The Cycle
The Cycle
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| Each part of the cycle drives the other parts. |
As
the water evaporates, vapors rise and condense into clouds. The clouds
move over the land, and precipitation falls in the form of rain, ice or
snow. The water fills streams and rivers, and eventually flows back into
the oceans where evaporation starts the process anew. Learn a lot more
about this complicated process in concepts.
Water's state (solid, liquid or gas) is determined mostly by temperature. Although water continuously changes states from solid to liquid to gas, the amount of water on Earth remains constant. There is as much water now as there was hundreds of millions of years ago.