Water Cycle

This scene follows parcels of water around the whole cycle. Pale blue dots are vapor rising from the warm sea, white dots are cloud droplets, and deep blue dots are rain and river water flowing back to the ocean. Students change the Sun heat and Wind sliders and can show or hide sunbeams. Readouts display sea surface temperature, evaporation, cloud water and rainfall, so they can see cause and effect. It works well for introducing evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection, and for testing what happens when it gets hotter.

• Raise Sun heat from 20 to 90 percent and watch the Evaporation readout rise.
• Set Sun heat to 0 and describe what happens to clouds and rainfall.
• Increase Wind and track where the clouds drift and where the rain falls.
• Follow a pale blue vapor dot up, then watch it become a white cloud droplet.
• Hide Sunbeams and find the four stages of the cycle by watching the dots.

1. 1Name and describe evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection.
2. 2Explain the Sun as the energy source that drives the water cycle.
3. 3Predict how a warmer sea changes evaporation, clouds and rain.
4. 4Describe how rivers return water to the ocean.

Questions teachers ask