Chapter 6.1:

Objective

• Be able to identify the 4 main stages of the water cycle

• Be able to identify how earth’s water is distributed

The Hydrosphere

• The hydrosphere is the realm of earth that contains all of our water

• Where is our earths water?

Earth’s Distribution of water

• Out of all the water that exists on earth, only about 3% is drinkable

Distribution of Water

• Out of all the fresh water on earth, roughly 90% of it is locked up as glaciers or ice

The Water Cycle

• Water is constantly moving among the oceans, the atmosphere, solid earth, and the biosphere

• This unending circulation of earths water is called The Water Cycle

The Water Cycle

• In the water cycle, water is constantly changing phases from solid, to liquid, to gas.

• These processes between phases are driven by the sun

Stages of the water cycle

1. Evaporation • Evaporation is the process in which water changes

phases from liquid to gas

• Ex. It is a hot summer day and an afternoon thundershower rolls in leaving puddles along the sidewalk. The sun returns back out to shine and in an hour those puddles have shrunk or even disappeared. This is because the heat of the sun caused the puddle to evaporate

Stages of the water cycle 2. Condensation

– Condensation is the process in which water goes from a gas to a liquid

– When water vapor cools, it likes to condense

– This process happens in our atmosphere

• Think of it like the water that condenses to the outside of a cold drink on a hot day

Stages of the water cycle

3. Precipitation

– When the condensed water becomes too heavy in the atmosphere, it falls to earth as precipitation

• Rain, snow, hail, ect.

Stages of the water cycle 4. Transpiration

– Transpiration is the process in which plants are absorbing and releasing water into the atmosphere.

Earths Water Balance

• The cycle is a closed system

• This means water can not escape or be added to earth

• The amount of earths precipitation is always equal to the amount of evaporation

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Think about this… Because the all of earth’s water cant escape earth… that

bottle of water you just drank could have been inside of a dinosaurs bladder millions of years ago…