WATER CYCLE & TRANSFER OF ENERGY

1. Answer the questions about water on the Earth.

 Is there more saltwater or freshwater?
 How much saltwater is there in percentage?
 How many oceans are there? What are they called?
 Where is freshwater stored?
 What are the different forms of groundwater?
 What percentage of freshwater is in ice and snow?

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/biogeochemical-cycles/a/the-water-cycle

2. Water cycle: Read the text and put the letters A – D in the right part of the picture (the white squares):

Water has been moving continually into and out of the atmosphere.
A Water vapour enters the atmosphere from the oceans where water evaporates from the surface.
B Water vapour also enters the atmosphere from the leaves of the living plants.
C Water returns from the atmosphere as a liquid or solid, condensing and falling back to earth.
D Much of the precipitation that returns to earth falls back in to the oceans. Other precipitation falls on the
land where some of it evaporates back into the atmosphere.
E Part of it stays on the surface of the earth and part of it runs off.
F Some water soaks into the ground and becomes part of the underground water supply.
This process in which water enters the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration, then condenses and
returns to the earth’s surface as precipitation is called the water cycle or the hydrologic cycle.
Source: Addison-Wesley Earth Science, p. 338
3. Write verbs for the nouns in the table:
1. Evaporation evaporate 4. transpiration

2. Condensation 5. runoff

3. Precipitation 6. percoation

Explain what happens in the process 1-6.

4. Read the text and complete the gaps with suitable words / phrases.
Water on Earth is always moving. It flows down rivers, travels across the oceans, 1_____________
into the atmosphere, and falls to Earth as rain and snow. The journey water takes as it circulates on Earth is
called the water cycle or hydrologic cycle.
The Sun's heat provides energy to evaporate water from the Earth's surface - oceans, lakes and other
water bodies. Evaporation is the first step in this cycle. Plants also lose water to the air. This is called
2_____________.
In the second step, water vapour rises into the atmosphere where it cools and changes back into
droplets - very small drops of liquid water. Here the water vapour 3_____________, forming tiny droplets
in clouds.
The third step happens when the clouds meet cool air and precipitation (rain, sleet, or snow) is
triggered. The water returns to the land or sea. Some of the 4_____________ soaks into the ground. The
soaked water 5_____________ the soil and gets into deeper layers where it is partially trapped between
rock or clay; this is called groundwater. But most of the water flows downhill as 6_____________, above
ground or underground, eventually returning to the seas as slightly salty water.
The shortest water cycle on Earth occurs in tropical rainforests, which are near the equator. In this
wet environment, the whole water cycle happens in just 7_____________.
J. Wharton, Academic Encounters, CUP, 2009, unit 2

5. How does energy move through different materials- solid, liquid or gaseous?
1) through a solid object, without the material itself moving - …
2) through a liquid or gaseous material, because of movement within the material - …
3) through empty space or through air, water, without the aid of the material - …
6. Draw a picture/a scheme for the information you will get. Then describe the process to your partner.

7. Thermal conduction, convection and radiation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GQvMt-ow4w

Watch the first part 1.15 – 4.47 and compare the drawings; do they correspond with yours?

Watch the second part 4.47 – 9.08. After watching, complete the text about radiation:

1. Radiation occurs when charged particles are ___________________ .

2. For example, in the fire the heated molecules _________________, the protons and electrons in the
atoms move at higher ___________________ and release electromagnetic radiation.
3. This radiation is in the form of light, in the ___________________ that are visible for the eye.
4. Everything that has some temperature releases electromagnetic radiation. If you are next to a flame,
you will feel the ___________________ .
5. Radiation from the air particles that we ___________________ as fire excites particles on your skin
and ___________________ energy in this way.

8. How do wind farms work? Is this a good source of energy? Use the pictures to support some of your
arguments.

Photo from: Power in a Sea Breeze, by Justin Gillis, NY Times, 2016

Verbs for explaining: cause, warm up, get hot, expand, move, cool down, descend, get warm, rise