Are you really drinking dinosaur pee?

Water CycleWater is always on the

move. Rain falling where you live may have been water in the ocean just days before. And the water you see in a river or stream may have been snow on a high mountaintop.

The water cycle is also known as the hydrologic cycle.

Hydro is Latin for “water”

Where is water?Water can be in the

atmosphere, on the land, in the ocean, and even underground. It is recycled over and over through the water cycle. 

In the cycle, water changes state between liquid, solid (ice), and gas (water vapor).

The same water used millions of years ago is the same water still used today!

Stage 1 : EvaporationEvaporation is the

change from liquid to vapor form.

Evaporation turns the water that is on the surface of oceans, rivers, & lakes into water vapor using energy from the sun.

Stage 1 : Evaporation

Stage 1 : TranspirationWhen water evaporates

from plants it is a process called transpiration.

Plants lose water through their stems, leaves, and roots.

A fully grown tree may lose several hundred gallons of water through its leaves on a hot, dry day!

Stage 2: CondensationCondensation is the

process by which water vapor in the air is changed into liquid water.

The water vapor rises in the atmosphere and cools, forming tiny water droplets by a process called condensation.

Those water droplets make up clouds!

Stage 3: PrecipitationThose water droplets that

CONDENSE make up clouds! If those tiny water droplets combine with each other they grow larger and eventually become too heavy to stay in the air.

The clouds become SUPERSATURED with H2O. When this happens, they fall to the ground as precipitation!

Precipitation is water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail.

Did you know…Rain drops are not tear shaped.

They start out in a ball shape, but as they fall they meet with air resistance, which starts to flatten out the drop until at about 2-3 mm in diameter the bottom is quite flat with an indention in the middle - much like a hamburger bun. When raindrops reach about 4-5 mm, things really fall apart. At this size, the indentation in the bottom greatly expands forming something like a parachute with two smaller droplets at the bottoms. The parachute doesn't last long, though, and the large drop breaks up into smaller drops.

Stage 4: RunoffRunoff is the variety

of ways by which water moves across the land.

As it flows the water may seep into the ground, evaporate into the air, become stored in lakes or reservoirs, or be extracted for human uses.

Stage 4: InfiltrationSome of the

precipitation seeps into the ground and becomes a part of the groundwater.

That seepage is called infiltration.

Stage 4: Infiltration

Stage 5: AccumulationThe process in which water

pools in large bodies (like oceans, seas and lakes) is called Accumulation.

Most of the water on Earth is accumulated in the Ocean.

The Water Cycle!

The Water Cycle!

The Water Cycle!