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The Water Cycle

   
The earth has a limited amount of water.  That water keeps going around and around and around and around and ... in what we call the "Water Cycle".




This cycle is made up of a few main parts:

  • evaporation (and transpiration)
  • condensation
  • precipitation
  • collection 

-Evaporation:
Heat from the Sun causes water on Earth (in oceans, lakes etc) to evaporate (turn from liquid into gas) and rise into the sky. This water vapor collects in the sky in the form of clouds.

-Condensation:
As water vapor in the clouds cools down it becomes water again, this process is called condensation.

-Precipitation:
It occurs when so much water has condensed that the air cannot hold it anymore. The clouds get heavy and water falls from the sky in the form of rain, snow, hail, or sleet.

-Collection:
Water that falls back to the surface can land on the ground and soak in. It can also flow into oceans and lakes, from where it evaporates into the sky. Then the cycle starts again.

 


The water cycle experiment: