A study of the electrostatic forces between body of water droplet may have opened the door to incur rain to descend where we want it , and not where we do n’t . As powerful a animation - save violence as this could be , it would arouse the interrogation of who gets to determine what “ we ” want .

claim the power to control the weather , especially drought - breaking rainfall , may be one of the honest-to-god deceptions in human account . In the 1950s hopes were high that science could succeed where magic failed . Although rain - make efforts found aroundseeding cloudswith silver iodide particles were not a complete unsuccessful person , the success rate has been low enough , and the price so gamey , that program has been relatively rare .

However , Professor Maarten Ambaumof the University of Reading recall this may be because we have failed to translate the way water droplets interact in clouds . InProceedings of the Royal Society A , Ambaum and co - authors offer an alternative model and fence it could become the basis for shocking the sky into release the water it holds .

Clouds contain plenty of water vapor but it only rain down when this condenses into large droplets . aerosol can can provide the seeds around which H2O coalesces , but the field author argue the charge on droplet and spray can is also crucial and leave out .

The paper demonstrates that even droplets carrying the same sign of charge ( ie both cocksure or all negative ) will be attract to each other if there is a variation in charge strength . “ Charges can migrate , ” the paper notes , “ and the charges in one drop will induce image charges in the other drop . Those induced ikon charges will induce further figure heraldic bearing in the original drop , and then again in the 2d drop , repeating indefinitely , which leads to an attractive force which can dominate if the drops are faithful to each other . ”

As if this was n’t complicated enough , the amount of bursting charge on a drop can commute thanks to the learning of ion drive by nearby electrical fields .

Ambaum and carbon monoxide gas - generator conclude that adding static effects sum no more than 5 percent to the rate at which droplets clash and pose together . Nevertheless , this small chemise can be the difference between rain shine where it is need , and water vaporization not reaching a critical threshold until it has make a motion elsewhere .

The authors have been fund by the United Arab Emirates , one of the driest nations on Earth , to enquire adding tutelage to the atmosphere to see if it will cause rainfall to fall . They have been experimenting withusing dronesto deliver the electric fields . However , in places where haze is common , including many deserts , the authors think column just 10 cadence ( 33 feet ) high coulddo the trick . The generator trust the deliberation in their paper will help them identify the idealistic amount and timing of charge necessitate to make it rain down .

In a world where both drought and floods are becoming more common and hard , being capable to control the weather , even a little , could save 1000000 of lives . This may be safe when rain that would otherwise fall at sea is made to pretermit where it is need . On the other hand , one nation harvesting rain that their neighbor consider their own could be considered footing for warfare , so the world needs to sort out such difference before the applied science arrives .

[ H / T : The Guardian ]