Page 104 - ICSE Science 3 : E-book

Water Cycle
Did You Know!
The water cycle describes the continuous movement
Water controls the
of water between the sky and the earth. It involves the
earth’s temperature.
following steps.

• The sun heats up the surface of the waterbodies such as rivers, seas, lakes and
oceans present on the earth. This heat changes water into water vapour. This is
due to evaporation.

• As the water vapour rises up in the air, it cools down and becomes tiny drops

of water. This is due to condensation. The tiny droplets join together to form
clouds.

• When the clouds become heavy and cannot hold any more water, the water
drops fall down in the form of rain. This is called precipitation. In colder places,

the water drops come down in the form of snow, sleet or hail.

• Rainwater and water from melted snow, sleet or hail fl ows into the waterbodies.
It also falls down on the land and gets soaked up there.

In this way, the process of water cycle starts again and continues in nature.

condensation precipitation

evaporation

Water cycle

Water and Impurities

We know that pure water has no colour, taste or smell. It can dissolve most of the
substances. Thus, when water changes into water vapour during evaporation, it

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