| Water Cycles
All of the water that is on the earth has always been here. Earth never
gets water added to it--nor does water disappear from the earth. Water
is constantly recycled in a process known as the hydrologic or water cycle.
Fresh water is more scarce than you might think. 97% of all the water
on the earth is in the oceans, and so only 3% is fresh water. About 2.4%
of the water on earth is permanently frozen in glaciers and at the polar
ice caps. About 1/2 of 1% of the water on earth is groundwater. Only about
1/100 of 1% of the water on earth is in the rivers and lakes. Water is
essential to life on earth, so it is important that we protect our water
resources.
Nature has a way of keeping the amount of water on the earth relatively
constant. A large amount of water evaporates from the surfaces of oceans,
rivers, and lakes every day. It forms water vapor that rises into the
air until it cools, condenses, and forms water droplets. Millions of these
droplets come together to form clouds. When clouds get heavy enough, gravity
tugs on the droplets, and the clouds release their water as rain or snow.
This precipitation falls into streams and rivers, which flow back to the
oceans, seas, and lakes, where the water cycle can begin again.
Sample some of the following activities to learn more about the water
cycle.
Places To Go | People
To See | Things To Do | Teacher
Resources | Bibliography
Places To Go
The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out
about the water cycle.
Global
Hydrology and Climate Center
Virtually visit the Global Hydrology and Climate Center. Its goal is to
study the global water cycle and its effect on climate.
Sea
World/Busch Gardens
Visit SeaWorld/Busch Gardens. They have teaching guides for water education.
 Visit
your school or public library and check out King Bidgood's in the Bathtub
by Audrey Wood. It's about a ruler who won't leave the bathtub and attend
to his duties. Brainstorm some ways to get King Bidgood out of the tub.
EPA - Surf Your Watershed
Watersheds are the land areas that catch rain or snow and then drain to
specific marshes, streams, river, lakes, or to ground water. Visit the
watersheds of Utah. You can actually put in your zip code and find out
the watersheds near your school or home. You can also find out watershed
information by county.
People To See
The
Many Adventures of Drippy the Raindrop
Talk to Drippy the Raindrop. He knows all about the water cycle.
Culligan Water
The Culligan Man knows all about water and the water cycle. Select "Learn"
from the main page to learn the basics of the hydrologic cycle.
 Ask-a-Hydrologist
Send your questions about the water cycle to Ask-a-Hydrologist.
The
Groundwater Foundation
Learn about groundwater.
Kool-Aid
Just for fun--visit with that little Kool-Aid guy. He'd be nowhere without
water. Based on per capita sales, Kool-Aid is most popular in St. Louis,
Missouri. The other top five cities are Memphis, Tennessee; San Antonio,
Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Little Rock, Arkansas. According to
this site, more than 563 million gallons of Kool-Aid are consumed each
year, with more than 225 million gallons in the summer. In other words,
17 gallons of Kool-Aid are consumed every second during the summer season.
That much Kool-Aid takes a lot of water!
Things To Do
 U.S. Geological
Survey Primer on Acid Rain
Precipitation is part of the water cycle, and that cycle can include acid
rain. Find out how acid rain is formed and the effects that it has on
the environment.
Magnetic
Field
Learn about the earth's magnetic field and how it protects our water resources.
Every day, more than 1,000 gallons of water are lost into space from the
top of the earth's atmosphere. Most of the water is lost near the magnetic
poles, where charged particles from the sun split water molecules into
electrically charged hydrogen and oxygen ions. The charged ions move in
paths that follow the lines of earth's magnetic field. Since that field
points straight up near the poles, they can escape there. The amount lost
can be much larger during solar storms when the solar wind becomes more
powerful. If the earth had no magnetic field, the amount lost would be
far greater and the oceans would have evaporated millions of years ago.
Scientists suspect that a similar mechanism might have removed water from
the atmospheres of Mars and Venus, both very dry planets today. (This
information came from Cool Fact of the Day.)
 The
Water Cycle
The hydrologic cycle recycles the earth's valuable water supply. Learn
about evaporation, condensation, precipitation, run-off, infiltration,
and transpiration.
USGS
Water Science for Schools
Follow a drip through the water cycle. This page is part of USGS's excellent water education site.
EcoLinks
Find out what the hydrosphere is.
Western Waters Digital Library
Check out this comprehensive digital library about water in the western United States. You will be swimming in information!
 The
Water Cycle - EPA
Check out this chart of the water cycle that begins with the sun shining.
The
Water Cycle
Learn how to make your own mini water cycle in your classroom.
USA
Today Weather - Utah
Mount Waialeale on the Hawaiian island Kauai is the rainiest place in
the world, with an average rainfall of over 460 inches each year. Mount
Waialeale gets its rain from the clouds that blow inland from the ocean.
As they move up the side of the mountain, they cool down and lose their
moisture as rain. Compare the amount of rainfall and the weather in Hawaii to the weather in Utah.
 Snowflakes
Figure out the part of the water cycle in which snowflakes are formed.
Did you realize that a tiny particle, such as a speck of dust, smoke,
or salt, is at the center of every snowflake? This site is part of the
educational modules from the Live
From Earth and Mars website.
 Groundwater
Even the ocean can have freshwater springs, and at these springs, fresh
water can be taken right off the surface of the sea. When rainwater seeps
into the ground, it enters the aquifer which is the porous layer of earth
that holds groundwater and is the source of water for man-made wells.
Sometimes an aquifer will extend below the bottom of the sea, and pressure
will force the fresh water in the aquifer out through the sea floor. Since
fresh water is less dense than salt water, the two don't mix, and the
fresh water rises to the surface. Thiscreates pockets of fresh water
on the surface of the ocean.
Bad Meteorology
Find out the real shape of raindrops.
Teacher Resources
Hotlists from UEN provide internet sites to
visit to find out more about specific topics--in this case, the water
cycle! (You can learn how to use this WWW
Activities tool created by UEN for Utah educators).
Virtual Field Trips are teacher and student-created
tours of curricular topics. (You can learn how to use this UEN Virtual
Field Trip tool created by UEN for Utah educators).
Lesson Plan/Webquests/
Activities
Bibliography
- Branley, Franklyn Mansfield. Down Comes the Rain. New York : HarperCollinsPublishers,
c1997.
- Burton, Jane. The Nature and Science of Rain. Milwaukee : G. Stevens,
1997.
- Morgan, Sally. Water. New York, NY : Facts on File, c1994.
- Owen, Andy. Rain. Des Plaines, Ill. : Heinemann Library, 1999.
- Patten, J. M. Liquid To Gas and Back. Vero Beach, FL. : Rourke Book
Co., 1995.
- Saunders-Smith, Gail. Rain. Mankato, Mn. : Pebble Books, 1998.
- Wick, Walter. A Drop of Water. A Book of Science and Wonder. New York
: Scholastic, c1997.
- Williams, Brenda. Water. Austin, Tex. : Raintree Steck-Vaughn, c1999
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