The Water Cycle By: kaleigh klim
The Water Cycle is the process by which water circulates from the land to the Earth's atmosphere. In the water cycle there are 4 stages. First the water evaporates from the ground and goes up into the sky. The water vapor then condenses to form clouds in the atmosphere. Once the clouds are full the water falls as rain, snow or other forms of precipitation back down to the ground. The water then collects on the ground and forms ponds, lakes, rivers, and oceans. The cycle then starts all over again.
The first stage of The Water Cycle is evaporation. Evaporation occurs when the sun heats up the water in the ponds, lakes, rivers, and ocean and turns it into vapor or steam. The water vapor then leaves the grounds and travels up into the air.
The second stage of The Water Cycle is condensation. Condensation occurs when water vapor in the air get cooler and changes into liquid. This change from vapor to liquid forms clouds.
The third stage of The Water Cycle is precipitation. Precipitation occurs when the amount of water that has condensed becomes too much for the atmosphere to hold. The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in many different forms such as: rain, hail, sleet, and snow.
The fourth and final stage of The Water Cycle is collection. When water falls back to Earth as precipitation, it may fall back into oceans, lakes, rivers, or 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 thrive, or it may run over the soil and collect in other bodies of water and the cycle starts all over again.