GoGreen: Water Cycle EXAM

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Water Cycle EXAM

The water cycle starts with evaporation, which is when the water from lakes, rivers, oceans or any other body of water turns into vapor or steam and rises into the air. Ttranspiration also ends up putting more evaporated water into the air after the water comes up from the roots of the plants and to the surface where it evaporates. Condensation is the opposite of evaporation. When the water vapor becomes to heavy and the temperature drops the gas forms a liquid, water droplets. Once the the temperature is right the water droplets become bigger and they fall to the earth, which is precipitation. Precipitation brings the water back down to the earth where surface runoff begins. Surface runoff happens when the precipitation hits earth and runs of the surface of the land toward body's of water that they were originally from. If the water isn't going through surface runoff then it is going through infiltration which is when the rain water is absorbed into the ground. From the ground the water will either stay there and become groundwater, our surface again creating springs in low downhill areas.

A watershed is when water flows into a body of water, such as a lake, river, stream or ocean. Our surface water features normally come directly from rain or from surface runoff. The water flows into the body's of water that are close, and from there depending on the body type that it has flowed into it might continue to flow downstream. Groundwater seeps into to ground and from there travels through different aquifers. Aquifers can range from many different sizes under ground.

Rivers and Streams are classified by morphological similarity's, which can change over time. When a river goes through erosion materials are moved along the bed of water and collides with other materials, which then breaks them down. Flooding becomes a lot more likely when so many trees and forests are cut down, because run off water from precipitation can get to the water a lot quicker making it easier for the water to overflow, creating a flood. A lot of floods take place because of decisions and actions made by humans. On the other hand erosion is normally a natural process that happens.