The Water Cycle Brie, Ethan, Bethany, Haley

The Water Cycle The water cycle is made up of four parts: Evaporation (Transpiration) Condensation Precipitation Collection

Evaporation Evaporation is the process when water is converted from liquid to a vapor 80% of precipitation comes from the oceans Four trillion gallons of water fall to the Earth each day, and the remaining stays up in the atmosphere, and starts the evaporation cycle again.

Transpiration The sun warms the Earth and its atmosphere, then wind currents draw moisture from little openings in leaves of plants The water is taken up by the roots of the plants and travels up the plants The water from the leaves evaporates and goes back up into the atmosphere

Transpiration Cont. When forests are cut down, the water cycle is disrupted and less moisture is returned to the atmosphere The water cycle is driven by the sun About 10% of the moisture found in the atmosphere is released by plants through transpiration

Condensation The water vapor gets cold, and turns back into a liquid –Making a cloud Water vapor in the atmosphere condenses and falls to the Earth as rain or snow The availability of water determines the diversity of ecosystems

Precipitation Water falls to the Earth’s surface as precipitation As it is precipitating, evaporation is still going into the atmosphere The water cycle never stops Some of that water seeps into the soil and becomes ground water

Precipitation Cont. The remaining water then reenters the atmosphere by evaporation from lakes, rivers, and oceans Ground water is stored below the Earth’s surface The runoff water flows back into oceans and lakes That water then evaporates

Collection When precipitation falls to the Earth, it may fall into lakes, oceans, rivers, or it may stay on land When the water stays on the land, animals or plants use it to drink or it may run over the soil and collect back into the oceans, rivers, or lakes; starting the cycle over again

Facts If you live in the United States, there are 40 trillion gallons of water above your head on an average day. The water in your glass today may have fallen from the sky just last week The water that was in the apple you ate today may have fallen as rain half-way around the world last year or it could have been used 100 million years ago by dinosaurs

Evaporation

Collection

Condensation