The Water Cycle
I am learning to inform my audience through an explanation
By Xavier Fala
What is something that everyone needs to live, can be in all three states of matter and is part of a never ending cycle? If you guessed water, you are correct! Earth is covered in three quarters of water, this is mainly salt water. 97 percent of water is salt water, leaving 3 percent fresh water. Of that 3 percent only one percent of that water is drinkable. The water cycle is a never ending cycle that has been around since the beginning. All the water that has ever been on earth has always been here.The water cycle has three main stages that connect to each other, they are called evaporation, condensation and precipitation. The first stage is evaporation.
Evaporation is when a liquid is heated by a heat source. You can see evaporation at home when you boil the jug. The water is heated up and the water turns into steam, then after a while the steam turns into water vapor which you can not see. In the water cycle, the sun is a heat source. You can see this when there is a body of water or puddle and heats up the water and it disappears from the ground. This is evaporation, it moves up into the atmosphere where the next stage takes place.
Condensation is when the water vapor meets together in the atmosphere and comes back together in the form of clouds. You can see condensation in your homes when you breath on a mirror or window. When you breathe onto the glass your warm breath condenses together on the cold glass. You can see this more in winter because of the colder temperature. The water cycle needs condensation so that the evaporated water can come back together in order for the next stage to happen. Precipitation is the next stage.
Precipitation is when all of the water vapor joins together in the clouds and gets too heavy from the colder temperatures. Eventually the water vapor will fall down to earth as either snow, sleet, hail or just rain. An example of precipitation is when you take a hot shower and the water condenses on the mirror and gets to heavy and you see water running down the mirror. Precipitation is needed so that water vapor in the atmosphere can return to earth. This starts the cycle all over again.
The water cycle is an important and very delicate cycle. If one piece of the cycle is taken out, the water cycle will cease to exist. All the steps are important from evaporation turning water into water vapor, to condensation coming together and precipitation pouring down as rain. We as a people need to stop being wasteful with our water, or else there will be no future for life on earth.
