Why the clouds r flat in the bottom?

Question

Why the clouds r flat in the bottom?

Answer 1

Cumulus and cumulonimbus (CB) clouds, formed by the convection process, are flat bottomed for the reasons given isn the two answers above.

Strato-cumulus clouds are also flat bottomed for the same reason.



Other cloud types, formed bu other processes are not necessarily flat bottomed.

Stratus is raggy.

Altostratus and nimbostratus are usually flat but not level bottomed because they are formed buy large scale uplift and ther air will have a gradient of temperature and humidity.

Lenticular altocumulus often gave a curved base.

and so on

Answer 2

That's because a cloud represents an area where air from below has risen enough (and cooled enough) that the water vapor in that air parcel has condensed into cloud droplets.  As the air rises, at  some level in the atmosphere the requisite temperature is reached, and condensation (cloud formation) begins at that level, and continues as long as the air continues to rise.

Answer 3

In a given volume of air in the atmosphere,the temperature is usually uniform horizontally,but it varies vertically because temperature normally decreases with height.This means that the condensation point(ie the height at which the condensation takes place and cloud forms) is horizontally uniform at a given altitude.Above this altitude, water vapour will condense out to form clouds,below which,water vapour will remain in its gaseous state.Therefore,the bottoms of most clouds appear flat.

Answer 4

The appearance of low level clouds and their flatness or lack thereof is due mainly to updrafts and downdrafts.   In otherwords, during thunderstorms the bases of clouds can be bumpy like due to the turbulence but once the atmosphere is stable the bases appear to smooth or flat along the bottom.