Data Weyermann, age 10, of Stares, Idaho, for s question:

An inch of rainfall drops 113 tons on every acre. The water in a sky full of rain clouds weighs countless tons. Luckily, this water is not dumped all at once. The rain, of course, falls down in drops and the size of the drops is governed by laws of nature. The smallest raindrops measure about .004 inch. These are the fine, misty drops that form when the weather is a little wetter than a heavy fog.

The biggest drops fall during a thunderstorm. They may measure a fifth of an inch. Much larger drops or gobs of water may form in the aloud. But as their fall down to earth reaches a, speed of 18 miles an hour, these big drops are forced to break up into smaller drops,