The Amazing Journey of a Drop of Water!

Audience: Elementary School Students

Earth has been recycling the same water for over four billion years! Photo by Apollo Photography from Unsplash. 

I was born in the ocean, sparkling under the sun, then soared as vapor to the sky where my adventure had just begun. I danced in a cloud, fell as rain to nourish the land, then seeped underground, flowing back to where I began. My endless journey, the water cycle, shows how nature connects us all – learning it reveals the magic that sustains life on Earth!

The water cycle is the continuous movement of water within the Earth and atmosphere. It has four main stages:

I. Evaporation

First, the sun’s energy increases the temperature of all bodies of water, including rivers and oceans. This causes some of the water to evaporate, which is the process of the water turning from a liquid to a gas. This gas is called vapour. Water can also leave plants and trees through their leaves, through the process of transpiration. 

II. Condensation

Next, clouds form – a process called condensation. In condensation, the water vapour that resulted from evaporation goes up into the sky. Because the temperatures are colder in higher atmospheres, the water cools and becomes liquid again. Clouds are able to move because of currents very high in the air. 

III. Precipitation

Then, when the water droplets within the clouds become extremely heavy due to a large amount of water being condensed, the air can no longer hold this weight. As a result, the water falls from the clouds, either as rain, hail, snow, or some other form. This is called precipitation. 

IV. Collection

Finally, once the precipitation has fallen, rivers, oceans, and other bodies of water collect it. Eventually, the precipitate will evaporate and go high in the air again – a restart to the cycle.   

While the water cycle is a continuous process, it is possible to have too much or too little of water, which can be a problem. 

A drought occurs when there are long periods of dry weather which can damage crops and result in massive water supply shortages. They are caused by a long time of low precipitation. On the opposite extreme are floods, which occur when water overflows onto dry land. Floods can happen when rain is very heavy or if snow melts too fast. Often floods last only a few days, but sometimes they can last a few weeks or more. Generally, there are ways to manage the effects of droughts and floods due to advancing equipment and technologies.

There’s no better way to learn more about a concept than to sing it! Listening to The Water Cycle Song is a fantastic way to solidify your understanding of the water cycle. Fun fact – since water is continuously cycling, the water you drink today could be the same water drunk by dinosaurs billions of years ago!

Bibliography

Severe Weather 101: Flood Basics. (n.d.). NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory. Retrieved December 22, 2024, from https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/floods/

The Water Cycle! (n.d.). National Geographic Kids. Retrieved December 22, 2024, from https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/science/nature/water-cycle/

Water cycle. (n.d.). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved December 22, 2024, from https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/freshwater/water-cycle

What is a drought and what causes it? | NASA Global Precipitation Measurement Mission. (n.d.). NASA GPM. Retrieved December 22, 2024, from https://gpm.nasa.gov/resources/faq/what-drought-and-what-causes-it