Sci Tech

Published on Thursdays
Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education
| Book Review | Business | SciTech | Entertainment | Young World | Quest | Foli
o |
Sci Tech
How is artificial rain produced?
R.Narasimhan, Chennai
ANSWER 1: The need to develop and improve rain-making techniques in terms of des
ign, operation, monitoring and evaluation by giving them a more scientific chara
cter is today's need.
This includes using computers to study cloud formations and help the rain-making
operations achieve the goals of the project. The role of weather modification,
or rain-making, is an important component in water resource management.
The process involved in artificial rain-making involves three easy-to-understand
stages. The first stage is agitation. That is using chemicals to stimulate the
air mass upwind of the target area to rise and form rain clouds.
The chemicals used during this stage are calcium chloride calcium carbide, calci
um oxide, a compound of salt and urea, or a compound of urea and ammonium nitrat
e. These compounds are capable of absorbing water vapour from the air mass, thus
stimulating the condensation process.
The second stage is called building-up stage. Here the cloud mass is built up us
ing chemicals such as kitchen salt, the T.1 formula, urea, ammonium nitrate, dry
ice, and occasionally also calcium chloride to increase nuclei which also incre
ase the density of the clouds. In the third stage of bombardment chemicals such
as super-cool agents: silver iodide and dry ice are used to reach the most unbal
anced status which builds up large beads of water (Nuclei) and makes them fall d
own as raindrops.
In planning every stage a high degree of expertise and experience is required, i
n selecting the types and amounts of chemicals to be used, while taking into con
sideration weather conditions, topographical conditions, wind direction and velo
city as well as the location or delimitation of the area for chemical seeding. S
everal other ideas are also involved in rain making. Rockets containing rain-mak
ing chemicals can be fired into the clouds either from the ground or from aircra
ft.
A jet of rain-making chemicals is shot from a highly pressurised cannister direc
tly into the cloud base, so as to coerce clouds which normally hang above mounta
in tops to cluster up and rain on the mountain or their slopes.
Rain-making chemicals are added to super-cooled clouds, i.e., those at altitudes
above 18,000 metres, to stimulate the formation of ice crystals in the cloud or
cloud cluster.
The Hindu S&T desk
* * *
ANSWER 2: Artificial rain is produced by spraying clouds with substances like Si
lver Iodide (costly) or cheaper ones like solid carbon dioxide (dry ice) or even
finely powdered Sodium Chloride. The process is called seeding.

Often there are clouds, but no rain. This is because of a phenomenon called supe
rcooling. The temperature of the cloud might be close to zero and there might ev
en be crystals of ice in it.
The water vapour in the cloud does not condense to liquid water. The super cooli
ng gets disturbed by spraying the cloud with the chemicals mentioned above, usin
g a small aeroplane for the purpose.
The `super' phenomena (cooling, heating, saturation etc.) are perverse in a sens
e. Very pure water when heated in a clean vessel, often does not start boiling w
hen expected. Crystals of the photographer's hypo (Sodium thiosulphate) easily d
issolve in a little water when heated. But on cooling, crystals do not separate
out.
If the vessel is shaken vigorously, or if a small crystal of hypo is freshly add
ed, then crystallization starts immediately.
Making artificial rain is a similar way of intervening in the super cooling phen
omenon.