Learn about the water cycle in a fun and easy way with examples and simple explanations. Explore evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and more.
The water cycle is how water moves around the Earth. It's all about how water changes from one form to another and moves from one place to another. Let me explain it to you using a simple example:
Imagine a big pot of water sitting on your stove at home. When you turn on the heat, the water starts to heat up and then eventually, you start seeing little bubbles forming. As the bubbles get bigger, they rise up and you might see some steam coming out. That's because the water is turning into water vapor, which is a gas. This process is called evaporation.
Now, imagine you have a window in your kitchen where the steam can escape. As the steam rises and reaches the window, it cools down and turns back into tiny water droplets. You might notice these tiny droplets as water on the window. This process is called condensation.
When these water droplets get too heavy, they fall down from the window just like rain. This is called precipitation. The rainwater either gets soaked into the ground to help plants grow or flows into rivers and oceans.
After that, the sun comes out again, and the water on the ground and in the rivers and oceans starts to heat up. Then, the whole cycle starts all over again!