Water Cycle
What "drives" the water cycle?
the sun
What is evaporation?
The process by which drops of water change into water vapor.
What is transpiration?
The process by which plants release water vapor into the air.
What is condensation?
The process by which water vapor cools and turns back into a droplet of water.
What is sublimation?
The process in which frozen water changes directly into water vapor.
What is precitpitation?
The process where drops of water fall back to earth.
What must occur before clouds can form?
Wate vapor must cool (loose heat energy)
What is groundwater?
Water that flows beneath the surface of the earth
What are the 4 types of precipitation?
1. rain 2. snow 3. sleet 4. hail
What is surface run off?
Extra water from precipitation that does not absorb into the ground, flows over land until it reaches a body of water (river, lake, etc.)
How is freezing rain different from sleet?
Freezing rain leaves the clouds as liquid water drops and freezes after it hits the ground. Sleet freezes in the air on the way down before it hits the ground.
What is frost?
Frozen dew
What is the role of plants in the water cycle?
Return water vapor into the atmosphere through the process of transpiration
How does hail form?
by cycling through the updrafts in thunderstorm clouds
An example of condensation that forms overnight when the temperatures cool off, and water droplets form on blades of grass is called?
dew
