What is the Water Cycle

Water is the eternal element. The one element that can be called the elixir of life. The one element, in the absence of which, life as we know it would cease to exist. Where does all this water on the earth come from? From the rain. But how does it rain? Because of the water on the earth. So, as you can see water is part of a never ending cycle, that is called the water cycle. What is the water cycle? Why don't you scroll down to find out in detail what is the water cycle driven by and what are its basic elements.

Process of the Water Cycle

We see water all around us. In ponds, rivers, lakes, seas and oceans. But do we ever think where it all came from? While we may never find out how water first came to occur on the earth (due to obvious reasons), we do have an explanation as to where and how we receive water that replenishes all the water bodies regularly. It is done by the process called the water cycle. Let us understand, with the help of the diagram given alongside, what it is and how exactly it takes place.

Evaporation
In the diagram given with this article, you can see that the first thing that happens is water from all the different water bodies, begins to turn into water vapor, due to the heat from the sun's rays. This process of a liquid substance turning into a gaseous one due to the induction of heat is called evaporation. This happens at a greater extent through summer, because the rays of the sun are very strong then. Alongside evaporation from the water bodies, there is also a process that causes water content from the plants to reduce by the sun's rays. This is called evapotranspiration.

Condensation
The next step is cloud formation. The water that forms water vapor becomes lighter than air. It rises higher and higher until it reaches a point where the cold air forces it to change it's state of matter. When a gaseous substance becomes a liquid due to the induction of cold, it is called condensation. Condensation occurs and that is how clouds are formed.

Precipitation
The clouds that are formed due to the condensation of the water vapor rise further higher into the atmosphere. They continue to rise upwards, all the time gathering more and more water vapor, along with dust particles, and becoming bigger and bigger. They do this until they cannot bear the weight of the water vapor anymore and the molecules become too tightly held together to move around. This is when precipitation occurs. Precipitation is the process when the clouds' capacity to sustain any more water vapor is exceeded. Precipitation occurs in three basic forms. These are rain, snow and hail.

Collection
Once the water vapor in the clouds gets precipitated in the form of rain, it falls into the different water bodies like rivers, lakes, seas, oceans etc. Water also falls on the ground and flows back into the water bodies. This process is called surface run-off. Alternatively, the water may also get seeped into the ground and get percolated below the surface of the earth. This is what we know as groundwater. The snow that gets precipitated melts in summer and flows back into the water bodies or gets absorbed into the ground as well. This water again gets evaporated due to the sun's rays and thus the whole water cycle continues endlessly.

So, now if anyone happens to ask you what the water cycle is, you should be able to aptly describe it, maybe even with a diagram how ever rudimentary it may be. It is a very simple concept to understand and explain.