WATER CYCLE

The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the H2O cycle, describes the continuous movement of
water on, above and below the surface of the Earth.
Water is always on the move. It falls from the sky as rain, hammers the coastline as waves, trickles through
crevices 1,000 feet underground, vapories and sails slowly into the clouds. Even water buried under thousands
of pounds of ice in the polar icecaps is on the move ! its movement is slow, sometimes taking thousands of
years to budge even a few inches.
Water moves continuously through a natural system called the hydrologic cycle. "owered by the heat of the sun,
all the water that falls to the ground as precipitation sooner or later makes its way back into the clouds where it
eventually becomes precipitation again.
The saying goes, #what goes around comes around.# In the case of water, that is certainly true.
$ecause all of the planet%s water circulates through the hydrologic cycle, Earth is a closed system. In effect, the
same water is here as was here when Earth was formed.
Vocabulary
Condensation: The process of changing from a vapor to a liquid; a liquid obtained by the
coming together of a gas or vapor.
Evaporation: A process in which water transforms into vapor or invisible minute particles.
Pollution: The contamination of a natural resource from the discharge of a harmful substance.
Precipitation: Condensed water vapor that falls to Earth as rain snow or hail.
Transpiration: A process by which water is released to the air from plants.
!nfiltration : A process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil
"ow to build a model of the hydrologic cycle out of three#liter soda bottles and see for themselves the
process Earth uses to recycle its water supply.
Materials
three empty plastic $.% or &#liter soda bottles '
three plastic bottle caps '
two feet of heavy cotton string (wic)* '
soil '
water
ice ''
tape '
small plants (with roots*
food coloring ''
)nife and scissors '
mar)er pen
' provided by science lab
'' provided during event (+ ,ay &-$.*
Water Cycle Terrarium Diagram
Procedure:
$. ,ar) the bottles A / and C to tell them apart. Cut each bottle as shown in diagram above.
0. Po)e a hole in the bottle cap on /. !nsert a string1wic) loop so that roughly 0 inches hang down
from the cap. Place a cap with no hole on C. Tie roughly seven inches of string around the nec) of C
so that it hangs down about 0 inches. 2ee diagram for e3amples.
.. Assemble bottles as in diagram: C fits into / and / fits into A. Thoroughly wet both wic)s. This
will bring a constant source of water from a reservoir to the plant roots. Add roughly a pint (about %--
ml.* of water to A. This reservoir supplies water to the model4s cycle. 5ill / with enough pre#
moistened soil to cover the top of the string loop. The string should not be pressed against the side of
the bottle.
%. Put the plants in soil inside the well of /. (6emove C from the other bottles when not performing a
demonstration so that air circulates and the plants do not wilt*
7. Place a plastic bottle cap on top of the soil in center of / so that the wic) from C drops into it. The
bottle cap represents a water body and will collect water when the model 8rains.8
9. 5ill /ottle C with ice water. Tape the seams between bottles to seal them. :bserve the bottle cap
after a few hours. The model4s condensation should have filled the cap with water.
;. 6epeat the e3periment but his time add a drop of food coloring to the bottle cap before you begin.
<hen the rain fills the cap the food coloring will have tainted the water. E3plain that this is how
pollution can contaminate water bodies.