“The cycle of life, is intricately tied up with the cycle of water” said Jacques Cousteau.
When we take the time to meditate on this concept, we discover that everything we do “ties” with the cycle of water. We drink it, we bathe in it, we swim in it, and we admire it, and we even flush it!
So what is the cycle of water?
*Evaporation(or Transpiration)
*Condensation
*Precipitation
*Collection
FIRST PHASE: EVAPORATION
Evaporation is the reverse of condensation. This is when the water spontaneously become gaseous. A perfect example is when you see the sun outside and you are sitting by a lake. What is happening behind the scenes, is the sun heating the surface of the water, causing it to vaporize and “float” up into the air. What happens next is that the water forms into what we call clouds.
Transpiration, is the plant’s version of evaporation. It occurs in the aerial parts of the plants, namely the leaves. The plant begins to lose water from its leaves, and in this way helps in the evaporation process(www.kidzone.com/water/).
SECOND PHASE: CONDENSATION
A state of matter can go from gaseous back to liquid when it condenses. Clouds are formed by the water rising up into the air as a gas, the gas misses the liquid phase because it is so cold up there and becomes a solid, white, fluffy cloud. This is sometimes called deposition. Another example is when you buy an ice cold soda from the store, and on your way home, you notice beads of water pooling from the sides of the bottle. That is not water coming out of the bottle, it is water “landing” on the bottle from the air, condensing, because of the coolness of the drink.
THIRD PHASE: PRECIPITATION
Water sometimes cannot be contained in the clouds too long, and they become full and then burst. The next time you see the clouds darken and it appears to loom before you, it may break out in rain because the water has become so condensed.
FINAL PHASE: COLLECTION
The final phase is when the water that falls back to earth, begins to run off cliffs and mountains, you find it in lakes, you find it in oceans, you find it on the sidewalk, on your raincoat- everywhere. Then it happens all over again. The water on the ground, in lakes, the oceans, once again will vaporize, condense, and precipitate. It is never ending.
For Further Reading:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/G2400700465.html
http://www.kizone.com/water/
