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The Water Cycle

Discovery Sheet · All Ages

The Water Cycle

The same water has been going round and round for millions of years.

The water cycle: the sun warms the ocean, clouds form, rain falls on mountains, and rivers carry water back to the sea 1 2 3 4
  1. Evaporation. The sun warms oceans, lakes, and puddles. Tiny bits of water rise into the air as invisible vapor.
  2. Condensation. High in the sky the vapor cools and turns back into tiny droplets. Millions of droplets together make a cloud.
  3. Precipitation. When the droplets grow too big and heavy, they fall back down as rain or snow.
  4. Collection. The water lands in rivers, lakes, and oceans, and the whole journey starts again.
Did you know? The water you drank today could be the very same water a dinosaur sipped millions of years ago.
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