Water

Where does our water come from in Greensboro? 1.Lake Townsend 2.Lake Brandt 3.Lake Higgins 4.Burlington (Lake McIntosh) 5.Reidsville

Lake Townsend Lake Brandt Lake Higgins Lake McIntosh

Evaporation Heat energy from the sun causes water in puddles, streams, rivers, seas or lakes to change from a liquid to a water vapor. This is called evaporation. The vapor rises into the atmosphere.

Condensation Water vapor collects in clouds. As the clouds cool, the water vapor condenses into water drops. This is called condensation. These drops fall to the earth as rain, snow, sleet or hail.

Precipitation Any form of water that falls to the earth from clouds. Mainly as rain, but sometimes as snow, sleet, and hail. This is called precipitation.

Transpiration 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.

Infiltration The downward movement of water through the soil. Infiltration happens when water soaks into the soil from the ground level. It moves underground and moves between the soil and rocks. Some of the water will be soaked up by roots to help plants grow. Some of the water keeps moving down into the soil to a level that is filled with water, called ground water. The very top of this layer filled with ground water is called the water table.ground waterwater table

Evaporation The vapor rises Condensation The Clouds form Precipitation The rain falls Transpiration The movement through plants

The Water Cycle Movie watercycle/index.asphttp:// watercycle/index.asp Watch the movie Take a Quiz Try the Experiment Complete the Activity Page