The Great Water Cycle
Trace water from the sea to the clouds and back.
Setting up the bench…
What this lesson covers
Why it matters
A puddle dries up in the sun, then days later rain falls. The water never disappears — it travels a giant loop between the earth and the sky.
Predict first
What makes water from the sea rise into the sky?
In the water cycle the sun evaporates water into vapour; the vapour rises, cools and condenses into clouds; the droplets join and fall as precipitation (rain); the water collects in rivers and seas, and the loop repeats.
- The sun's heat evaporates it into water vapour — correct
- Fish push it upward
- Wind freezes it upward
What you do
Put the stages of the water cycle in order.
Check yourself
Clouds form when water vapour…
Rising vapour cools and condenses into droplets that gather as clouds.
Across the water cycle, the total amount of water…
Water is recycled — it changes form and place, but is not created or destroyed.
- cools and condenses into tiny droplets — correct
- heats up and expands
- freezes into ice instantly
- stays about the same — it just keeps moving — correct
- is used up and disappears
- doubles each time around