By Ivan Coronel And T.J
L.O.S Terms(: Condensation: The process by which water vapor in the air cools to form tiny droplets of water in the clouds. Conservation: Using a natural resource wisely. Cycle: Continuing process in which something is used over and over again. Evaporation: The process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas. Ground Water: Water beneath the surface of the earth. Natural Resource: An object found in nature that is available for our use. Precipitation: Water falling to the earth as a liquid (rain) or a solid (snow, hail). Rain: Precipitation in the form of liquid water. Snow: A crystal made of frozen water vapor. Surface Water: Water which has accumulated on top of the ground. Thermal Polluting: water by increasing its temperature; may cause plants and animals to die. Ground Water: Water beneath the surface of the earth. Natural Resource: An object found in nature that is available for our use.
Introduction… Let’s say you leave a glass of water on the counter while it’s sunny outside or find a puddle after it rains. You see it the next day to find that half the water is gone or the puddle is smaller or all gone. Maybe someone drank the water? Or someone took the water out of the puddle? Wrong, the water has evaporated! It has just gone through a cycle called the water cycle. The water cycle is a very interesting cycle. It occurs wherever water can be found. There are many stages of the water cycle and they will be explained once you read deeper into this section.
The Process of the Water Cycle step one Evaporation is the first step in the water cycle. As you can see in the picture water starts off in a lake, stream, river, etc. And on a sunny day the water turns into vapor caused by the suns heat which causes the water to evaporate and go to the clouds to become water vapor. This brings us to our next part of the process. In 20 minutes, one thunderstorm can send down over 125,000,000 gallons of water!
Condensation Condensation is the second step in the process of the water cycle. It takes place when water vapor in the air condenses from a gas, back into a liquid form, and leaves the atmosphere, returning to the surface of the Earth. Which brings us to the next step, precipitation. Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine, directed people in Greece to boil and strain water before drinking it!
Precipitation The final step of the process is precipitation. When the gas turns into a liquid or sometimes solid and falls down to earth as rain, snow, or hail than there is a chance that the water goes to many places. Water boils at 212o Fahrenheit or 100o Celsius.
What happens after precipitation falls to earth? It falls on to mountains where it can turn to snow or fall in to streams leading to lakes, ponds and oceans. It will turn to a run off or land on soil and turn into ground water. It takes 2 gallons to brush your teeth, 2 to 7 gallons to flush a toilet, and 25 to 50 gallons to take a shower. One gallon of water is equal to liters of water. 97 % of earth’s water is in the oceans. Only 3 % of the earth’s water can be used as drinking water. 75 % of the world’s fresh water is frozen in the polar ice caps.
Where does all the precipitation go?