Where is gas in the water cycle?
When water absorbs enough heat, it becomes a gas (water vapor). This process is called evaporation. Water vapor (steam) mixes with the air and seems to disappear. A simple example is water boiling in a teapot and escaping into the air.
What water cycle is gas to liquid?
Condensation is the process by which water vapor in the air is changed into liquid water. Condensation is crucial to the water cycle because it is responsible for the formation of clouds.
What is the cycle of water?
The water cycle shows the continuous movement of water within the Earth and atmosphere. It is a complex system that includes many different processes. Liquid water evaporates into water vapor, condenses to form clouds, and precipitates back to earth in the form of rain and snow.
What happens to water in the water cycle?
As it moves through this cycle, it changes forms. Water is the only substance that naturally exists in three states on Earth – solid, liquid, and gas. Over 96% of total global water is in the ocean, so let’s start there. Energy from the sun causes water on the surface to evaporate into water vapor – a gas.
Where does water vapor go in the water cycle?
Groundwater moves into plants (plant uptake) and evaporates from plants into the atmosphere (transpiration). Solid ice and snow can turn directly into gas (sublimation). The opposite can also take place when water vapor becomes solid (deposition).
Which is the starting point of the water cycle?
The water cycle has no starting point. But, we’ll begin in the oceans, since that is where most of Earth’s water exists. The sun, which drives the water cycle, heats water in the oceans. Some of it evaporates as vapor into the air. Ice and snow can sublimate directly into water vapor.
Is the air in the atmosphere part of the water cycle?
The atmosphere is all the air from the bottom of an ant’s leg up to where there is no more air—many miles in the sky. The air outside may look invisible, but it is full of molecules, including water molecules, as water vapor. That big cumulus cloud (full of water) floating in the sky is the water cycle in action.