1. The Water Cycle

2. 17) H2O (water) cycles through states of matter in the atmosphere based on atmospheric conditions.

3. 18) The water cycle has three stages: precipitation, evaporation, and condensation

5. 19) The process in which water changes from liquid to vapor is called evaporation.  

6. 20) Transpiration is the evaporation of water from plants.

7. 21) Condensation is the process in which water vapor in the atmosphere becomes liquid. 

8. 22) When water falls from clouds as liquid or solid it is called precipitation.

9. 23) The cycling of water in and out of the atmosphere plays an important role in determining climatic patterns.

10. 24) Water evaporation from the surface of the earth, rises and cools, condenses into rain or snow, and falls again to the surface.

11. 25) Rain, snow, sleet, and hail are all forms of precipitation.

12. 26) Rain falls to the ground and collects in streams that flow into rivers, that eventually lead to the world’s oceans.

13. 27) The water, which is a solvent, falling on land collects in rivers and lakes, soil, and porous layers of rock, and much of it flows back into the ocean.

14. 28) Most rain falls on the Earth’s oceans because most of Earth is covered by water.

15. 29) Most of the water that evaporates on Earth, evaporates from the ocean. The salt and minerals are left behind in the ocean.

16. 30) Salts have become concentrated in the sea (compared with freshwater) because the sun's heat causes the evaporation of water, leaving the salts and minerals behind.

17. 31) If less fresh water flowed into the oceans in the future, the world’s oceans would become more salty.

18. 32) If more fresh water flowed into the world’s oceans, they would become less salty.