The Water CycleBy: Miss Lybbert

1. The Sun 4. Clouds 7. Water Flow A. Matter2. Evaporation 5. Precipitation 8. Water Management B. Water Pollution3. Condensation 6. Water Storage 9. Evapotranspiration C. Fun Facts!

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Use numbered/lettered buttons to direct you to their corresponding pages

The Sun!• The Sun makes the water cycle move from evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection. 

• The sun shines on water in rivers, lakes, streams, wetlands and oceans and makes the water warmer. This turns the water into vapor or steam. The water vapor leaves the lake or ocean or river and goes into the air, where it becomes a cloud.

•All living things need the Sun to generate this cycle in order to survive.  If the Sun was removed from the cycle, the water cycle would fail to exists.

• The sun drives the water cycle which moves about 18,757 cubic miles of water vapor through the atmosphere every year!

Evaporation

• Evaporation is when the sun heats up water and turns it into vapor/steam. The water vapor/steam leaves the river, lake or ocean and goes into the air.

• This is when water passes from a liquid phase into a gas phase to become a cloud.

• The amount of evaporation depends on things like the temperature, humidity, and wind.

• Click on the cloud link below to learn more about evaporation and interact with the picture on the left to discover what weather environments cause increases and decreases in the rate of evaporation.

LINK

Condensation

• Condensation is the process by which water vapor in the air is changed into liquid water.

• Condensation is crucial to the water cycle because it is responsible for the formation of clouds. These clouds may produce precipitation, which is the primary route for water to return to the Earth's surface within the water cycle.

• Condensation is the opposite of evaporation.

• You don't have to look at something as far away as a cloud to notice condensation. Condensation is responsible for ground-level fog, for your glasses fogging up when you go from a cold room to the outdoors on a hot, humid day, for the water that drips off the outside of your glass of iced tea, and for the water on the inside of the windows in your home on a cold day.

• The phase change that accompanies water as it moves between its vapor, liquid, and solid form happens because of differences in the arrangement of water molecules. Water molecules in the vapor form are arranged more randomly than in liquid water.

• As condensation occurs and liquid water forms from the vapor, the water molecules become organized in a less random structure, which is less random than in vapor, and heat is released into the atmosphere as a result.

Precipitation

• (pre-sip-uh-tay-shun) is any form of water that falls to the Earth's surface.

• Different forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, hail, snow, sleet, and freezing rain.

• Precipitation is important because it helps maintain the atmospheric balance. Without precipitation, all of the land on the planet would be desert.

• Precipitation helps farmers grow crops and provides a fresh water supply for us to drink.

• Precipitation can also be damaging. Too much rain and snow can cause severe flooding and lots of traffic accidents. Hail can damage crops and cars. Freezing rain and sleet can destroy trees and power lines.

Use the links below to direct you to more fun stuff about clouds.

CLOUDSThree main types of clouds: when

clouds are higher in the sky you add the word Cirro/Ci in front of its name and when they are in the middle you add

Alto in front of its name.

Cumulus: puffy clouds that sometimes look like pieces of floating cotton. The base of each cloud is often flat and the top of the cloud has rounded towers. These clouds grow upward, and they can develop into thunderstorm clouds.

Stratus: Uniform grayish clouds that often cover the entire sky. They resemble fog that does not reach the ground. Usually no precipitation falls from stratus clouds, but sometimes they make drizzle. When a thick fog "lifts," the resulting clouds are low stratus.

Stratocumulus: Low and puffy. They typically cover most of the sky. These clouds don't usually lead to precipitation.

CLOUD MOVIE

CLOUD GAME

CLOUD DREAMER

COOL CLOUDS

CLOUD QUIZ

Water Storage

Lakes, Rivers, and Vegetation

Runoff, and ground-water seepage accumulate and are stored as freshwater in lakes. Not all runoff flows into

rivers, though. Much of it soaks into the ground as infiltration.

Ground Water

Some water infiltrates deep into the ground and replenishes aquifers (saturated subsurface rock), which store huge amounts

of freshwater for long periods of time. Some infiltration stays close to the land surface and can seep back into surface-water bodies (and the ocean) as groundwater discharge, and some

ground water finds openings in the land surface and emerges as freshwater springs.

OCEANS

The vast majority of all water on earth is found in the

storehouses of the oceans! Over time, though, all of this water keeps moving, some to reenter the ocean, where the water cycle "ends" ... oops - I

mean, where it "begins."

The water cycle describes how water moves above, on, and through the Earth. But, in fact, much more water is "in storage" at any one time than is actually moving through the cycle. Short-

term storage might be days or weeks for water in a lake, but it could be thousands of years for deep ground-water storage or even longer for water at the bottom of an ice cap, such as in

Greenland. In the grand scheme of things, this water is still part of the water cycle.

Glaciers, Ice Caps, & Snow

Surface Runoff

Stream/River Flow

Groundwater Flow

Water Flow

Water Management

Water management refers to the Water Cycle centered around human uses which include; storage facilities, irrigation, domestic and industrial use,

treatment and return to waterways.

People an also get their water directly from underground

aquifer’s by using pump’s and wells.

THE SEWER

WATER SENSE

The transpiration aspect of evapotranspiration is

evaporation of water from plant leaves. Studies have revealed

that transpiration accounts for about 10 percent of the moisture in the atmosphere, with oceans, seas, and other bodies of water

(lakes, rivers, streams) providing around 90 percent.

