Kelly’s Crazy Dream

1. Kelly’s Crazy Dream By: Sae O. Britt H.

2. Kelly was jumping on something white and fluffy. She met a raindrop named Ruth. Kelly was wondering where she was. Ruth told her they were on a cloud getting ready to fall to the ground as precipitation. Kelly got really nervous when Ruth told her about falling out of the cloud. Ruth said, “It doesn’t hurt. All of the precipitation gets too heavy for the cloud and we fall to the earth because gravity is pulling us down, it’s part of the water cycle. Some of the types of precipitation are rain, snow, sleet, and hail.”

3. Kelly and Ruth start to notice that there are fewer raindrops with them than when they first met. Kelly just has time to see a raindrop fall through the cloud before she realizes that she has started to fall, too.“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” screams Kelly! She is flailing, and flopping, and flipping, and going every which way in the air.Ruth catches up to her and Kelly yells, “Why aren’t you scared?”“I’ve done this billions of times! I’m a few million years old so I’m used to it by now! Water from a long, long, long, time ago is still on the earth because the earth hardly ever loses or gains matter, so I’ve been here since the dinosaurs have been around! Cool, huh?”

4. Kelly and Ruth are getting close to the ground when Kelly notices that there are some raindrops stuck to the sides of windows. “How are the other drops of rain sticking to the windows and cars?” Kelly asked.“There is something called polarity. Polarity is when water makes a strong bond to another object. There are two ways water can stick to something. One is called adhesion. Adhesion is when water can get stuck to other objects,” Ruth answered when they landed safely. “This here is adhesion when we landed on this leaf and we stuck here. There is also something called cohesion. It’s when water can stick to more water. That’s how ponds and lakes and puddles form.”“Water is made out of hydrogen and oxygen. Two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The way the two types of atoms bond make there be an electrochemical property. This makes the hydrogen atoms have a positive charge and the oxygen to have a negative charge. Because of this, there is a lot of surface tension and water is a good solvent,“ Ruth tells Kelly, “That's why we can stick to objects like the water on the window.”

5. Ruth and Kelly were sitting on the leaf for hours. To pass the time, Ruth started telling Kelly about her travels falling from the sky. “A long time ago, when I was sitting on a rock waiting to be brought up to the sky again, I studied some people from the medieval times. I found out that only one person back then used about 5 gallons of water a day. After I have studied people in this generation, I found out that one person now uses 80 to 100 gallons of water a day. That’s a big difference!”Kelly notices that a lizard just ran across the pond they were by and didn’t fall in! Kelly asks, “How did that lizard do that?”Ruth replies, “surface tension. It’s when water molecules are bonded with other water molecules and make it seem like there is a glass surface above the water. The lizard has to go really fast otherwise it will fall into the water.”

6. Ruth and Kelly were blown by the wind off the leaf and onto a blade of grass. Ruth saw a crack in the sidewalk and told Kelly about it. “It is called capillary action. Capillary action is when water can flow into a small space and stay there. It has to do with both adhesion and cohesion. Adhesion makes the water stick to the sides of the crack and cohesion holds all the water together.”“Wow,” says Kelly, “that’s cool. Have you noticed that it’s starting to get cold?”“Yes,” replies Ruth. “Do you see the ice floating on top of that pond over there? The ice is less dense than water so it floats on top of it. An object will sink to the bottom of a pond or body of water if it is denser than water. An object will float at the top of the water if it less dense than water. Even though ice is just frozen water, it is still somehow less dense.”

7. “I’ve helped trees grow before,” Ruth tells Kelly. “While I was inside the tree, I found out that a live tree is made up of 75% of water. I later found out that a human brain is also made up of 75% of water.”“Wow, I did not know that,” Kelly says. “Do you know what water is made up of?”Ruth replies, “Yes, I do. Water is made out of two types of atoms. Atoms make up all matter. Water is also called H2O. So there are two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom. I’m even made up of hydrogen and oxygen atoms.”“That’s very interesting. I remember one time when was watching my mom cooked pasta, and she put salt in the pot full of water. After a little while the salt dissolved. Why would it do that?” Kelly asks.“Well, water is called a solvent. A solvent is something that has something dissolved into it. Water is a universal solvent, which means that it can dissolve many things, like salt, sugar, and more. It can be large amounts or small amounts.”

8. It starts to get warmer and warmer. Kelly and Ruth are pulled up into the air and are going higher and higher. “What’s going on?” Kelly asks.“It’s called evaporation. Evaporation is when water transforms from a liquid to a gas. The warmer and the more wind there is, the more evaporation there will be. The water transfers to the atmosphere from the ground or bodies of water. Evaporation is another part of the water cycle,” Ruth tells Kelly.“Okay, this is more fun than the precipitation part. It’s much more relaxing and not as scary,” says Kelly.“Yes, it is. One time when I was in a crazy storm, and it was not fun at all, I fell into a farm that a family of four grew. They only grew for themselves. While I was there, I observed them and found out that they would need 6800 gallons of water for just one day for all of them. That means that just one person would need 1700 gallons of water for one day!”

9. Kelly and Ruth were still going up when Kelly asked Ruth a question, “Have you ever been to the beach?”“Of course,” Ruth responds. “I’ve been there tons of times. At the beach, or somewhere near a large body of water, the temperature changes slower. So when it’s winter, it is still a little warm and when it’s summer, it is a little cool. That's waters specific heart. It makes areas with bodies of water heat up and cools down slower.”“Hmm. I’ve read somewhere that there are two types of water. Freshwater, and saltwater. There is mostly saltwater in the world. But most of the freshwater in the world is underground. It is stored under the earth’s surface.”“That is correct. One day I would like to see the underground areas that hold most of the worlds freshwater,” says Ruth.

10. “What are we doing now?” Kelly asks Ruth. “We are starting condensation; this is the last part of the water cycle. The liquid water starts to turn into water vapor and they all come together and make clouds,” Ruth says. “Hmm, I remember learning about this in school the other day. Now I know what it’s really like to go through the water cycle and know a bunch of cool, new things!” says Kelly.

11. Kelly just woke up from an amazing dream. She can’t wait to tell her teacher what she dreamed about! For now she will just have to tell her mom and know that all that stuff that happened in her dream is true.