The Water CycleThe Water Cycle

By Jennifer LeahyBy Jennifer Leahy

ObjectivesObjectives

• You will be able to develop a hypothesis on how the water cycle works

• You will be able to identify how the water cycle recycles the earths water

• You will be able to use your knowledge of landforms and geographical features in your explanation of the water cycle

• You will be able to apply your new understandings of key terms in paragraph form

What is the water cycle?What is the water cycle?

• The Water Cycle (also known as the hydrologic cycle) is the journey water takes as it circulates from the land to the sky and back again.

How does it work?How does it work?

• The Sun's heat provides energy to evaporate water from the Earth's surface (oceans, lakes, etc.).

• Plants also lose water to the air. The water vapor eventually condenses, forming tiny droplets in clouds.

• When the clouds meet cool air over land, precipitation (rain, sleet, or snow) is triggered, and water returns to the land (or sea).

• Some of the precipitation soaks into the ground. Some of the underground water is trapped between rock or clay layers; this is called groundwater. But most of the water flows downhill as runoff, eventually returning to the seas as slightly salty water.

How it worksHow it works

Words to know…Words to know…

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

……Words continuedWords continued

• Condensation:    Water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into liquid, forming clouds. This is called condensation. – You can see the same sort of thing at home... pour a

glass of cold water on a hot day and watch what happens.  Water forms on the outside of the glass.  That water didn't somehow leak through the glass!  It actually came from the air.  Water vapor in the warm air, turns back into liquid when it touches the cold glass.

More words to knowMore words to know

• Precipitation:  Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed that the air cannot hold it anymore.  The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow.

……Words continuedWords continued

• Collection:  When water falls back to earth as precipitation, it may fall back in the oceans, lakes or rivers or it may end up on land. 

• When it ends up on land, it will either soak into the earth and become part of the “ground water” that plants and animals use to drink or it may run over the soil and collect in the oceans, lakes or rivers where the cycle starts

• Then it starts all over again!!

Lets see…Lets see…

• You will observe different types of weather patterns and different types of climates in different regions.

• This will be done by using the internet and library books to browse different parts of the world and regions.

Lets make our own Water Cycle!!Lets make our own Water Cycle!!

• You will set up an aquarium that resembles a landscape.

• Soil will act as mountains, plateaus, hills and lake basins.

• You will fill a bowl with water and that will act as the lake. 

• You will then cover the container with plastic wrap and secure it with rubber bands or tape.

……continuedcontinued

• A heat lamp will be placed on

one end of the container to speed up the process and a bag of ice will be placed on the other end of the container as well.

• You will then make predictions on what will happen to the elements inside the container.

Then what?Then what?

• You will observe the changes and the transformations that take place over the next few days.

• You will then take out your science journals and document the changes and any other observations that take place within the container.

……continuedcontinued

• You will then watch for condensation that develops on the plastic "sky" and record the observations in your journals.

• Then you will take your new knowledge and construct a diagram using the words previously discussed and label each part of the diagram correctly and accordingly.

EvaluationEvaluation

• You will then write a paragraph explaining what happened inside the container and why you believe those events took place.

• You are to then use the vocabulary words that were previously discussed with in the paragraphs.

• Each paragraph will be attached to your drawing of the diagram and will be hung up around the room, for everyone to view your final products!!

HomeworkHomework

• Read the chapter in the text book on the Water Cycle and write down the vocabulary words with the definitions including a sentence for each vocabulary word.

Resources Resources

• http: // www. Col-ed.org

• http: // www. zoomschool.com

• http: // www.Kidzone.com

• http: // Wikipedia.org