Can scientists really explain why British rain is different to the rain in France?
Well it seems they can because now, by filming one falling raindrop, researchers in France have explained why raindrops are an array of so many different sizes.
Scientists previously believed that raindrops collided with each other as they fell, and that these interactions produced a variety of drop sizes. But now we are told that there are "shortcomings" in this idea because raindrops are not likely to collide because they are so sparse.
With a high-speed camera, a French team filmed a single falling drop of water - about six millimeters in diameter and recorded how air resistance caused it to deform and eventually break up.
However, a scientist from the University of Reading, who studies clouds - taking measurements to improve weather modeling and forecasting – thought that although this was a nice way of describing what happens said, “This is unlikely be what happens all of the time in the UK, as we don't get raindrops of this size that often."
If you want to decide who’s right, read more at: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8155883.stm
