How long does it take for a raindrop to fall to earth?

Question

How long does it take for a raindrop to fall to earth?

Answer 1

Mathematically, well lets see. If the height is x meters and the meters per second that raindrops fall due to gravity y then x times y would be your answer, however you may want to take in factors like wind resistance and I 'm not that good a  mathematician.

Poetically speaking however, the answer might be as long as it takes a heart to break

Philosophically it could  be a whole lifetime, the lifetime of the drop, but then one has to consider the puddle and reincarnation as another drop trickling off somewhere.

Fatuously it might as long as a piece of string or

Whimsically the time it takes to get you home.

Answer 2

well, to predict how long does it take for a raindrop to fall to earth.. lets say we'd better talk about how fast do raindrops fall. some precipitating raindrops may not fall at all, if the surrounding wind has a suciently strong upward component. In still air, the terminal speed of a raindrop is an increasing function of the size of the drop, reaching a maximum of about 10 meters per second (20 knots) for the largest drops. To reach the ground from, say, 4000 meters up, such a raindrop will take at least 400 seconds, or about seven minutes.

The TRMM radar does not have the capability to measure the fall speed of precipitating particles. Its follow-on, however, will. This capability is important because it helps characterize the type of rain being measured

Answer 3

nhh with no wind, a spherical no-changing raindrop(a constant raindrop...)and a perpendicular fall we would know how long does it take to fall by √2 height / 9.81m/s^2 = t ,thought!??!??

Answer 4

That depends how far up the cloud it originates from is located, and the presence of updraft that may slow its descent.

Answer 5

There are a lot of variables that factor into such an answer.  Raindrops fall between 9 and 20 miles per hour.  Depending on the height of the clouds and strength of the winds, some rain drops could have been falling for almost an hour!  Thunderstorm tops can reach heights of over 12 miles!

I'd guess that the average time would be around 20 minutes.