The water cycle has four main stages: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and accumulation. Evaporation occurs when sun heats water, turning it into vapor or steam which enters the air. Condensation is the opposite process where water vapor in the atmosphere cools and condenses into liquid water droplets to form clouds. Precipitation occurs when water in clouds becomes too heavy and falls to earth as rain, snow, sleet or hail. Accumulation is when precipitation collects on land or in bodies of water, completing the cycle.

1. WATER
CYCLE

2. Four stages of Water Cycle are:
1. Evaporation
2. Condensation
3. Precipitation
4. Accumulation

3. EVAPORATION
Evaporation is the process
by which water is
converted from its liquid
form to its vapor form.
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.

4. Examples of Evaporation:
 Steam rising from a pot of water
 Puddles that have dried up
 Water sitting in a bowl that seems to ‘disappear’ after
a few days

5. CONDENSATION
Condensation is opposite of
Evaporation.
It is the process by which
water is converted from its
vapor form to the liquid
form.
As water vapor rises higher
in the atmosphere it starts to
cool and become a liquid
again.
As large amount of water
droplets come together, it
results in the formation of
clouds.

6. Examples of Condensation
 Water droplets forming on the outside of your water
glass.
 A foggy mirror in a bathroom
 Foggy windows in a car

7. PRECIPITATION
Precipitation happens
when the water in the
clouds becomes too heavy
and the water falls to the
earth in the form of rain,
hail, sleet or snow.


8. ACCUMULATION
 Accumulation is the collection of
rain water or snow as it melts and
goes back into the earth’s rivers,
lakes, streams and oceans. 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