The water cycle

The water cycle

Water is always on the move, traveling in a never-ending journey between the Earth and the sky. This journey is called the water cycle or hydrological cycle. It explains how water continuously moves on, above, and below the surface of the Earth.

As water moves through this cycle, it is reused and recycled, and it changes its physical state between liquid, vapor, and ice at different stages.

Main stages of the water cycle

1. Evaporation This is the process where liquid water from oceans, rivers, lakes, and soil changes into water vapor due to heat from the sun. Plants also release water vapor into the air through a process called transpiration.
2. Condensation As water vapor rises into the atmosphere, it cools down and changes back into tiny droplets of liquid water. These droplets come together to form clouds.
3. Precipitation When the water droplets in clouds become too heavy, they fall back to the Earth as precipitation, which can be in the form of rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
4. Collection The water that falls to the Earth collects in oceans, rivers, lakes, or seeps into the ground to become groundwater. From here, it will eventually evaporate again, starting the cycle over.