The water cycle describes how water evaporates from surfaces due to heat from the sun, rises into the atmosphere as vapor, cools and condenses to form clouds, and falls back to the surface as precipitation. There are four main parts to the water cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection. Evaporation occurs when water is heated by the sun and changes into vapor, condensation is when vapor cools and condenses into water droplets in clouds, precipitation occurs when droplets grow too heavy and fall as rain or snow, and collection describes water running or seeping into bodies of water, soil, or being absorbed by plants. The water cycle is important as it provides water for living things and regulates weather patterns

2. What is do you mean by the
Water cycle?
The water cycle describes how water evaporates
from the surface of the earth, rises into the
atmosphere, cools and condenses into rain or snow
in clouds, and falls again to the surface as
precipitation.

4. There are four main parts to the water cycle:
• Evaporation
• Condensation
• Precipitation
• Collection
What are the 4 stages of the water
cycle?

5. • Evaporation:
When the sun heats the surface of seas, lakes, rivers and
streams, some of the water changes state and becomes water
vapour, mixing with the air. Warm air rises so the water vapour
rises too.
• Condensation:
When the air cools down, the water vapour condenses back into
water droplets. These water droplets collect together and form
clouds.
• Precipitation:
The water droplets in clouds attract other water droplets to them
and they grow bigger. When they get too big and heavy they fall
to ground as rain. If the air is cold enough the droplets remain
frozen and fall as snow or hail.

6. • Collection:
When the water falls to Earth it collects as streams,
rivers or lakes. When it falls on land in can filter in to the
Earth and become groundwater or it can flow over the land
as run off to meet existing bodies of water.
Some of the water may be taken up by plants and
animals. Plants take up water from the ground through their
roots. They then ‘breathe’ the moisture out of their leaves into
the air. Evaporation accounts for about 90% of the water in
the air with transpiration accounting for most of the other
10%.

7. Why the water cycle is important?
• The hydrologic cycle is important because it is
how water reaches plants, animals and us! Besides
providing people, animals and plants with water, it
also moves things like nutrients, pathogens and
sediment in and out of aquatic ecosystems.

8. Why is the water cycle important to life?
• The water cycle is an extremely important process
because it enables the availability of water for all
living organisms and regulates weather patterns on
our planet. If water didn't naturally recycle itself, we
would run out of clean water, which is essential to life.