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Table of Contents
Water is essential to life and the continuous flow and cycling of water allows this substance to be available for all living organisms.
See the fact file below for more information on Water Cycle or alternatively, you can download our 27-page Water Cycle worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
WATER AND ITS UNIQUE PROPERTIES
- Water is made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. This substance is essential to all life on Earth. Water has unique properties that allow life to exist and thrive, and for nutrients to flow as water moves in the water cycle.
- Water is the only substance on Earth that can naturally exist in three phases: solid, liquid, and gas. When water reaches 0℃, it freezes and becomes ice, which is its solid form. Interestingly, water’s melting point is also 0℃. The melting point is when a solid becomes a liquid. Water will turn into vapor or gas once it reaches 100℃.
THE WATER CYCLE
- The hydrosphere is composed of all water on a planet, be it above, under, or on the surface. Earth’s hydrosphere is comprised of about 1.3 billion cubic kilometers.
- 97.2% of this is found in oceans, and 2.15% is found in ice caps and glaciers. The remaining 0.65% is divided among lakes, streams, groundwater, and the atmosphere.
- The water cycle, sometimes called the hydrologic cycle, is the continuous circulation of Earth’s water supply. This cycle is powered by the Sun’s energy.
- Changes in pressure and temperature allow water to change from one state to another. This state change allows water to circulate.
- If temperatures are high, water from the ocean and continents will evaporate, turning liquid water into water vapor. This process is known as evaporation.
- As water vapor accumulates in the atmosphere, it soon forms clouds through the process of condensation. This process allows water vapor to go back to its liquid form.
- If there are enough clouds and moisture, precipitation will take place. In this process, water vapor will fall and return to the ocean and the continents.
- Some of the precipitation that falls on land seeps through the soil and the ground in a process called infiltration. It will move deeper into the ground and find its way back to lakes, streams, or oceans.
- When the amount of rain exceeds the soil’s ability to absorb water, the excess flows over into lakes and streams in a process called runoff. As water is flowing, it brings with it nutrients from the soil, causes erosion, and may even cause water pollution.
- As much as runoff is a natural process, it can be enhanced due to human activities. Deforestation, for example, can lower soil’s ability to absorb water.
- This will result in flash floods that damage not just the environment but also our own lives. On the brighter side, runoff is also the reason why we get to enjoy waterfalls.
- Infiltration and runoff take place when precipitation is in liquid form or when snow and hail melt. If these solid precipitations do not melt, they will become part of a glacier.
- Glaciers store large quantities of water and if they melt, the sea level will rise and could submerge coastal areas.
HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY
- Aside from providing us with clean water and regulating weather patterns, the water cycle also gives us a renewable source of energy through hydroelectric power plants.
- Hydroelectric power plants make use of the kinetic energy from falling water. The steeper and the larger the volume of water, the more energy we can gain.
- Most hydroelectric power plants have a reservoir of water, a gated channel, and an outlet where water will fall downwards.
- The gates will control how much water will be released into the outlet. The potential energy gained by water before it spills will be converted to kinetic energy.
- The higher the elevation, the higher the kinetic energy. The higher the kinetic energy, the greater the motion of the turbines, generating great amounts of energy.
TYPES OF HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANTS
Impoundment Facility | This facility makes use of a dam to control the flow of water in a reservoir. When more energy is needed, more water is released. Gravity then allows water to flow through a turbine. |
Diversion Facility | Instead of a reservoir, diversion facilities use canals to channel water from flowing rivers to a turbine. |
Pumped- Storage Facility | This facility stores energy from other renewable sources such as solar and wind by pumping water from a reservoir at a lower elevation to higher elevation. When energy is needed, it releases water from high elevations to a turbine, generating electricity and returning water to the reservoir. |
IMPACTS OF WATER CYCLE
- People cannot live without water and the water cycle. This cycle ensures that water is available for all living organisms. The continuous recycling of water does not just provide us with clean water but also regulates weather patterns and provides us with energy.
- The flow of water from one place to another also allows the formation of some of Earth’s landscapes as water is an agent of both weathering and erosion.
- Due to human activities, some processes or events in the water cycle are enhanced or weakened. For example, deforestation can cause the soil or ground to absorb less water. This will result in a lesser amount of water infiltrating the soil and more water being part of runoff which sometimes causes flash floods. Flash floods can result in the loss of lives and infrastructures.
- Due to human activities, the greenhouse effect is also enhanced. Since the water cycle is run by solar energy, the enhanced greenhouse effect causes more water to evaporate. This may also cause glaciers and ice caps to melt which will then cause flooding in coastal areas and even submersion of these areas. For some, this may cause drought.
- This proves that we benefit a lot from the water cycle but at the same time, our actions can cause the water cycle to bring us our own demise.
Water Cycle Worksheets
This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Water Cycle across 27 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching about Water Cycle which is the continuous flow and cycle of water that is essential to life.
Complete List Of Included Worksheets
- Water Cycle Fact File
- Wordstorm
- Fact Check
- Sprinkling Information
- Let It Rain!
- Going in Circles
- Water Cycle and Climate Change
- Make It Rain!
- Water Important Substance!
- No More Water
- Wall Of Appreciation
Frequently Asked Questions
How does water cycle?
Water changing from one state to another is affected by the atmosphere’s pressure and temperature. High temperatures cause water from oceans and rivers to evaporate turning liquid to vapor. It rises from the earth and accumulates to form clouds. When vapor cools, they turn back to liquid and fall back to the Earth in the form of rain.
How does human activity affect water cycle?
Human activities enhance the greenhouse effect which is essentially the Earth’s temperature rising. Since water cycle is supposed to be regulated by the sun’s heat, this increased temperature causes more water to evaporate. This causes extreme drought in dry places, melting of more ice than normal in cooler regions, and flooding in lower regions.
How does the water cycle help produce usable energy?
Aside from providing us with clean water and regulating weather patterns, the water cycle also powers hydropower plants which provide usable energy.
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Link will appear as Water Cycle Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, June 22, 2022
Use With Any Curriculum
These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.