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a term describing the transport of water into the atmosphere from surfaces, including soil (soil evaporation), and from vegetation (transpiration).

Matter: Solid, Liquid, or Gas?

• Any substance, called matter, can exist as a solid material, liquid, or gas. These three different forms are called states. Matter can change its state when heated.

• As a solid, matter has a fixed volume and shape and is usually unable to flow, except in the case of glaciers. For instance, an ice cube or snowflake is the solid state of water.

• When the solid state of matter is heated, it turns into a liquid. As a liquid, a substance has a fixed volume, but its shape changes to fill the shape of its container. For instance, a glass of water is the liquid state of water.

• When the liquid state of matter is heated, it turns into a gas. As a gas, a substance does not have a fixed volume or shape. Gas expands to fill the shape and volume of its container. For instance, the steam that comes out of a hot teakettle, making the whistle blow, is water as a gas.

• Heat causes matter to change its state because, when heated, the molecules within the substance to move around faster. The faster the molecules bounce about, the weaker they are held together.

Last modified May 10, 2010 by Randy Russell.

Click on the Cloud links below for more information and fun:

LINK MOVIEGAME

Sources of water pollution include: oil spills, fertilizer and agricultural run-off, sewage, storm water, and

industrial wastes.

Water Pollution

Fun Facts Water Conservati

on

QUIZ

It is important for each of us to do our part in

conserving this precious resource.

There is the same amount of water on Earth as there was when the Earth was formed. The

water from your faucet could contain molecules that dinosaurs drank!

Water is composed of two elements, Hydrogen and Oxygen. 2 Hydrogen + 1 Oxygen = H2O.

Nearly 97% of the world’s water is salty or otherwise undrinkable. 2% is locked in ice caps

and glaciers. That leaves just 1% for all our needs—agricultural, residential, manufacturing,

community, and personal needs.

Water regulates the Earth’s temperature. It also regulates the temperature of the human body, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, cushions

joints, protects organs and tissues, and removes wastes.

75% of the human brain is water and 75% of a living tree is water.

A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water.

The average total home water use for each person in the U.S. is about 50 gallons a day.

Water expands by 9% when it freezes. Frozen water (ice) is lighter than water, which is why

ice floats in water.

http://youtu.be/okZBiy_IdBA

1) Go to cloud slide, complete all the cloud link activities, then create your own glogster page displaying the information you learned about clouds. Include a picture of the cloud art you created yourself.

OR Go to Water management slide, click on sewer link and watch

video about how our sewers are kept clean, then take a virtual tour how our water is cleaned and managed. After you have learned more about water management, you can “create a song and art piece by using the sewer site and create and informational glogster page using what you learned. Include your song and art piece. Make people gain interest in in keeping out water clean!

2) Use uen.org/pioneer search to find different ways you can learn to conserve water. After researching more about water conservation, create a wordle poster using what words you think are most important. Print it off to share with the class.

3) After watching the water cycle review movie on what you have learned throughout this slide show on the water cycle, complete the quiz found at the bottom of the fun facts page by clicking the link. Print off quiz scores and bring them to class for full credit.

Student Assignments

Science-4th GradeCore Standards of the Course:

Science BenchmarkMatter on Earth cycles from one form to another. The cycling of matter on Earth requires energy. The cycling of water is an example of this process. The sun is the source of energy for the water cycle. Water changes state as it cycles between the atmosphere, land, and bodies of water on Earth.

Standard 1 Students will understand that water changes state as it moves through the water cycle.

Objective 1 Describe the relationship between heat energy, evaporation and condensation of water on Earth                a.Identify the relative amount and kind of water found in various locations on Earth b.(e.g., oceans have most of the water, glaciers and snowfields contain most fresh water). b.Identify the sun as the source of energy that evaporates water from the surface of Earth. c.Compare the processes of evaporation and condensation of water. d.Investigate and record temperature data to show the effects of heat energy on changing the states of water.

Objective 2 Describe the water cycle.               e.Locate examples of evaporation and condensation in the water cycle (e.g., water evaporates when heated and clouds or dew forms when vapor is cooled). b.Describe the processes of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation as they relate to the water cycle. c.Identify locations that hold water as it passes through the water cycle (e.g., oceans, atmosphere, fresh surface water, snow, ice, and ground water). d.Construct a model or diagram to show how water continuously moves through the water cycle over time. e.Describe how the water cycle relates to the water supply in your community.

Core Standard(s)

1) http://www.brainpop.com/educators/home/

2) http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/precipitation.

3) uen.org

4) http://www.kidzone.ws/water/

5) http://www.epa.gov/kids/

Helpful Links

ReferencesHatheway, Becky. "Windows to the Universe." NESTA. National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA), 02Oct.2008. Web. 15,June 2011. <http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/precipitation.html>.

"Water Cycle ." Think Quest. Think Quest, n.d. Web. 11 June 2011. <http://library.thinkquest.org/11353/water.htm>.

Wilson, Tracy V. "How Stuff Works." The Water Cycle. Discovery, 2011. Web. 15 Jul 2011.<http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/earth4.htm>.

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological SurveyURL: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclecondensation.htmlPage Contact Information: Howard PerlmanPage Last Modified: Tuesday, 08-Feb-2011 07:49:55 EST