WATER CYCLE
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What is the Water Cycle (Hydrolic cycle)?
The water cycle is simply the complete journey that water makes in its life, from one place to the other, and from one state to the other. As the word ‘cycle’ suggests, there is no starting point. This means that we can begin at any point and follow its path until it gets to where we started again.
Where does water come from, and where does all the rainwater end up? What about the melting snow? Why is it not filling up the lakes and lagoons and even the seas? How did the snow and rainwater find its way up in the sky in the first place?
You may think that every drop of rain that falls from the sky, or each glass of water that you drink, is brand new, but it has always been here and is a part of The Water Cycle. The water cycle describes how water is not only always changing forms (liquid water, ice, and vapor (gas)), but also moving around all over the world (above, on, and underground). This process is always happening everywhere, be it in your body or on your lawn or in the clouds or in the swimming pool. Life on, in, and above the Earth depends on the water cycle.
STEPS OF THE WATER CYCLE (THEY DO NOT HAVE TO GO IN THIS EXACT ORDER. THE WATER CYCLE CAN BEGIN AT ANY NUMBER)
1. The heat of the sun provides energy to make the water cycle work.The energy the sun provides is heat, which is needed to break the molecular bonds that hold water molecules together (liquid).
2. The sun evaporates water from the oceans into water vapor.Since over 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water, that is where most of the evaporation of water occurs.
3. This invisible vapor rises into the atmosphere, where the air is colder.The air is actually full of water, in the form of invisible water vapor. Air nearer the Earth's surface is warmed and thus rises, taking the water vapor with it.
4. The water vapor condenses into clouds.Colder air does not hold water vapor as a gas as easily as warmer air, so as the warmer air rises up into the atmosphere, it gets cooled and the water vapor in it starts to condense back out into tiny liquid cloud particles.
5. Air currents move clouds all around the Earth.The Earth's atmosphere is never quiet - the air is moving all around all the time, often in constant patterns, such as from over oceans to over land. The moving air currents take clouds with it, thus moving the water cycle along.
6. Water drops form in clouds, which then fall to Earth as precipitation (rain and snow).As water vapor condenses into clouds, the tiny cloud droplets can combine to form larger cloud drops, which will eventually become heavy enough to come down as rain, snow, and other precipitation.
In cold climates, precipitation builds up as snow, ice, and glaciers.
7. Snow can melt, becoming runoff, which flows into rivers, the oceans, and into the ground.
8. Some rain soaks into the ground, as infiltration, and, if deep enough, recharges groundwater.
Water from lakes and rivers can seep into the ground.Water moves underground because of gravity and pressure.Groundwater close to the land surface is taken up by plants.
9. Groundwater flows into the oceans, keeping the water cycle going.
The water cycle is simply the complete journey that water makes in its life, from one place to the other, and from one state to the other. As the word ‘cycle’ suggests, there is no starting point. This means that we can begin at any point and follow its path until it gets to where we started again.
Where does water come from, and where does all the rainwater end up? What about the melting snow? Why is it not filling up the lakes and lagoons and even the seas? How did the snow and rainwater find its way up in the sky in the first place?
You may think that every drop of rain that falls from the sky, or each glass of water that you drink, is brand new, but it has always been here and is a part of The Water Cycle. The water cycle describes how water is not only always changing forms (liquid water, ice, and vapor (gas)), but also moving around all over the world (above, on, and underground). This process is always happening everywhere, be it in your body or on your lawn or in the clouds or in the swimming pool. Life on, in, and above the Earth depends on the water cycle.
STEPS OF THE WATER CYCLE (THEY DO NOT HAVE TO GO IN THIS EXACT ORDER. THE WATER CYCLE CAN BEGIN AT ANY NUMBER)
1. The heat of the sun provides energy to make the water cycle work.The energy the sun provides is heat, which is needed to break the molecular bonds that hold water molecules together (liquid).
2. The sun evaporates water from the oceans into water vapor.Since over 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water, that is where most of the evaporation of water occurs.
3. This invisible vapor rises into the atmosphere, where the air is colder.The air is actually full of water, in the form of invisible water vapor. Air nearer the Earth's surface is warmed and thus rises, taking the water vapor with it.
4. The water vapor condenses into clouds.Colder air does not hold water vapor as a gas as easily as warmer air, so as the warmer air rises up into the atmosphere, it gets cooled and the water vapor in it starts to condense back out into tiny liquid cloud particles.
5. Air currents move clouds all around the Earth.The Earth's atmosphere is never quiet - the air is moving all around all the time, often in constant patterns, such as from over oceans to over land. The moving air currents take clouds with it, thus moving the water cycle along.
6. Water drops form in clouds, which then fall to Earth as precipitation (rain and snow).As water vapor condenses into clouds, the tiny cloud droplets can combine to form larger cloud drops, which will eventually become heavy enough to come down as rain, snow, and other precipitation.
In cold climates, precipitation builds up as snow, ice, and glaciers.
7. Snow can melt, becoming runoff, which flows into rivers, the oceans, and into the ground.
8. Some rain soaks into the ground, as infiltration, and, if deep enough, recharges groundwater.
Water from lakes and rivers can seep into the ground.Water moves underground because of gravity and pressure.Groundwater close to the land surface is taken up by plants.
9. Groundwater flows into the oceans, keeping the water cycle going.