The Water Cycle

1. The Water Cycle By Erin James

2. What is the Water Cycle? • The Water Cycle is the journey that water takes as it circulates from the land to the sky and back again. • There are six important processes that make up the water cycle. These are Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, Surface Runoff, Infiltration & Transpiration

3. Evaporation • Evaporation is the process where a liquid changes from its liquid state to a gaseous state, in this case water turns into steam. • Evaporation occurs when the temperature of the liquid increases. In this case, the sun heats up the water in rivers, lakes and the oceans and turns it into steam. • The steam leaves the water and goes into the air

4. Condensation • Condensation is the process where a gas changes from its vapour state to a liquid state, in this case steam turns into water. • Condensation occurs when the temperature of the liquid decreases. In this case, the steam in the air gets cold and changes back into water, forming clouds.

5. 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 earth as rain, snow or hail. • As a result of these 3 steps the water has gone from the earth to the air and back to earth again

6. Collection • Collection is the process that occurs when the water falls back to earth as precipitation. It will either become the Surface Runoff or the Infiltration process. • Much of the water that returns to earth runs off the surface of the land, and flows down hill into streams, rivers, ponds and lakes. Small streams flow into larger streams, then into rivers, and eventually the water flows into the ocean. This is known as Surface Runoff • When the water ends up on land it will soak in and end up becoming “ground water” which is used by animals and plants as drinking water. This is known as the Infiltration process.

7. Transpiration • Transpiration is the process of evaporation through plant leaves and is the final stage in the Water Cycle. • As plants absorb water from the soil, the water moves from the roots through the stems to the leaves. Once the water reaches the leaves, some of it evaporates from the leaves, adding to the amount of water vapour in the air. • In large forests, an enormous amount of water will transpire through leaves. .