Explanation Writing - The Rain Cycle - Lucy D

Evaporation, condensation , precipitation these simple three words might not seem important to you but think again! These words are apart of the incredible water cycle, and once you read this you’ll be looking for more!

But first, let's have a closer look at water. Water is made up of two elements, hydrogen and oxygen. Its chemical formula is H2O and water has three different states, liquid, solid and gas which we will be talking about a lot. The word water usually refers to water in its liquid state. The solid state of water is known as ice while the gas state of water is known as water vapor and the liquid state is water, The existence of water is essential for life on Earth and 70% of earth is covered in water, Water makes our plants, trees, food and most of our resources and without it, well we would be a very sad planet. So let's take a close look on how it changes..

The first step in the water cycle is evaporation. During a typical hot day the heat from the sun will dry up water from the surface of the earth, but not completely. The water dries up into invisible water vapour (sometimes just before this happens you can see the steam) which travels up into the sky. This is called evaporation.

Secondly is condensation, when the water vapour goes up into the sky the warm water vapour presses against the sky’s cold air and this creates water droplets. The cold air causes the water particles in the vapour to get attracted to each other and clump, so they become water droplets. Then the water droplets form into “clouds” .

After this, is precipitation. When the water droplets turn into clouds, some are darker than the others. This is because some clouds are filled with water droplets more than others, and sometimes ice crystals due to the coldness in the sky’s atmosphere. Finally the cloud gets too heavy and lets some of the water droplets go which is RAIN, this is precipitation, and the last step of the cycle.

In conclusion we’re so lucky to have water, after all without water our planet would be nothing and we would not survive. Water has an extraordinary cycle which we probably see everyday without even noticing! I hope this piece of writing has helped you to easily understand and appreciate the amazing water cycle.