Water Cycle

Report 1
The picture illustrates the way in which water passes from ocean to air to land during
the natural process known as the water cycle.
Three main stages are shown on the diagram. Ocean water evaporates, falls as rain,
and eventually runs back into the oceans again.
Beginning at the evaporation stage, we can see that 80% of water vapour in the air
comes from the oceans. Heat from the sun causes water to evaporate, and water vapour
condenses to form clouds. At the second stage, labelled ‘precipitation’ on the diagram,
water falls as rain or snow.
At the third stage in the cycle, rainwater may take various paths. Some of it may fall
into lakes or return to the oceans via ‘surface runoff’. Otherwise, rainwater may filter
through the ground, reaching the impervious layer of the earth. Salt water intrusion is
shown to take place just before groundwater passes into the oceans to complete the
cycle.
(156 words)
Written by Simon
Report 2
The chart illustrates the circulation of water in nature.

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Overall, it is clear that there are three primary stages in this process, beginning with
water evaporation and the formation of a cloud. The next step shows the water’s
journey after falling to the ground, and the process ends with saltwater intrusion.
At the first step of the process, water evaporates into the air, as a result of the sun’s
heat. It is estimated that 80% of total water vapour is taken from the ocean. Following
this, a cloud is formed by the condensation of water vapour.
In the next stage, the heavy clouds cause rain or snow. Water from the precipitation
partly pours into the lakes or is absorbed into the ground. The surface runoff, which is
made from rainwater, creates the groundwater and then flows back to the ocean
without reaching the impervious layer. The final stage of the process is saltwater
intrusion, where water from the ocean moves to the freshwater aquifers.
(IELTS Material)

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 B

1 Vocabulary
Stage 1
Liquid water evaporates into water vapor, condenses to form clouds, and precipitates
back to earth in the form of rain and snow.
Water in different phases moves through the atmosphere. (transportation)
Liquid water flows across land (runoff), into the ground, and through the ground
(groundwater).
Groundwater moves into plants and evaporates from plants into the atmosphere
(transpiration).
Solid ice and snow can turn directly into gas (sublimation).
The opposite can also take place when water vapor becomes solid.

Overview
Water cycle, also called hydrologic cycle, is a continuous circulation of water in the
Earth-atmosphere system
The water cycle describes how water evaporates from the surface of the Earth, rises
into the atmosphere, cools and condenses into rain or snow in clouds, and falls again
to the surface as precipitation.
The water falling on land collects in rivers and lakes, soil and porous layers of rock,
and much of it flows back into the oceans, where it will once more evaporate.

Evaporation
The sun warms the ocean surface and other surface water, causing liquid water to
evaporate and ice to sublime – turn directly from a solid to a gas. These sun-driven
processes move water into the atmosphere in the form of water vapor.
------------------
Evaporation, one of the major processes in the cycle, is the transfer of water from
the surface of the Earth to the atmosphere.
By evaporation, water in the liquid state is transferred to the vapor state.
The principal source of water vapor is the oceans, but evaporation also occurs in
soil, snow, and ice. Evaporation from snow and ice, the direct conversion from solid
to vapor, is known as sublimation.
Transpiration is the evaporation of water through pores in the leaves of plants.

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Condensation
Over time, water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into clouds and eventually falls
as precipitation, rain or snow.
--------------------
The transition process from the vapor state to the liquid state is called condensation.
Condensation may take place as soon as the air contains more water vapor than it
can receive from a free water surface.
By condensation, water vapor in the atmosphere is released to form precipitation.

Precipitation
When precipitation reaches Earth’s surface, it may evaporate again, flow over the
surface, infiltrate into the soil, or percolate – sink down – into the ground.
Rain usually hits the leaves and other surfaces of plants before it reaches the soil.
Some water evaporates quickly from the surfaces of the plants. The water that’s left
reaches the soil and, in most cases, will begin to move down into it.
In general, water moves along the surface as runoff only when the soil is saturated
with water, when rain is falling very hard, or when the surface can’t absorb much
water.
--------------------------
Precipitation that falls to the Earth is distributed in four main ways: some is returned
to the atmosphere by evaporation, some may be intercepted by vegetation and then
evaporated from the surface of leaves, some percolates into the soil by infiltration,
and the remainder flows directly as surface runoff into the sea. Some of the
infiltrated precipitation may later percolate into streams as groundwater runoff.

Collection
Water in the upper levels of the soil can be taken up by plant roots. And water that’s
in plant tissues can find its way into animals’ bodies when plants get eaten.
However, most of the water that enters a plant’s body will be lost back to the
atmosphere in a process called transpiration.
In transpiration, water enters through the roots, travels upwards, and evaporates
through pores in the leaves.
If water is not taken up by plant roots, it may percolate down into the subsoil and
bedrock, forming groundwater. (Groundwater is water found in the pores between
particles in sand and gravel or in the cracks in rocks, and it’s an important reservoir
of freshwater)
Shallow groundwater flows slowly and may eventually find its way to a stream or
lake, where it can become part of the structure water again.

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2 Project
 Finished the worksheet

 Task 1: The diagram below shows the water cycle, which is the continuous
movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth.

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Reference

Water Cycle: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/biogeochemical-

cycles/a/the-water-cycle
https://www.britannica.com/science/frost-meteorology
https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/freshwater/water-cycle
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzY5-NZSzVw

Worksheet:
https://www.liveworksheets.com/worksheets/en/Social_Science/Water_cycle/
Water_cycle_ko1299859tp
https://www.havefunteaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/water-cycle-
worksheet-1.jpg
https://www.kidsacademy.mobi/printables/kindergarten/science/physical-science/
kindergarten-the-water-cycle-worksheet.pdf
 https://www.skoolgo.com/worksheet/water-cycle/

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