course, a raindrop can be of 0.05 mL, but 0.5 mL corresponds to a raindrop 1 cm across, it is a bit too big, isn't it?


ehild

 

[wais]

The volume of a rain drop can vary depending on its size and shape, but on average, a rain drop has a volume of about 0.05 mL. Therefore, if we assume that each rain drop has a volume of 0.5 mL, then there would be approximately 10 rain drops in one inch of rain. This means that on a one acre field, which is equivalent to 43,560 square feet, there would be approximately 435,600 rain drops. However, it is important to note that this is just an estimate and the actual number may vary. Additionally, the volume of a rain drop can also be affected by environmental factors such as wind and temperature.