How does the Water Cycle Work?
I am learning to inform my audience through an explanation
By Dean
Did you know that the water you drink today could have been a bathtub for a dinosaur millions of years ago? All of the water we have today is all the water that we have ever had. Three quarters of the earth is covered in water. Ninety seven percent of that water is salt water, three percent of the water is freshwater. With only one percent of that freshwater being drinkable water. All the water enters into a process called the water cycle. A cycle is a series of steps that repeat over and over. There are three main stages to the water cycle, evaporation, condensation and precipitation. Without one of these stages there would be no water cycle.
Evaporation is when the sun or a heat source heats up a liquid. In the water cycle the sun is heating up the water that turns into water vapor. An example of evaporation is when you hang wet clothes in a sunny area and the water evaporates like magic. It’s like when you see puddles, or a small streams, then when heat is added it evaporates off the ground. The water vapour is now going into the condensation phase.
Condensation is when water vapor reaches a high altitude and the cold air cools the tiny water droplets and it gets mixed with other various gases and dust particles and it forms a cloud. You can test this experiment at home with a mirror and your mouth, place your mouth close to the mirror then breathe softly and you’ll see it will become blurry. When you touch the fog on the mirror it will be a little wet, that’s because of the water vapor in our mouths. Finally the last step precipitation.
Precipitation is when a cloud gets too heavy and can’t hold anymore water inside, then it bursts out either as hail, rain, sleet or snow. When it rains the oceans, rivers and lakes collect water from the clouds. Some of it even seeps through the ground and becomes groundwater. Groundwater is water that seeps into the ground from the clouds.
In conclusion the cycle starts with evaporation which heats up the water then turns into water vapor then condensation which makes the water vapor water and forms a cloud and finally precipitation which makes either snow, rain, sleet or hail, then cycle continues on and on.
Evaporation is when the sun or a heat source heats up a liquid. In the water cycle the sun is heating up the water that turns into water vapor. An example of evaporation is when you hang wet clothes in a sunny area and the water evaporates like magic. It’s like when you see puddles, or a small streams, then when heat is added it evaporates off the ground. The water vapour is now going into the condensation phase.
Condensation is when water vapor reaches a high altitude and the cold air cools the tiny water droplets and it gets mixed with other various gases and dust particles and it forms a cloud. You can test this experiment at home with a mirror and your mouth, place your mouth close to the mirror then breathe softly and you’ll see it will become blurry. When you touch the fog on the mirror it will be a little wet, that’s because of the water vapor in our mouths. Finally the last step precipitation.
Precipitation is when a cloud gets too heavy and can’t hold anymore water inside, then it bursts out either as hail, rain, sleet or snow. When it rains the oceans, rivers and lakes collect water from the clouds. Some of it even seeps through the ground and becomes groundwater. Groundwater is water that seeps into the ground from the clouds.
In conclusion the cycle starts with evaporation which heats up the water then turns into water vapor then condensation which makes the water vapor water and forms a cloud and finally precipitation which makes either snow, rain, sleet or hail, then cycle continues on and on.
