Water cycle

  waterdrops on a spiderweb

Types of precipitations

Forms of the water : liquid, vapour or solid

  • rain
  • snow

      snowflake

  • hail

  • ice pellets

  • drizzle: light rain
  • sleet: rain and snow mixed

 

water cycle

 

The earth has a limited amount of water.  That water keeps going around and around and around and  in what we call the "Water Cycle".

This cycle is made up of a few main parts:

  • evaporation (and transpiration)
  • condensation
  • precipitation
  • collection

 

Evaporation:  

Evaporation is when the sun heats up water in rivers or lakes or the ocean and turns it into vapor or steam. The water vapor or steam leaves the river, lake or ocean and goes into the air.

Condensation:

Water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into liquid, forming clouds. This is called condensation.

Precipitation:

Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed that the air cannot hold it anymore.  The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow.

Collection:

When water falls back to earth as precipitation, it may fall back in the oceans, lakes or rivers or it may end up on land.  When it ends up on land, it will either soak into the earth and become part of the “ground water” that plants and animals use to drink or it may run over the soil and collect in the oceans, lakes or rivers where the cycle starts

all over again.

quizlet.com/23157452/weather-flash-cards/

quizlet.com/23162451/precipitation-flash-cards/