THE WATER CYCLE

What is the Water Cycle?

Have you ever wondered why it rains? How it occurs? Where it comes from? Then this is your chance to find out. The water cycle, or hydrologic cycle, is the continuous process of water rising as gas into the air, and then falling as rain or snow.

The source of rain, or the accumulation of water, is in the oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers. It evaporates as water vapour, which we can’t see,and rises off the surface of the water. Water vapour can also rise off the leaves of trees ( Transpiration ). Think of evaporated water as very thin steam which is invisible to the naked eye.

Next, the vapour goes through condensation. This is when the gas turns to tiny water droplets; forming a cloud. As the cloud meets the cool air above the ground more and more droplets gather in the cloud until the cloud can hold out no longer and the droplets fall as rain.

There are many versions of a cloud, and depending on the amount of droplets inside, it can become either a Cirrus (light, fluffy spread out clouds) or a Cumulus, which is the typical rain cloud. You might also  encounter the Cumulonimbus cloud, which is the bringer of thunderstorms and heavy rain.

Precipitation, or the releasing of water to the ground, can come in many forms: rain, hail or snow. It then forms part of glaciers, soaks into the ground as groundwater, or, of course, falls back into seas, lakes or rivers. Then the whole cycle begins again.

In conclusion, the water or hydrological cycle is the never-ending spiral of water turning from liquid to gas to liquid again. Without water, without the cleansing rain, our water would be dirty and not good enough to drink, therefore the water cycle is an essential part of the way Earth works. 

By Margarita and Kees