CAMBRIDGE, MA—A team of bored scientists recently completed several experiments to test a long-held belief that rain is actually drops of water that form from water vapor that has formed into clouds. They found that, in line with what we've all been raised to believe, rain is actually water, and not something more interesting.
The battery of tests comes on the heels of a "replication crisis" in the social sciences, where multiple landmark experiments that are commonly taught in introductory courses have been unable to be replicated in subsequent experiments, using presumably the same methods and variables. "We thought to ourselves," explained lead rain researcher Rodina Arechar, 44, "what if this crisis is also occurring in other fields of science? I mean, I was told as a child that rain was tears from the angels in heaven. How do I really know that it's just water? Is that just something we've all accepted? So we set out to actually test it."
The team of 5 scientists from 3 universities in the eastern United States spent the last 4 months standing out in the rain, catching drops on their tongues, smelling and feeling the clear liquid that fell upon their skin from what appear to be clouds in the sky.
The result? "Yep. It's water," said Arechar.
"The liquid was wet, not dissimilar to water in consistency and appearance," she continued. "What really confirmed it for me was that it lacked a distinct flavor when put in contact with my tongue. In later, double-blind taste tests, the participants could not discern between the mystery sky liquid and distilled water that was purchased at the local grocery store. That's what finally did it for me."
The NSF-funded, $1.2 million project will now conclude with a 230-page report to the National Academy of Sciences, as well as a shorter manuscript to be published in a scientific journal to be determined. The team have been invited to give the plenary presentation at an upcoming national conference of meteorology in Chicago, where they will detail their methodology and conclusions for 90 minutes, with 20 minutes of questions.
Although their findings this time confirmed the long-held suspicion that rain is water, the scientists now wish to continue their quest by testing other beliefs that are largely taken for granted, such as what average body temperature is, the spherical shape of the earth, and what those shiny things in the night sky might be.
Comments