A person’s dream to take control of natural phenomena into his own hands from a once fantastic idea gradually passes into the category of reality. To make rain go where it is needed, or, conversely, to dispel the clouds - an occupation, though troublesome, but possible. How to cause artificial rain? We will talk about this further.
Why do we need rain?
Streams of water pouring from the sky, or just a light drizzle, cause an ambiguous reaction. Someone curses him because of a broken walk, someone - because of a dirty car or shoes. One rain tore off the holiday, the other - ruined the makeup. But if we discard minor troubles, we all wait for the summer rain to feel its coolness, to smell the freshness, to wander through the puddles in the puddles or watch the rain from the window. Water is life, it is not for nothing that an unexpectedly crying cloud during an important event is considered a good omen, and a long absence of rain, drought are already becoming a natural disaster. Is it possible to artificially cause rain? Scientists answer: it is possible. Is it necessary?
Why cause rain?
The problem with water supply is one of the urgent and paramount in the world. Due to low rainfall, 20% of the world's population does not have access to drinking water. Areas that are constantly suffering from droughts are doomed to crop failure and famine. For this reason, the question of how artificial rain can be caused has worried mankind since the inception of agriculture. This problem, like many others, was solved with the help of priests, shamans, prayers and special rites, sometimes even by human sacrifice to the rain god. It happened that precipitation, and the truth, sometimes after that fell out. Installations that allow rain to be commissioned would substantially solve the problem of replenishing the water balance.
Another challenge is large-scale forest fires. A good heavy and prolonged downpour would replace a lot of firefighters and special equipment.
History of Rain Research
For a very long time it was believed that you could make a cloud shed tears by shaking the air. Probably, these conclusions were made on the basis of the accompanying showers with thunder and wind. How was artificial rain caused until the 20th century, when prayers and sacrifices did not help? More truly: tried to cause. In Italy, cannons were fired from the sky. The idea was presented by the famous sculptor Benvenutto Cellini. The French believed that clouds could be brought closer with a loud bell ringing. America's farmers came out together in dry periods and fired guns. Is funny But this theory was supported by many American eminent scientists. Daniel Riggles proposed to explode a powder charge directly in the air, rising in a balloon, and even patented his invention. Employees of the Ministry of Agriculture seriously engaged in improving the method, tried various explosives, changed the height of the explosions. Sometimes it was raining, sometimes not, sometimes it was, but not where needed.
Adventurous versions
Since official science did not say its word by that time, there were a wide variety of rumors about how artificial rain was caused and original ideas were issued.
- The amount of precipitation increases the current passing through the rails and wires.
- It rains where the land is plowed.
- Precipitation attracts forests.
- Some chemicals can cause rain.
The rich were ready to pay big money so that rainfall over their lands fell when needed. The “chemical version” quite successfully took root and even financed until it was discovered that a conventional barometer was mounted in the installation, which the “inventor” demonstrated. This explained the reason for the successful operation of the chemical device.
How do people control the rain
The first successful experiments on creating artificial clouds were carried out only in the 40s of the twentieth century. The problem of weather control does not cease to be acute and relevant. Human activities have led to climate change in many regions. Forty-three countries in the world are working on the possibility of making rain go where it is needed and pacifying the raging too torrential streams. The most active activity in this direction is conducted in China. In the Celestial Empire, 35 thousand people work on rain mining. And this is not surprising. Using vast desert territories would solve many problems in this densely populated country. The ability to fly above the clouds has simplified the "contact" with them. For work on changing the weather, airplanes with special equipment on board are used. An important point is not only to cause rain, but also to break clouds with hail, to make them give away moisture without harming crops.
How to squeeze the clouds?
Effective evidence-based methods for changing the weather are already in place. How to cause artificial rain in practice?
- The very first rain was obtained by sowing cold cumulus clouds with silver iodide or carbon dioxide. These substances are able to create crystals and collect water, which then turns into raindrops. Warm clouds are affected by sodium chloride. Substances are sprayed over the clouds or delivered to the cloud by a rocket, they explode there. It was in this way that the American army team caused continuous downpours during the fighting in Vietnam.
- Experiments with loud sounds were on the right track. Acoustic waves really lead to a shift of raindrops to maximum sizes, only their strength and duration must be very powerful. Specially created acoustic systems are capable of creating a strong sound wave and delivering it to the clouds. The principle of their action is a vertical shock wave, which is formed as a result of combustion of a combustible mixture in a chamber. Installations with similar guns are also called anti-hail. Their action is able to disperse the accumulation of ice floes and make it just rain.
The latest recent developments by Swiss scientists are air ionizers. These installations are huge structures in which electron emission occurs when exposed to high voltage. A device tested in the desert of one hundred such ionizers caused rain in the absence of clouds and high air temperature.
As used in practice
Various methods of precipitation management are used in the modern world in places of high aridity to increase the area of sown land in China, Australia, and the USA. The powerful ionizers mentioned above create an artificial tropical climate in the Emirates, near Abu Dhabi. For the pleasure of contemplating a real downpour with a thunderstorm and lightning, the sheikhs paid 11 million dollars.
In Russia, rain was artificially caused in the Baikal region to help with the extinguishing of a large-scale fire. In this case, clouds were sown from aircraft.
