Name:

Date:
Miss Moraytis
The Water Cycle

• Two thirds of our planet is covered with water.

Much of the water is found in lakes, rivers, and
oceans.
• Fresh (drinking) water is a limited resource.
o People must treat water to drink it.
o Ocean is “clean” even with all the animals
living in it is because of the salt. (That’s why
pool people are starting to put salt instead
of chlorine in pools).
• Water exists in 3 forms: solid, liquid and gas.
• Everyday liquid water turns to gas through a
process called the Water Cycle
• Definition of water cycle: noun; The cycle of
evaporation and condensation that controls the
distribution of the earth's water as it evaporates
from bodies of water, condenses, precipitates,
and returns to those bodies of water.
• Evaporation means turning from water to water
vapor.
• What happens to the water vapor in the air?
o Some of it mixes with the air near the
ground.
o Some of it rises into the sky where the air is
cooler. In this cooler area, the water vapor
turns back into little droplets of water.
o This is called condensation.
o The droplets of water form clouds. As the
water droplets get larger and heavy they fall
from the clouds as rain. Or if it is cold
 enough, snow.
o This is called precipitation. Rain and snow
are the most common forms of
precipitation.
• Evaporation, condensation, and
precipitation form what is called The Water
Cycle.