Are Raindrops Shaped Like Teardrops?

They aren’t shaped like drops at all. They are perfectly round.

You may have just discovered this, but a man named William Watts heard about it way back at the end of the 1700s. He made a fortune with the knowledge.

He had a high tower built, and from its very top he dropped small amounts of molten lead. At the bottom of the tower was a big barrel filled with cold water. When the drops of lead fell into the cold water, they became hard. Mr Watt had found a way to make perfectly round lead balls.

The balls were used for bullets and were very accurate because of their perfect shape. Mr. Watts grew rich putting up towers all over Europe to make perfectly round bullets for the guns of soldiers.

Before Mr. Watt came along, bullets were shaped by hand. They were oval and rarely hit their mark. These perfect bullets were used by the British when they fought the Americans during the Revolution.

But the shape of the British bullets didn’t help them win the war.