The Water Cycle

Learning Points
• Understand how water changes
state.

• Understand the processes involved

in the Water Cycle in nature over
time.
 States of Water
• Water can exist in three different states of
matter;

1. As solid Ice

2. As liquid Water

3. As a gas called Water Vapour

 States of Water
• Water can change from a solid to a liquid to a
gas and back to a solid in a cycle.

• We call this the WATER CYCLE.

 States of Matter and
The Water Cycle
Melting

Ice Water

Freezing Evaporation

Water
Water Vapour

Condensation
Can you see the Water Cycle
in action in your home?
 Evaporation
Evaporation is when liquid water turns into water
vapour gas without boiling.

This happens you leave your wet washing out to

dry.

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 Condensation
Condensation is when water vapour gas
cools down and turns into liquid water.

You can see this when you breathe

against a cold surface.

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Freezing
Melting
gippswater.com.au
 The Water Cycle
• Water never stops moving. Snow
and rain fall to the earth from
clouds. The rain and melted snow
run downhill into rivers and lakes,
sometimes crashing over
waterfalls.

• Eventually the water flows into

the ocean.

• The water in the oceans rivers

and lakes evaporates into the sky
(atmosphere) where it forms
clouds. Then the cycle begins all
over again.
gippswater.com.au
The Water Cycle video

Click here to see what happens to a

single water molecule in the Water Cycle
 The Water Cycle
Lets look at each part of
the WATER CYCLE;

1. PRECIPITATION
2. CONDENSATION
3. EVAPORATION
4. TRANSPIRATION

gippswater.com.au
 1. PRECIPITATION
• Precipitation is any water that
falls from the sky to the
Earth's surface.

• Different forms of precipitation

are rain, snow, sleet, and
freezing rain.

• Precipitation involves the

freezing and melting of water.
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PRECIPITATION-GOOD POINTS
• Without precipitation, all of the land on
the planet would be desert and we would
find it difficult to get a drink.

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PRECIPITATION-GOOD POINTS
• Precipitation helps farmers grow crops and
provides a fresh water supply for us to
drink.

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 PRECIPITATION-BAD POINTS
• Precipitation can also be damaging.

• Lots of rain and snow can cause flooding

and lots of traffic accidents.

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 PRECIPITATION-BAD POINTS
• Hail can damage crops and cars.

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PRECIPITATION-BAD POINTS
• Freezing rain and sleet can destroy
trees and power lines.

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 Precipitation gives us Rivers
• Rivers are very important to Earth because they shape
the landscape.

• They provide transport and water for drinking,

washing and farming.

• River's collect water from the ground and return it to

the ocean.

• The Nile River in Africa, and the

Amazon River in South America are two of the most
famous rivers on Eart.
 The River Nile

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The River Nile

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 The Amazon River

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The Amazon River

nasa.gov
Precipitation gives us Oceans and Seas
• Oceans and seas supply most of the
The Pacific Ocean water that evaporates and then falls as
rain in the water cycle.

• They are salty while rivers and lakes

are freshwater.

• People have used the sea for food and

transportation for thousands of years.

• There are four major oceans. The

Pacific Ocean is the largest and covers
almost half the Earth. The Atlantic is
the second largest ocean.

maps4free.com • The largest sea is the South China

Sea.
Precipitation gives us Rainbows
• Rainbows appear in the
sky when there is bright
sunlight and rain.

• Sunlight is actually made

of lots of colours. When
the sun shines through a
raindrop it forms a
rainbow.

• You can even make your

own rainbow with a
garden hose or water
sprinkler on a sunny day.
solcomhouse.com
 2. CONDENSATION
• Water vapour cools as it
rises.
• When this water vapour
cools it forms as clouds
in the sky. This is
condensation in action.
• There are lots of
different kinds of
clouds.
• Look up at the sky.
How many different
clouds can you see?
Types of Clouds
 Condensation gives us Clouds
• Clouds are the pretty white fluffs
you see in the sky.

• They are made up of tiny water

droplets and can come in all sizes
and shapes. They can be near the
ground or way up high.

• Sometimes, if the wind is fast

enough, you can even watch the
clouds move.

• We would not have rain,

thunderstorms, hurricanes, rainbows fisicx.com
, and snow without clouds.
Clouds are part of Thunderstorms

stuffintheair.com

• Thunderstorms can cause a lot of damage.

Tornadoes can uproot trees and demolish buildings.
Hail can damage cars and crops. Heavy rains can
create flash floods. Lightning can spark a forest
fire or hurt you. Safety during a thunderstorm is
really important.
Clouds are part of Hurricanes
• Hurricanes are violent storms.
Hurricane Andrew:
• Hurricanes form over the ocean
and die down when they move
over land.
•
• Scientists try to warn people
about the damage caused by the
strong winds, heavy rain, and
storm surge.

• Hurricanes are given male and

female names.

• Hurricane season runs from June

1st through November 30th.
dg3095.k12.sd.us
 3. EVAPORATION
• Evaporation is when water passes from a
liquid to a gas without boiling.

• Water that is held in lakes and rivers

evaporates into the atmosphere.

rocketboom.com dnr.wi.gov
 EVAPORATION
• The Oceans of the Earth are the greatest
sources of evaporation of water, which
moves into the atmosphere.

• Evaporation helps keep the Water Cycle

going!

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 4. TRANSPIRATION
•This is the other process that
water moves from earth to the
atmosphere.

•Trees, shrubs, grasses and

other plants all need water to
survive. They take up water
from the soil by their roots so
that they can grow.

•Just like in the process of

evaporation the sun creates
heat which transpires this
apm-realty.com
water into the air through tiny
holes in the underside of
leaves.
 What have you learned?
• What can water can be used for?
• What is the name for rain which begins with
P?
• What is the longest river in the world?
• When liquid passes from liquid to gas it is
called E___________.
• Condensation is when c______ are formed in
the sky.
• Precipitation, evaporation and condensation
are all part of which cycle?
 QUICK QUIZ

Click on link to try the quiz

Let’s watch a video!

P
• ress here to link t
o a movie on the W
ater Cycle.
 WATER CYCLE
EXPERIMENTS

CLICK HERE FOR SOME

WATER CYCLE
EXPERIMENTS
http://shoalwater.nsw.gov.au/Education/
transpiration_experiment.htm
The end.