What is the water cycle?

Have you ever wondered where rain comes from?

What is rain made of?

Today you will learn the answers to these questions.

Heat changes water. It changes water by turning it into gas Heat changes water. It changes water by turning it into gas. This is called evaporation.

When water evaporates it goes into the air When water evaporates it goes into the air. The water that goes into the air is called water vapor.

Can you see water vapor?

No

Water vapor can be changed back into liquid. How?

If heat changes water to vapor, what could change it back? Cool air!

This cool air makes water vapor condense. Condense means to change into a liquid.

The water on Earth is always changing The water on Earth is always changing. It changes from ice to liquid to water vapor and back again.

Water moves between the ground and the sky over and over. This movement of water is called the water cycle.

1. Heat from the sun evaporates water. 2. Water vapor rises. Then it cools and condenses into tiny drops of water.

3. The drops of water form clouds. 4. When the drops in the clouds get big enough, they fall to the ground as rain, snow, or hail.

Rain, snow, and hail are all called precipitation. http://www.chaseday.com/hail.htm

5. Water returns to the lakes and oceans. The water cycle begins again.

http://www.kidzone.ws/water/

HAIL STORMS: images and stories of hail, hail storms and the damage they cause The Water Cycle

Bibliography The Water Cycle. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2005, from http://www.kidzone.ws/      water/ Baptiste, H. P., Daniel, L., Hackett, J., Moyer, R., Stryker, P., & Vasquez, J. (2002). McGraw-Hill Science. New York: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. Hailstones. (n.d.). Hail Storms. Retrieved November 22, 2005, from      http://www.chaseday.com/hail.htm