April showers bring may flowers, as I was taught in grade school. Spring rains jumpstart the lush greenery that we enjoy over the summer in the Midwest. For this, we owe thanks to the lone raindrop.
Bonus Fun Fact: Raindrops aren’t tear-shaped, like internet clip art and certain governmental agency logos might lead you to believe. Raindrops are actually shaped more like hamburger buns.
It’s all a matter of physics. As drops of rain are held aloft by the winds of storms, the surface tension of the water holds them in a spherical shape. They want to be as round as they can be. When the drop grows to the size where the wind can no longer hold it in the air, it begins to fall. The falling raindrop experiences air resistance as it falls, and the force exerted pushes the spherical raindrop into a hamburger shape.
As the air resistance continues to put force on the rainbun, it will be forced apart and divided into multiple droplets. In that brief instant, some of the droplets may resemble the familiar teardrop shape, before being forced into a spherical shape once again by surface tension. And thus the cycle of the rainbun continues until the drop splashes upon the ground.
If you’re interested in learning more, here is a pretty nerdy website from NASA that goes into more detail: https://gpm.nasa.gov/resources/students-and-educators/the-shape-of-a-raindrop
Jason E. Andersen 
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