Meteorology Misconceptions

Sources of Wisdom

1. Rain comes from holes in clouds.
2. Rain comes from clouds sweating.
3. Rain occurs because we need it.
4. Rain falls from funnels in the clouds.
5. Rain occurs when clouds get scrambled and melt.
6. Rain occurs when clouds are shaken.
7. Clouds move because we move.
8. Clouds come from somewhere above the sky.
9. Empty clouds are filled by the sea.
10. Clouds are formed by vapor from kettles.
11. The sun boils the sea to create water vapor.
12. Clouds are made of cotton, wool, or smoke.
13. Frontal rain is caused by “cooling by contact” between fronts.
14. The oxygen we breathe does not come from plants.
15. Gas makes things lighter.
16. One degree of temperature is smaller on the Celsius scale than on the Fahrenheit scale.
17. All rivers flow from North to South.
18. Expansion of matter is due to the expansion of the particles, rather than the increase of particle spacing.
19. Water atoms themselves expand or change when ice melts.
20. The water cycle involves freezing and melting of water.
21. Water only gets evaporated from the ocean or lakes.
22. When water boils and bubbles come up the bubbles are air.
23. The bubbles are oxygen or hydrogen.
24. The bubbles coming up from boiling water are heat.
25. The white substance coming from boiling water is.
26. Steam is hot air.
27. Hydrogen and oxygen which separated during boiling recombine to form water in the air.
28. Water in an open container is absorbed by the container.
29. Water in an open container disappears.
30. Water in the open container changes into air or disappears and turns into air.
31. Ice molecules are colder than water molecules.
32. Condensation on the outside of a container is water that seeped through the container itself (or sweated through the walls of the container).
33. The reason clouds form is because cold air doesn’t hold as much water as warm air.
34. Raindrops look like tear drops.
35. Clouds go to the sea and get filled with water.
36. Rain falls out of the sky when the clouds evaporate.
37. Rain comes from holes in clouds (like salt from a salt shaker).
38. Rain comes from clouds sweating.
39. Clouds are mostly smoke, made of cotton or wool, or they are bags of water.
40. Clouds are sponges that hold water.
41. Clouds are water vapor.
42. Clouds are dust particles.
43. Heated air weighs more than cold air.
44. Hot air weighs less than cold air.
45. Air is not the same everywhere. Air in a container is different than air in the room or outside.
46. Air and oxygen is the same thing.
47. Gases are not matter because they are invisible.
48. Gas has no weight — even if it has color it has no weight.
49. The H on weather maps stands for hot temperatures whereas L means cold weather.
50. Seasons are caused by the Earth’s distance from the Sun.
51. Winter weather can be predicted by studying the thickness of the fur on some animals.
52. Very cold winters can be predicted by seeing how hot it was last summer.
53. The greenhouse effect is caused when gases in the atmosphere behave as a blanket and trap radiation which is then reradiated to the Earth.
54. Rain comes from holes in clouds.
55. Rain comes from clouds sweating
56. Rain occurs because we need it.
57. Rain falls from funnels in the clouds
58. Rain occurs when clouds get scrambled and melt.
59. Rain occurs when clouds are shaken
60. God an angels cause thunder and lightening
61. Clouds move because we move.
62. Clouds come from somewhere above the sky.
63. Empty clouds are refilled by the sea.
64. Clouds are formed by vapor from kettles.
65. The Sun boils the sea to create water vapor.
66. Clouds are made of cotton, wool, or smoke.
67. Clouds are bags of water.
68. Frontal rain is caused by "cooling by contact" between fronts.
69. The oxygen we breath does not come from plants
70. Gas makes things lighter.
71. One degree of temperature is smaller on the Celsius and Kelvin scales than on the Fahrenheit.