The Water Cycle


The Water Cycle by Sheri Amsel Share Email Print - The Water Cycle Tags No tags are currently set for this article. To add a new tag Log in or register The water cycle is ongoing Water exists as liquid, solid & gas The oceans store 95 percent of Earth’s water 10 percent of land is covered by glacial ice The water cycle is how we keep our precious water supply on Earth. It has no beginning and no end. It goes around and around and around and has for billions of years. In truth, the amount of water on Earth has stayed pretty much the same, but its location and form does change over time. To explore the water cycle, we’ll start with one section, but it is not the beginning, it is just part of the ongoing cycle. The Many Faces of Water Water exists in three forms: liquid, solid (ice), and gas. All three forms of water can be seen in everyday life. Drinking a glass of ice water on a hot day can show you all three. The water in your glass is the liquid, the ice is the solid, and the wetness on the outside of your glass is the water vapor cooling back to liquid right before your very eyes! This is called “condensation.” In any of those forms, water is still water. It can take part in the water cycle. Water can be found in the ocean, polar ice caps, as rivers, lakes, wetlands, and snow on land, as underground aquifers, and even in the air as water vapor in the clouds. The sun drives the water cycle by evaporating water into its rising vapor form. Then it cycles back as rain or snow to start again! Making Clouds Clouds form when water vapor, heated by the sun, rises off the earth by evaporation. The water vapor condenses in the cooler air that is higher up in the atmosphere. It clings to small particles in the air like dust or pollen. When the water condenses into clouds it is changing back from vapor to liquid. You can see condensation all around you on the earth. Just look at dew-covered grass or your fogged-up ski goggles. Condensation happens when warm water vapor meets cooler air and turns back to a liquid. When you drive through a patch of fog, you are actually driving through a cloud that has formed right on the surface of the earth. This happens when very moist, warm air meets cool air and the water condenses right on the spot as fog!
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by Sheri Amsel

The water cycle is ongoing
Water exists as liquid, solid & gas
The oceans store 95 percent of Earth’s water
10 percent of land is covered by glacial ice

The water cycle is how we keep our precious water supply on Earth. It has no beginning and no end. It goes around and around and around and has for billions of years. In truth, the amount of water on Earth has stayed pretty much the same, but its location and form does change over time. To explore the water cycle, we’ll start with one section, but it is not the beginning, it is just part of the ongoing cycle.

The Many Faces of Water

Water exists in three forms: liquid, solid (ice), and gas. All three forms of water can be seen in everyday life. Drinking a glass of ice water on a hot day can show you all three. The water in your glass is the liquid, the ice is the solid, and the wetness on the outside of your glass is the water vapor cooling back to liquid right before your very eyes! This is called “condensation.”

In any of those forms, water is still water. It can take part in the water cycle. Water can be found in the ocean, polar ice caps, as rivers, lakes, wetlands, and snow on land, as underground aquifers, and even in the air as water vapor in the clouds. The sun drives the water cycle by evaporating water into its rising vapor form. Then it cycles back as rain or snow to start again!

Making Clouds

Clouds form when water vapor, heated by the sun, rises off the earth by evaporation. The water vapor condenses in the cooler air that is higher up in the atmosphere. It clings to small particles in the air like dust or pollen. When the water condenses into clouds it is changing back from vapor to liquid.

You can see condensation all around you on the earth. Just look at dew-covered grass or your fogged-up ski goggles. Condensation happens when warm water vapor meets cooler air and turns back to a liquid.

When you drive through a patch of fog, you are actually driving through a cloud that has formed right on the surface of the earth. This happens when very moist, warm air meets cool air and the water condenses right on the spot as fog!