Science
What is Rain?
Rain is liquid water that falls from clouds when droplets grow big and heavy enough to drop out of the sky. It's a key step in the water cycle, returning water from the atmosphere back to the land and oceans.
See it, don’t just read it.
Watch a 2-minute lesson with voice + animation that explains rain.
Key things to understand
- 1Inside a cloud, tiny droplets collide and merge, growing larger over time.
- 2When a drop becomes too heavy for the rising air to hold it up, it falls as rain.
- 3Rain is part of the water cycle: water evaporates, condenses into clouds, then falls back as precipitation.
- 4If the air is cold enough, the water freezes and falls as snow, sleet, or hail instead.
- 5Rain supplies the fresh water that plants, animals, rivers, and people depend on.
Frequently asked questions
- How does rain form?
- Water droplets in a cloud collide and combine into bigger drops. Once a drop is heavy enough that the air can no longer hold it up, it falls to the ground as rain.
- Where does rain come from?
- From clouds, which form when water evaporates from oceans, lakes, and land, rises, and condenses. Rain returns that water to the surface — the water cycle.
- What's the difference between rain and snow?
- Both fall from clouds, but rain is liquid water, while snow forms when the water freezes into ice crystals high in cold air and falls before melting.