Ryan

You go around noticing a million things a day and I think that that is great. All science starts with enquiries like the ones you make.

Cloud formation is a pretty big subject. I've read meteorology books and found them as complex as cosmology books. In essence, and avoiding the complicated bits, you get clouds when moist air is cooled down. All air can hold water vapour (gaseous water), but warm air can hold more than cold air; so if warm, moist air is cooled down the water vapour must turn into liquid water i.e. tiny droplets of mist. That's your cloud.

The shape of clouds is governed by the way in which warm air is cooled down. Puffy cotton wool balls in a blue sky - for example - are a result of warm air rising in a column from ground level. As the column rises, it cools and the moisture forms a dense ball. Big, flat, grey clouds are usually caused when a sheet of warm air slides over (or under) a sheet of cool air creating cloud at their meeting point.

The mechanics of a thunderhead are extremely complex and still not fully understood. Frightening internal wind speeds caused by convection currents and spiralling columns of warm and cool air are just a part of it. I'm sure you'd be fascinated if you found a good book about it.