The Basics
The process where liquid water turns into vapor from lakes or oceans.
Evaporation
A visible mass of water droplets or ice crystals hanging in the sky.
Cloud
Rain, snow, sleet, or hail falling from the sky.
Precipitation
The primary source of energy (The "Engine") that drives the whole water cycle.
The Sun
You just got out of a hot shower and you can’t see yourself in the bathroom mirror because it is covered in "fog." What part of the water cycle just happened on the glass?
Condensation (The warm water vapor hit the cool mirror and turned back into liquid).
The invisible, gaseous form of water found in our atmosphere.
Water Vapor
The process where water vapor cools down and turns back into liquid droplets.
Condensation
The primary force of nature that pulls rain down and makes rivers flow downhill.
Gravity
The specific term for water evaporating from the leaves of plants.
Transpiration
It rained yesterday morning, but by the afternoon, the sun came out and the puddles on the sidewalk were gone. Where did the water go and what is the name of that process?
It went into the air/atmosphere; the process is Evaporation.
The "point" where the air is completely full and cannot hold any more water vapor.
Saturation
The specific layer of the atmosphere where weather happens and the water cycle occurs.
Troposphere
Water that flows over the land and into local streams or rivers.
Runoff
The "sphere" that includes all the water on Earth, including oceans and lakes.
Hydrosphere
Imagine you are a drop of water inside a leaf. You are about to be "breathed out" by the plant into the air. What is the name of your exit strategy?
Transpiration
The name for the continuous movement of water between the Earth's surface and the air.
The Water Cycle
The layer of gases that surrounds the entire Earth.
Atmosphere
Water that is stored hidden beneath the Earth's surface in soil or rocks.
Groundwater
The rigid outer layer of Earth, including the land and the ocean floor.
Lithosphere
If you were an astronaut looking down at Earth, you would see the "Hydrosphere." What color would you see the most of, and why?
Blue, because the Hydrosphere is mostly made of the oceans which cover about 71% of the Earth.
If the Sun suddenly stopped shining today, what would happen to the water cycle? Explain your answer.
The water cycle would stop because the Sun provides the thermal energy needed for evaporation. Without heat, water would not turn into water vapor.
Why does condensation usually happen high up in the troposphere instead of right next to the warm ground?
Condensation happens when water vapor cools down. The temperatures at the top of the troposphere are much colder than the ground, which causes the vapor to turn back into liquid droplets to form clouds.
Explain how gravity and runoff work together to change the Earth's surface.
Gravity is the primary force that pulls precipitation down and causes water to flow downhill. This creates runoff, where water flows over the land and cuts into the lithosphere to form streams and rivers.
How does the movement of water help distribute heat to different parts of the world?
The water cycle helps distribute heat through the absorption of heat by water vapor and the movement of ocean currents. When water evaporates in one place and travels to another, it carries that thermal energy with it.
Imagine you are a tiny drop of water named "Drip." Write a short "travel diary" (3–4 steps) describing your journey starting as Groundwater and ending up as a Cloud. You must use at least three vocabulary words from the board in your story.
I started underground as groundwater. Then, a tree root sucked me up and I turned into vapor through transpiration. I floated high into the troposphere, where I got cold and turned back into a liquid drop to join a cloud.