What is the Water cycle?
The water cycle is a cycle that involves the continuous circulation of water in the Earth- atmosphere system.
The driving factor for the water cycle is the Sun’s energy. The sun warms the ocean surface and other water surfaces causing liquid water to evaporate and ice to sublime. This process moves water into the atmosphere in the form of water vapour.
As the water vapour moves higher and higher in the atmosphere, it begins to cool down and finally condenses into clouds. This leads to rains and the evaporated water molecules find their way back to the earth. When the rains reach the earth’s surface, some molecules find their way into the underground water after seeping into the soil, while some are stored in reservoirs. Other molecules move into the freshwater sources like rivers which then flow into the sea water. A few molecules can also evaporate again and some find its way into the systems of living organisms.
For instance, plants take up water for metabolism and the water which is present in the plant
tissues can find its way into animals’ bodies when the plants are eaten by them.
However, most of the water that enters a plant’s body will be lost back to the atmosphere in a process called transpiration.
So we can say that water can enter the sea or can be taken up by living organisms or can also evaporate midway. But in all these cases water ultimately is given back to the environment, thus completing the cycle.
This cycle takes place daily around us and it’s a never-ending one.
