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Essay / Cloud Seeding - 1416
Cloud SeedingHave you ever wondered how it could suddenly start raining or snowing, and then stop almost as quickly as it started? Perhaps it has more to do with chemistry and less to do with nature than you think. Researchers have discovered how to achieve this through cloud seeding. Some people say cloud seeding is harmful, while others say it helps due to environmental factors such as droughts. Cloud seeding involves many factors in the process, including different chemicals and delivery methods. According to Weatherquestions.com, "Cloud seeding is the process of spreading dry ice, or more commonly, silver iodide aerosols, into the upper portions of clouds to try to disperse them . to stimulate the precipitation process and form rain. Since most precipitation begins with the growth of ice crystals from supercooled cloud droplets (droplets colder than freezing, 32 degrees F or 0 degrees C) in the upper parts of the clouds, the Silver iodide particles are believed to encourage the growth of new ice particles. » (What is cloud seeding?) This means they use chemicals to stimulate water to fall. There are three different types of cloud seeding used by scientists. These are static cloud seeding, dynamic cloud seeding, and hygroscopic cloud seeding. The first type of cloud seeding is called static cloud seeding. That's when a chemical called silver iodide is thrown into the cloud, causing it to precipitate. According to How Stuff Works, “Silver iodide provides a crystal around which moisture can condense. Moisture is already present in clouds, but silver iodide makes rain clouds more efficient in distributing their water. » (Silverman) The second type of cloud seeding used is called cl...... middle of paper... ...several cloud seeding projects have indicated small increases in precipitation as a percentage extending up to 100 miles downwind of the planned areas of effect on projects that had indications of increases in the planned target area. (Dennis, Brown, Long, Solak) In conclusion, we may never know for sure whether rain and snow are caused by nature or by a man-made chemical compound. Scientists and researchers use many different ways to cause this precipitation, and many more to come. Some people think that trying to play God and use chemicals to alter the weather is wrong. They also believe it poses a danger to the Earth and its inhabitants, while others look forward to the giant steps that will be taken to manipulate the weather. Cloud seeding is a very complex process involving many different chemical compounds and processes, with more to come..