What causes Clouds?

The origin of any clouds on earth lies in the water on the earth's surface, which can be located, for example, in seas, lakes, rivers or puddles before.

When the sun heats the surface of the earth, this water evaporates and rises up in the form of steam. This steam is so light that it can easily be carried by the warm air high up into the sky.

Warm air is lighter than cold air, so that this air is at a constant buoyancy, only to cool down in the sky to fall again and to rise up again after warming up at the ground.

The water takes the same way upwards together with the air. The warmer the air, the more water can be absorbed and taken by the air.

However, when the air cools down high in the sky, it is getting colder so that it cannot absorb the same amount of water as it was on the ground. This is the moment when the air is saturated with water vapor and therefore excess water turns back to drops.

The water usually condenses on small particles (suspended particles or aerosols) that are floating through the air.

The water drops stay at this place until they break loose at the next rain to come back to earth, so that the cycle can begin again.

By the way, what we can see as clouds in the sky is the light refracted at these particles draped with water. The larger and denser these drops, the less light is coming through and the cloud appears darker.