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The Water Cycle

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Click on picture for neat explanation of the Water Cycle

The water cycle greatly affects weather and living things

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Vocabulary:

water cycle

The movement of water between the ground and the

atmosphere

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You might think that rain brings new water to Earth

But there is no new water on Earth

The sun heats water on Earth and changes it from a liquid to

gas called water vapor

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The first step of the water cycle involves the sun

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Vocabulary:

water vapor

water in the form of a gas

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The water vapor goes into the air

This process is called evaporation

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Vocabulary:

evaporation

The process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas

and goes into the air

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It is evaporation that dries a puddle in the sun after the rain

In the second step of the cycle, water vapor in the air changes

back to a liquid

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This happens when warm air holding water vapor gets cooler

This process is called condensation

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Vocabulary:

condensation

The process by which water vapor in the air changes to

liquid water

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The tiny water drops in the air are packed closer and closer

together until they start to join

Clouds are formed when thousands of drops are so close together that you cannot see

through them

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Video on “Cool Clouds” 7:15

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As clouds become cooler,

the drops join together to make bigger drops

Finally, they become heavy enough to fall back to Earth as

rain or snow

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This falling rain or snow is the third step in the water cycle

The word “cycle” usually means circle

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The water cycle is like a circle because it has no beginning or

endYep you got it another version of “The Water Cycle”

3:37

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There really is no new water on Earth

Click for Bill Nye the Science Guy “Water Cycle Jump”

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