The Water Cycle

Water Cycle is called a cycle because it is never ending.

The sun’s energy is necessary to power the water cycle.

Evaporation The sun warms the water in the ocean, causing it to change from water (liquid) to water vapor (gas). *Water found in the air around us is called water vapor.

Condensation Once the warm gas hits the cooler air it changes back into a liquid and forms a cloud.

Water Droplets During Condensation, tiny water droplets bounce around in the cloud. As they hit each other, they stick together and become larger.

Precipitation When cloud particles become too heavy to remain suspended in the air, they fall to the earth as precipitation.

Precipitation collects in: Rivers Ponds Lakes Oceans These bodies of water are known as surface water.

reservoir A reservoir is surface water held back by a dam

Infiltration Infiltration is when the water enters into the subsurface of soil and rocks

Ground Water Water found in the ground in the cracks of rocks

Transpiration Transpiration is the evaporation of water from plant leaves. The water from the plant leaves are turned into water vapor and rise back up to the clouds.

Water Cycle is never Ending! Then what? Right! It starts all over again! That is why it is called a cycle.

Summary of the water cycle Sun warms ocean water causing it to EVAPORATE. Water vapor CONDENSES to form clouds. Clouds become very heavy before beginning to PRECIPITATE. Precipitation collects in rivers, lakes, and oceans. The sun warms ocean water…

Glaciers 70% of our planet is covered by water. 97% of the water is saltwater. The majority of freshwater is beyond our reach, locked into polar snow and ice called glaciers.

Fresh Water Fresh water can be found in rivers, streams, swamps, lakes, ponds, and in the ground. Only 1% of the Earth's fresh water is available to use We can not drink salt water from the oceans or use it for crops because of the salt content.