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The Water Cycle 2 Click on picture for neat explanation of the Water Cycle

The water cycle greatly affects weather and living things 3 Vocabulary: water cycle The movement of water between the ground and the atmosphere

4 You might think that rain brings new water to Earth But there is no new water on Earth

The sun heats water on Earth and changes it from a liquid to gas called water vapor 5 The first step of the water cycle involves the sun

6 Vocabulary: water vapor water in the form of a gas

7 The water vapor goes into the air This process is called evaporation

8 Vocabulary: evaporation The process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas and goes into the air

9 It is evaporation that dries a puddle in the sun after the rain

In the second step of the cycle, water vapor in the air changes back to a liquid 10 This happens when warm air holding water vapor gets cooler

This process is called condensation 11 Vocabulary: condensation The process by which water vapor in the air changes to liquid water

12 The tiny water drops in the air are packed closer and closer together until they start to join

Clouds are formed when thousands of drops are so close together that you cannot see through them 13 Video on “Cool Clouds” 7:15

14 As clouds become cooler, the drops join together to make bigger drops

Finally, they become heavy enough to fall back to Earth as rain or snow 15 This falling rain or snow is the third step in the water cycle

The word “cycle” usually means circle 16 The water cycle is like a circle because it has no beginning or end Yep you got it another version of “The Water Cycle” 3:37

17 There really is no new water on Earth Click for Bill Nye the Science Guy “Water Cycle Jump” 1:30