It has become viral also in Italy a video of about a minute shot recently in Indonesiato be precise a Muara Tuhupin which a soft white “cloud” is seen slowly falling to the ground while a group of workers reaches it and one of them even takes it hug. The curious phenomenon has attracted the attention of many on social media and on the Internet also due to some resemblance to the famous “speedy cloud” on which Goku travels in Dragon Ball.
But how does a cloud fall to the ground and maintain its shape, if clouds are in fact an aerosol of condensed water vapor? Simple, the one that fell in Indonesia it’s not a cloud. Clouds are not solid, they do not keep their shape and do not sink in the air but float. So what was it about?
Probably the “cloud” was what it actually seems to be upon closer inspection: a foamy material. We remind you that the area where the phenomenon was captured is located in a mining region, and in the video we see workers in the construction sector. In short, it is a place where technical activities are taking place, therefore the most probable explanation – as confirmed by the director of the Indonesian public meteorological service Andri Ramdhani – is that it is about material expelled from nearby extraction activitiescondensed together with water vapor and gases thanks to the relatively low temperatures and high humidity of the air.
From a technical point of view, therefore, what is captured in the video is a sort of foam produced by the release of gas and other substances at high pressure. Some substances often used in the industrial sector, such as phosphates or surfactantscan also significantly lower the surface tension of the water, thus favoring the formation of foam.
In short, despite its soft and “soft” appearance, hugging that “cloud” is not a good idea, because it might polluting or toxic substances.
