The Water Cycle
By Marissa Caiola
The water cycle is how water circulates between land, the sky and back to land. It is a circle that is never ending.
Water can come in many different forms. Liquid, like the water we drink and swim in, and most important my favorite, ice! We use ice cubes to keep our beverages cold and we can also see huge ice blocks in the middle of the ocean. This is also known as a glacier or an iceberg. My favorite kind of water of course is ice!
There are seven main components in the water cycle. They are condensation, precipitation, runoff, accumulation, evaporation and transpiraton.
Condensation is a part of the water cycle, it occurs when gas is being changed into a liquid! We see condensation in many different forms everyday! In the morning when the grass is wet or even when we have a cold drink on a hot day our drink becomes wet on the outside of the glass. Those water droplets seen in the grass and on our drinks are condensation!
What is happening when we see rain or snow or hail coming from the sky? Is it just rain, snow, and hail? No! this process is called precipitation. Precipitation happens when small rain droplets form and larger droplets form in the clouds then fall to the earth.
Accumulation is water that falls from the sky and is stored into bodies of water such as oceans, lakes, seas, ponds or rivers.
Evaporation is a process where water changes from a liquid to a gas. Oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers evaporate to become water vapor. The sun beams heat on the water which creates this water vapor.
Transpiration is the last stage in the water cycle. This is a process in which water is precipitating. While it precipitates it is absorbed by soil. Liquid is turned into water vapor by plants. Sounds similar to evaporation right? That’s because it is! When the water exits the leaves, it becomes a gas.
So friends, we have learned how important the water cycle is to our community and how important water is to living beings. We have also learned that water comes in many different forms and each stage of the water cycle.