The Water Cycle Game Quiz Online

This The Water Cycle Game Quiz Online is for students in 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grades. Learn about how water goes around the Earth to the atmosphere and back to Earth. When the surface of the earth is heated, water leaves it through a process called evapotranspiration. Evaporated water goes up into the atmosphere in the form of water vapor. This water vapour is in the form of clouds which condense and fall back as precipitation. Precipitated water will either infiltrate into the soil, percolate or re-evapourate upon reaching the Earth's surface. This game will teach students the process in a fun and interactive way. It is a great addition to classroom and home review activities. Have fun learning about the hydrological cycle.

P.S. The Quiz Below contains an error: Question: “Which is not a stage of the water cycle?”. Determination (Correct answer)

 

The Water Cycle Explained

If you are a geographer, you have probably heard of the water cycle. The water falling to the earth as precipitation eventually ends up in lakes, rivers, and seas, as well as groundwater and streams. This process has profound effects on our climate and a wide range of other variables. The water cycle contributes to all these factors by controlling temperature, humidity, and precipitation. Without it, there would be no life. 

Water moves everywhere and supports life on earth. It also has the incredible power to change shape, remove mountains, form clouds, warm the poles, and more. And while we are talking about water, let us not forget the processes that move it. These processes include evaporation, precipitation, condensation, infiltration, percolation, and evapotranspiration by plants. These processes are part of the water cycle.

Evaporation

Most of the water on earth evaporates, but there is also water that collects on land and in plant tissues. Plants release some of this water through their leaves. This process is called evapotranspiration and occurs in all green plants. When the water is not being used by the biosphere, it collects in bodies of water or evaporates due to solar radiation. This cycle is essential for maintaining temperature and humidity on our planet.

If water could not evaporate, it would remain in the oceans, lakes, and rivers and not move from the ground to the clouds. The process of evaporation begins at 0 degrees Celsius and increases as the temperature rises. The energy required to evaporate water is called the heat of evaporation. Consequently, water vapour evaporates faster at higher temperatures.

Precipitation

One of the most important parts of the water cycle is precipitation. Precipitation is water that is released from clouds and falls back to earth due to gravity. The water cycle begins as water vapor rising into the sky due to increased heating of the earth's surface. It then rises into the cool air of the atmosphere and turns into liquid water through condensation. The resulting droplets fall as rain, freezing rain, snow, and sleet.

When rain, sleet, snow, and hail fall to earth, it is called precipitation. These water droplets are the result of the saturation of the Earth's atmosphere with water vapor. Some of the water vapor evaporates before it reaches the surface, but most of it reaches the earth's surface. It can fall to the ground as rain or snow or seep into the ground and become groundwater.

Plants

One of the primary processes of the water cycle is transpiration. Transpiration occurs when plants absorb water from the soil and release it into the air as water vapor. The process is mediated through microscopic pores on the leaves called stomata. Stomata are strongly influenced by light and are often associated with evaporation. The combined process of transpiration and evaporation is referred to as evapotranspiration.

Atmosphere

The water cycle is the path that all water follows as it moves around Earth. Water comes in different forms on Earth: liquid, vapor, and ice. Liquid water exists in oceans, rivers, lakes, and underground, while vaporized water resides in the atmosphere. When water goes through the water cycle, it can change state almost instantly depending on  the temperature.

The first step in the water cycle is evaporation. Around 85 percent of the water in the atmosphere comes from the ocean, while about 15% is produced over land by a process called evapotranspiration. Plants, snow, and soil moisture all contribute to evaporation. The water that is vaporized on land must balance precipitation that falls back on the earth. Even animals' breath evaporates into the atmosphere. The atmosphere is therefore a reservoir of water vapor.

Reservoirs

Reservoirs are a central feature of the water cycle. These reservoirs are important because they can store large amounts of water. In addition to large reservoirs, there are also smaller reservoirs in lakes and icebergs. The amount of water stored in a reservoir is called the residence time. It is a measure of how long the water remains in the particular reservoir. While this volume of water remains constant, the rate at which the water leaves the reservoir changes.

According to the law of conservation of mass, a certain amount of water must leave the reservoir to re-enter the atmosphere. As water circulates between the atmosphere and the land, reservoirs are important components for temporarily storing water and maintaining balance in this cycle.