4E3B Water Cycle

The Water Cycle

1 Where does all of Earth’s water come from? Where
does the rain water come from? Actually, the water
has been here since shortly after Earth formed
4.6 billion years ago. Earth’s water goes through a
cycle. The water is on Earth. Then it travels up into
the atmosphere. It then travels back down to Earth.
This is known as the water cycle.
2 Earth’s water cycle begins with a change in temperature. The Sun warms
Earth’s water from oceans, lakes, and rivers. The Sun’s heat causes the water
to change its state. The heat causes surface water to evaporate. The water
turns from liquid to vapor. Water vapor is an invisible gas. The water vapor rises
into the air. As the water travels higher into the atmosphere, it cools down.
3 There is also dust in the air. As the water cools, some of it is attached to this
dust. More and more water condenses on the dust, creating water droplets.
Condensing means turning from gas to liquid. The water eventually encases
the dust, and the water-dust mixture becomes a rain drop or snow flake. When
the water particles become too large to stay afloat in the air, fall to the ground in
a form of precipitation called rain.
4 When it is below 32 Fahrenheit, the freezing point of water, the water vapor
condenses on the dust particles as ice, rather than liquid water. Snow particles
form, and they precipitate as snow. Snow stays on the ground when the ground
temperature is at or below freezing. If the ground temperature is above
freezing, the snow will melt when it hits the ground.
5 Another type of precipitation is sleet. Sleet is a mixture of snow and rain. Rain
drops fall from clouds, but they partially freeze on their way down to Earth. Sleet
occurs when the temperature in the clouds is warmer than the temperature
closer to the ground.

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6 Hail is another form of precipitation. For hail to occur, there also needs to be
wind. In a large cumulonimbus cloud, ice crystals form. They begin to fall
toward Earth. Next, the wind picks up and pulls the ice crystals back up into
the cloud. The air is cold. The ice crystals continue to grow as more water
freezes onto them. The ice crystals fall again, but are swept up again. The
cycle continues until the hail stones become too heavy. They then fall to
Earth as hail. Small hail stones are about the size of pencil erasers. Really
big ones can be as big as softballs!
7 Water goes through different stages in the water cycle. Earth will continue to
cycle its water as long as it lives. Without the water cycle, our Earth would be
depleted of water by now. Thankfully we have the water cycle to help us
survive.