Here in Arkansas, we had some pretty nasty rain tonight. A few grad
students and myself were sitting around watching the lightning and the
rain after a cookout. Why does the rain come down in sheets came up.
The best we could come up with was that the larger rain droplets reach
terminal velocity and cause a wave-like disturbance in the wind from the
storm and other droplets get caught in this initial phase. Much like the
Bernouli demonstration, the smaller droplets get pulled into the area
behind the larger drops because of the reduced pressure.
This effect causes waves of rain to form with the larger drops leading the
way. From what I have experienced, the big drops are the "leaders" of
each wave.
Any thoughts on this? It is a nice summer topic most of us can relate to.
====================================================================
James Bradford Shue jshue@comp.uark.edu
University of Arkansas Voice phone:(501) 575-6059
Physics Lab/Demo Curator FAX Number: (501) 575-4580
WWW Page http://comp.uark.edu/~jshue