Water Cycle
Main processes:
Evaporation & transpiration
Condensation
Precipitation
The Process:
The Sun¡¯s heat provides the energy to evaporate water from the Earth¡¯s surface (rivers, lakes, oceans) and turns the water into vapour or steam. This process is called Evaporation.
Plants lose water out of their leaves to the air and this is known as Transpiration. This also aids in the Evaporation of water into the air.
Water vapour in the air becomes cold and condenses into water droplets, thus forming clouds. This process is known as Condensation.
When a large amount of water has condensed and is too much for the air to hold, Precipitation occurs. The water will cause the clouds to get heavier and hence, water falls back to earth as rain, snow, etc.
When water falls back to the Earth, it may fall back into rivers, lakes, oceans or it land. When it ends up on land, the water is absorbed into the soil for plants or drank by animals. But most of the water flows downhill and goes back into the rivers, lakes or oceans and¡.
The cycle starts all over again.
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DO YOU KNOW?
There is enough water in the atmosphere, that if it all fell as rain at the same time, it would cover the entire surface of the Earth with 2.5 cm (1 in) of water