Aviation Word Of The Day - Contrail

 A contrail is defined as a trailing streak of condensed water vapour created in the air by heat from the aircraft engine at high altitudes.
Their formation is triggered by altitude,temperature,and humidity of the atmosphere. Contrails are sometimes mistaken as smoke from the aircraft engines.However,Contrails can be classified as clouds,given their formation.
 They are sometimes visible only for a few seconds or sometimes take a long while before completely fading away.
 Contrails are typically formed when the water in a jet engine's exhaust combines with wet cold air,condenses,and freezes into ice crystals.The lasting effect differs with temperature and humidity at a certain altitude,often very high.
 The exhaust of a jet engine contains Carbon dioxide,oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, unburned fuel, soot,metal particles as well as water vapour. Depending on the plane's altitude,temperature and humidity of the atmosphere,contrails may vary in their thickness,extent and duration.In addition,the production of contrails by jet engines are in no way harmful to the environment,as many believe.