How The Hydrologic Cycle Works
How come we never run out of water? After four and a half million years you'd
think the water would be all used up! It's not, though, because of one special
process: the hydrologic cycle, more commonly called "The Water Cycle."
This Hydrologic Cycle recycles the earth's valuable water supply. In other words,
the water keeps getting reused over and over. Just think, the next glass of water you
drink could have been part of a dinosaur's bath in the Mesozoic Era one hundred
million years ago. Water in that glass of water could have been a liquid, a solid, and
a gas countless times over thanks to the water cycle.
The sun is the energy that powers this remarkable process. It's energy in the form
of light, and heat causes water to EVAPORATE from oceans, rivers, lakes and
even puddles. "Evaporate" means it turns the water from a liquid to a gas, or
"vapor." Warm air currents rising from the earth's surface lift this water vapor up
into the atmosphere.
When the air currents reach the cooler layers of the atmosphere, the water vapor
condenses around and clings on to fine particles in the air. This step is called
CONDENSATION. When enough vapor attaches itself to tiny pieces of dust,
pollen or pollutants, it forms a cloud. Clouds do not last forever. Old clouds
constantly re-evaporate and new ones form, creating ever-changing patterns in the
sky.
As the air gets more and more moist, the droplets that form the clouds grow larger
and larger. Eventually they will get so big that the swirling atmospheric winds can
no longer hold them up. The droplets then fall from the sky as PRECIPITATION.
Precipitation can be in the form of rain, snow, sleet or hail depending on other
atmospheric conditions such as temperature.
Once the precipitation reaches the ground, several things can happen to it. First, it
might be re-evaporated. For instance, we've all seen the mist rising off hot roads
after a summer shower. If it isn't re-evaporated, much of the water will become
RUN -OFF that goes into streams and rivers as it flows back to the ocean.
Some of the precipitation will be absorbed into the ground. This is called
INFILTRATION. Once in the ground, the water can join the earth's GROUND
WATER supply. This is one of the world's largest storehouses of water. The water
could also be absorbed from the ground by the roots of plants.
Another form of evaporation that contributes to the water cycle is
TRANSPIRATION. Here, water given off through the pores of plants and animals
joins the atmosphere as a vapor. Check, for instance, your own breath on a cold
day. What you are seeing is water vapor being given off by your body.
With transpiration and evaporation, the cycle begins again: EVAPORATION,
CONDENSATION, PRECIPITATION, RUN-OFF, INFILTRATION, and
TRANSPIRATION. Each time a molecule of water goes through the cycle it is
cleaned, or purified, so it can be used by plants and animals again tomorrow, next
year, and hopefully forever.
Distilled Water is the only PUREST WATER that copy the nature process. As it is always
boiled up to 100C, No VOC will present in distilled water!

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