Water Cycle Essay

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When looking at Earth from space it is immersed in blue, that is because water covers about 75 percent of Earth’s surface. Water is a necessity to sustain life on Earth, which sets Earth apart from other planets in our solar system. Water is the only substance that can occur naturally and change states from a liquid, solid, and gas. Therefore, Earth’s water is constantly moving from these states in the ocean, land, and to the atmosphere. The presence of water on, in, and above the Earth is known as the water cycle.
The water cycle continuously cycles each day in order to circulate and conserve water. The driving force in the water cycle, the sun, heats water in the ocean causing some to evaporate as vapor into the air. Rising air currents move the vapor …show more content…

When the precipitation ends up on the land this results in surface runoff. A portion of the run off flows to rivers and accumulates with “groundwater seepage and are stored as freshwater, in lakes” (What is the Water Cycle?). However, not all runoff ends up in rivers. Ample amounts of water soaks into the ground as infiltration. Aquifers, store large amount of fresh water over long periods of time and are replenished by infiltration. The remaining water absorbs into the ground or emerges as a freshwater spring.
There is no set beginning and end of the water cycle. Nonetheless, there are three main necessary components of the cycle which include evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. During the process of evaporation water changes from a liquid state to a gaseous state. The process of evaporation “provides nearly 90 percent of the moisture in our atmosphere” (The Water Cycle). In order for evaporation to occur, heat must be present. Just as water boils and evaporates faster when heat is applied than it would if you were to only place a pot of water on the stove. Since the ocean is the largest mass of water, evaporation from the ocean is the primary source of water from ground

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