The Water Cycle

Have you ever wondered where rain, hail, sleet or snow come from? It's the water cycle which is a never ending cycle. The four stages of the water cycle are evaporation, precipitation, condensation and ground water or collection.

Evaporation is one of the four stages in the water cycle. Evaporation is when water becomes water vapor. The sun's heat speeds evaporation. For example, there was a puddle now it's gone. Evaporation is very important.

Do you know what happens to water vapor that goes into the air? It is the next stage in the water cycle called condensation. Condensation is when water vapor goes into the air and becomes water droplets and form clouds. For example on a hot day when you have a cold drink and water goes down the side; it's condensation. Condensation is awesome.

Precipitation is an extremely helpful stage in the water cycle. Have you ever seen rain, snow, sleet or hail? This is precipitation. When clouds come down, that's how you tell it's going to precipitate. Precipitation helps plants, humans, animals and more.

These are the last stages of the water cycle: runoff and collection. Collection is when all of the water collects into the oceans, lakes or streams. Runoff is when water comes down from the tops of mountains and goes into lakes, ponds, oceans and rivers. This is how collection and runoff work.

The water cycle plays an important role in our environment. Evaporation, condensation, precipitation and ground water are part of the steps needed to complete the water cycle.