Editing Drop (liquid) (section)

== Size ==
Raindrop sizes typically range from 0.5&nbsp;mm to 4&nbsp;mm, with size distributions quickly decreasing past diameters larger than 2–2.5&nbsp;mm.<ref>{{Cite book
| last = McFarquhar
| first = Greg
| title = Rainfall: State of the Science
| year = 2010
| chapter = Raindrop Size Distribution and Evolution
| journal = Geophysical Monograph Series
| volume = 191
| pages = 49–60
| doi = 10.1029/2010GM000971| doi-broken-date = 29 November 2024
|bibcode = 2010GMS...191...49M | isbn = 978-0-87590-481-8
}}</ref>

Scientists traditionally thought that the variation in the size of raindrops was due to collisions on the way down to the ground. In 2009, French researchers succeeded in showing that the distribution of sizes is due to the drops' interaction with air, which deforms larger drops and causes them to fragment into smaller drops, effectively limiting the largest raindrops to about 6&nbsp;mm diameter.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Emmanuel Villermaux, Benjamin Bossa |title=Single-drop fragmentation distribution of raindrops |url=https://www.irphe.fr/~fragmix/publis/VB2009.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.irphe.fr/~fragmix/publis/VB2009.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |journal=Nature Physics |date=September 2009 |volume=5 |pages=697–702 |doi=10.1038/NPHYS1340 |issue=9 |bibcode = 2009NatPh...5..697V}}
*{{cite news |author=Victoria Gill |date=20 July 2009 |title=Why raindrops come in many sizes |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8155883.stm}}</ref> However, drops up to 10&nbsp;mm (equivalent in volume to a sphere of radius 4.5&nbsp;mm) are theoretically stable and could be levitated in a wind tunnel.<ref name="Pruppacher 1971 86–94"/>
The largest recorded raindrop was 8.8&nbsp;mm in diameter, located at the base of a [[cumulus congestus cloud]] in the vicinity of [[Kwajalein Atoll]] in July 1999. A raindrop of identical size was detected over northern [[Brazil]] in September 1995.<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Hobbs
| first = Peter V.
| author2 = Rangno, Arthur L.
| date = July 2004
| title = Super-large raindrops
| journal = Geophysical Research Letters
| volume = 31
| issue = 13
| pages = L13102
| doi = 10.1029/2004GL020167|bibcode = 2004GeoRL..3113102H | doi-access = free
}}</ref>

=== Standardized droplet sizes in medicine===
{{More|Drop (unit)}}
In [[medicine]], this property is used to create [[dropper]]s and IV infusion sets which have a [[Technical standard|standardized]] [[diameter]], in such a way that 1 [[millilitre]] is equivalent to 20 [[Drop (unit)|drops]]. When smaller amounts are necessary (such as paediatrics), microdroppers or paediatric infusion sets are used, in which 1 millilitre = 60 microdrops.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www6.dict.cc/wp_examples.php?lp_id=1&lang=en&s=millilitre|title=Millilitre|website=www6.dict.cc|access-date=2018-08-30}}</ref>