the water cycle

the water cycle

Water Cycle Step 1: Water evaporates from the Earth’s surface: If you spill a glass of water outside you will notice that a few hours later the water is gone! That is because water slowly turns from a liquid into a gas called water vapor. The process of water turning from a liquid into a gas is called evaporation.

Evaporation happens faster on a hot day. That is because the evaporation of water outside is powered by the sun! The hotter it is outside, the faster water will evaporate. 

Water Cycle Step 2: Water condenses to form clouds.

:Water vapor rises up in the sky due to the sun’s heat. Once the water vapor rises high enough it condenses into water droplets. Condensation is the process of water turning from a gas into a liquid.

Water Cycle Step 3: Water falls back to the Earth as precipitation

When water droplets get heavy enough, they fall back down to Earth as rain! We call this precipitation because it can happen in a few different ways: rain (liquid water), snow (frozen water), and hail (big pieces of frozen water). Precipitation brings the water back down to earth and the cycle repeats … the sun shines on the water and it starts evaporating again. This is why we call it the water cycle.

The water cycle is constantly happening every day for millions of years.

The water in a water bottle wasn’t made last week or even last year – it could be the same water that passed through a dinosaur millions of years ago. It ends up in your water bottle thanks to the water cycle, which is always happening. After the dinosaur went to the bathroom on the ground that water evaporated to form water vapor in the air, which rose up in the sky to form clouds. Then it fell back down to Earth as rain, which probably ended up in a river, and then thousands of cycles later that water ended up in your water bottle.