Unit 8: Surface Water & The Water Cycle Unit 8 Notes Day 1

The Science of the Water Cycle and Surface Water

3 States of Water Solid – ice Gas – Water Vapor Liquid -water

How does water change state? By adding or removing heat energy Add energy (think Energy In) Remove energy (think Energy Exits) Heating and cooling of a solid animation Heating and cooling of a liquid melting ice animation Heating and cooling of a gas

Changing States Is energy added or removed? Ice melting- energy is ________ Water freezing- energy is _________ Water boiling- energy is __________ Adding and removing energy

What is surface water and the water cycle? Technically they are one and the same. The water cycle is the description of the path surface water takes as it changes form and location on the earth’s surface.

What is the Water Cycle? The continuous movement of water into the air, onto land, and back into the air over and over again Water Cycle Video

Water Cycle- Evaporation The sun or heat source heats up liquid water and turns it into water vapor (gas) where it enters the atmosphere Water vapor is invisible Liquid  Gas The “smoke” we see is from the vapor condensing… Evaporation animation

Water Cycle- Transpiration Do plants sweat? Well, sort of.... people perspire (sweat) and plants transpire.  Transpiration is the process by which plants lose water out of their leaves.  Transpiration gives evaporation a bit of a hand in getting the water vapor back up into the air. Liquid in plants  Gas

Water Cycle- Condensation Water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into liquid drops These drops gather together to form clouds The average cloud weighs 1.1 million pounds Gas  Liquid Condensation animation

How Clouds Form As the warm air rises, it cools off, and turns from water vapor to liquid water. However, the liquid water drops are so small, they are lighter than air, so they float.

The sun also heats up the air around the water vapor, forming a hot column of rising air called a THERMAL. The thermal helps push the water vapor up. As the water droplets begin to condense, they give off heat that becomes trapped in the body of the cloud. The trapped heat helps the cloud rise, much like a hot air balloon.

Water Cycle- Precipitation The solid or liquid water that falls from the air to the surface. Solid  Liquid or Solid  Solid Examples Rain, Snow, Sleet Hail Etc.

Water Cycle- Runoff Water (typically precipitation) that flows across the surface of the land and collects in rivers, streams, and eventually the ocean.

Water Cycle- Infiltration The process of liquid water being absorbed into the ground and entering the groundwater system instead of traveling over the top as runoff.

Not all water reaches the ocean… Bear River, UT Caspian Sea, Russia

And last but not least…Tahoe flows to Pyramid, but never reaches the ocean! Truckee

On the note card provided, identify all 5 points on the map by their vocab term. Now see if kids can identify what’s happening at each number. The Sun heats the ocean. Ocean water evaporates and rises into the air. The water vapor cools and condenses to become water droplets which form clouds. When enough droplets gather, they become heavy enough to fall to Earth as precipitation. Some water collects into the ground. The rest goes flows by rivers back to the ocean.