Ep 6. Where Does The Rain Come From?

As a curious child, one question that we all at some point must have asked our parents is ‘Where does the rain come from?’ A question that might have got hard to answer, especially when the answer is a bit more scientific and technical. This question is beautifully answered in the episode named ‘Where does the rain come from?’ of Ask The Storybots season 1.

The episode starts with Beep, Bing, Bang, Boop, and Bo, the main Storybots, jumping and playing around to enjoy the rain. However, they soon realize that they don't know where the rain comes from. With their curious minds, they go to their boss, the robot Q, who then decides to take them on a journey to find out the answer.

The journey starts off with Q taking the Storybots to a cloud, where they meet Terry, a cloud who is waiting to join other clouds and form a rainstorm. Terry loves to collect water droplets and absorb them, making Terry grow bigger and bigger, until it is too heavy and bursts open with the help of winds. Terry’s bursting causes the release of all the water droplets it has collected, which leads to the formation of rainfall on the earth's surface.

To understand more about the journey of water droplets, Q takes the Storybots to a location where ground water is collected. This groundwater is found deep under the earth's surface, where it has traveled by seeping through rocks. The Storybots learn how the process of water cycle works, where the water evaporates from oceans, rivers, and lakes, and forms into clouds with the help of the sun's heat. Then, the clouds move around, and as soon as they become too heavy, they release water droplets, which makes precipitation. This is the reason we get to see rain, snow, and hail. The ground water that seeps through rocks also helps in creating a drinking water source for humans too.

The Storybots, with their ever-curious minds, are eager to explore the next step in water's journey, how it enters our homes. Q cleverly takes them to a water treatment plant where they learn how the water that enters our homes is treated, with impurities such as sand, solid particles, and sewage filtered out of it. Then, it is treated with different chemicals to sanitize it and make it safe for us to drink and use.

As the Storybots’ tour is coming to an end, they still have one question... what happens to all the water after the rain is over? Q takes them to a lake, where they meet a fisherman named Qwerty. The fisherman tells them how the water from rainfall flows through rivers and oceans, which provide a habitat for fish and different sea creatures. The runoff water from rain is collected by rivers, which eventually reaches the seas, where it mixes with the saltwater. The saltwater and freshwater mixture is channeled by the ocean currents, which plays an essential role in regulating the earth's temperature.

The Storybots, with their quest for knowledge, have represented how learning can be entertaining and fun at the same time. The episode is full of interesting visual animations that make the experience of learning something new enjoyable and informative, especially for young children. With the use of various characters and different settings, the journey of water droplets is perfectly explained. Overall, Ask The Storybots season 1 episode 6, ‘Where does the rain come from?’, is a fantastic educational tool that answers the question of where the rain comes from, in an apt and entertaining way, that children of all ages can understand.