Written by: The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica Last Updated

cloud, any visible mass of water droplets, ice crystals, or a mixture of both that is suspended in the air, usually at a considerable height (see video). Fog is a shallow layer of cloud at or near ground level.

Clouds are formed when relatively moist air rises. As a mass of air ascends, the lower pressures prevailing at higher levels allow it to expand. In expanding, the air cools adiabatically (i.e., without heat exchange with the surrounding air) until its temperature falls below the dew point, upon which the air becomes supersaturated such that water vapour condenses onto cloud condensation nuclei ... (100 of 826 words)

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