Which one of the following clouds is a rain-bearing cloud?
- A.Cumulus cloud
- B.Stratus cloud
- C.Nimbus cloud
- D.Cirrus cloud
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Nimbus cloud. The word nimbus means rain cloud: these dark, thick clouds bring steady rain or snow.
Nimbus clouds form at low to middle heights and are so dense that sunlight hardly passes through them, which is why they look dark grey or black. In the modern classification the word appears in nimbostratus, a thick grey sheet that gives continuous rain over a wide area, and cumulonimbus, the towering thunderstorm cloud that brings heavy showers, lightning and hail. The four basic cloud forms are cirrus, cumulus, stratus and nimbus.
A is wrong because ordinary cumulus clouds are puffy fair-weather clouds with flat bases; only when they grow into cumulonimbus do they give rain. B is wrong because stratus is a low grey layer that usually gives only drizzle or mist. D is wrong because cirrus clouds are thin, feathery high clouds made of ice crystals and do not give rain.
Exam tip: Cirrus – high, feathery, fair weather; nimbus – dark, rain-bearing; cumulonimbus – thunderstorm.
Practice Questions
View allBagram Air Base is located in
- A.Turkey
- B.Pakistan
- C.Afghanistan
- D.Israel
Show answer
Bagram Air Base lies in Parwan province of Afghanistan, about 60 km north of the capital Kabul.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements is not correct?
- A.Position of the Sun, Earth and Moon in a straight line of 180° angle is known as syzygy.
- B.Syzygy conjunction causes solar eclipse.
- C.Syzygy opposition causes lunar eclipse.
- D.Syzygy conjunction occurs at the time of perihelion only.
Show answer
This statement is not correct, because conjunction happens at every new moon, about once a month, and has nothing to do with the Earth's closest point to the Sun.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following about sugar industry of Peninsular India is not correct?
- A.High yield per hectare of sugarcane
- B.Higher sucrose content
- C.Long crushing season
- D.Most of the mills in the Peninsula are located mainly along the east coast
Show answer
This statement is not correct, because the peninsular sugar mills are concentrated mainly in Maharashtra and Karnataka, in the west and the interior of the plateau.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following statements is/are correct?
1. Visakhapatnam Port is a land-locked harbour.
2. Deendayal Port is a tidal port.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- A.1 only
- B.2 only
- C.Both 1 and 2
- D.Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer
Both statements describe the two ports correctly. Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh is India's deepest land-locked and protected port on the east coast.
Read the full explanation →Weathering, mass wasting, erosion and transportation are indicators of which one of the following processes?
- A.Denudation
- B.Endogenetic process
- C.Diastrophism
- D.Mountain building
Show answer
Weathering, mass wasting, erosion and transportation together wear down and strip away the earth's surface, and this combined work is called denudation.
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