1. Evaporation: Water on Earth's surface evaporates, turning into water vapor and rising into the atmosphere.
2. Cooling: As the water vapor rises, it encounters cooler temperatures in the higher atmosphere.
3. Condensation: This cooling causes the water vapor to condense back into liquid water droplets or freeze into ice crystals.
4. Cloud Formation: These tiny droplets or crystals clump together, forming visible clouds.
So, while cloud formation is a more complex process, condensation is the core mechanism that causes the water vapor to change state and form visible clouds in the sky.