Water Cycle
What is the process called when liquid water changes into water vapor?
Evaporation
Is most of Earth's water freshwater or saltwater?
Saltwater
Where is groundwater found?
Beneath Earth's surface.
What provides the energy that causes water to evaporate?
The sun
A puddle becomes smaller on a sunny day. What process explains this?
Evaporation
What happens when water vapor cools and changes into tiny liquid droplets?
Condensation
Name one place where freshwater is stored.
Glaciers, ice caps, lakes, rivers, or groundwater.
What can happen when rainwater soaks into the ground?
Some of the water can become groundwater.
What is runoff?
Water that flows over land into streams, rivers, lakes, or other areas.
Water droplets appear on the outside of a cold glass. Where did the droplets come from?
Water vapor in the air cooled and condensed on the outside of the glass.
Name three forms of precipitation
Rain, snow, sleet, or hail. Any three.
What is groundwater?.
Water stored beneath Earth's surface in soil and rock.
How can deep roots help a plant survive during a dry period?
Deep roots may reach groundwater and absorb water when little rain falls.
How can rainwater move from the atmosphere into the groundwater?
It falls as precipitation and soaks into the ground.
Barrier A allows 2 cups of water to reach a model town. Barrier B allows 7 cups through. Which barrier performed better at blocking water?
Barrier A, because less water reached the town.
Put these stages in the correct order: condensation, collection, evaporation, precipitation.
Evaporation → Condensation → Precipitation → Collection.
Why can't people easily use all the freshwater on Earth
Much of it is frozen or stored in places that are difficult to access.
How can pollution on the ground reach groundwater?
Rainwater can carry the pollution through the soil into groundwater
What happens during the collection stage of the water cycle?
Water gathers in places such as oceans, lakes, rivers, and ponds after precipitation falls.
A wetland area has $3,000 in storm damage. An area without wetlands has $8,000 in damage. How much less damage occurred in the wetland area?
$5,000 less.
Explain how water from a lake can eventually become rain.
Water evaporates from the lake, cools and condenses into clouds, and then falls as precipitation.
How can people help protect freshwater supplies?
Keep harmful chemicals and waste out of lakes, rivers, and groundwater. Or any other approved answer
What might happen if a town pumps groundwater faster than it is replenished?
The groundwater supply may decrease, and wells may have less water.
A community has less rainfall for several months. Predict two possible effects on its environment.
Water levels may drop, plants may dry out, animals may have less water, and groundwater may decrease.
Two designs are tested. One blocks more water but costs more. What should engineers compare before choosing a design?
How well each design meets the goal, its cost, and any other limits or constraints.