Water Cycle

The water cycle has four stages: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and storage. Water on Earth gets stored in oceans, lakes, rivers, ice, and even underground. The oceans store the majority of this water.

EVAPORATION: Water goes from storage into the atmosphere (the air that surrounds Earth) by a process called evaporation. When water evaporates, it changes from a liquid into an invisible gas. The gas is called water vapour. Water vapour goes up into the atmosphere.

CONDENSATION: As the water vapour rises, it becomes cool and condenses (turn into liquid again) to form tiny droplets which can be seen as cloud.

PRECIPITATION: Water returns to Earth as precipitation—rain, snow, or other moisture. Precipitation requires ice or liquid water. When the ice crystals or drops of water in a cloud get heavy enough, they fall to Earth as precipitation. Rain, snow, sleet, and hail are all forms of precipitation. Most precipitation falls into the oceans and goes right back into storage.

STORAGE: Water from land flows into streams. Streams flow down mountains. Streams join together to make rivers and eventually the water flows into storage in the ocean. Then the water cycle starts all over again.