---
title: "The water cycle in detail"
description: "Describe water moving through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, surface runoff and plant transpiration, explaining the roles of solar energy and gravity."
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/the-water-cycle-in-detail-mt_V2lNzEex_a
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/the-water-cycle-in-detail-mt_V2lNzEex_a.md
retrieved: 2026-11-12
---

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# The water cycle in detail

Describe water moving through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, surface runoff and plant transpiration, explaining the roles of solar energy and gravity.

Subject: Science · Area: Ecosystems & Habitats · Ages 11 to 12
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/the-water-cycle-in-detail-mt_V2lNzEex_a

## Ready when they can

- Identifies evaporation, condensation and precipitation on a water-cycle pathway diagram.
- Explains the roles of solar energy, cooling and gravity in evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff.
- Explains the role of transpiration (plants releasing water vapour) in the water cycle
- Discusses how human activities (deforestation, paving) affect the water cycle

## Lesson: Tracing the water cycle

Evaporation changes liquid water into invisible water vapour. Cooling can make vapour condense into liquid droplets. This is condensation. Clouds contain droplets, ice crystals or both. Precipitation is rain, snow or hail falling from clouds. Solar energy supplies heat for evaporation. Gravity pulls precipitation down and runoff downhill. Stored heat allows some evaporation after sunset; rain can fall at night too.

*(drawing: One possible path: liquid water becomes vapour, vapour forms cloud droplets, and water falls as precipitation.)*

Surface runoff is water flowing over the ground towards streams, lakes or the sea. Infiltration is water soaking into soil. Plants take up soil water through roots. During transpiration, water evaporates inside leaves and escapes as vapour through tiny pores. These are different pathways, not steps that every drop must follow.

**Example.** Rain reaches a forest hillside. Some water soaks into soil by infiltration. Some flows downhill to a stream as runoff. A tree takes up some soil water, and some later escapes from its leaves as vapour through transpiration. Water can return to the air from leaves or by evaporating from wet surfaces without first flowing into a stream.

*(drawing: With similar rainfall, sealing the ground often sends more water over the surface instead of into the soil.)*

Soil and vegetation can store rainwater and slow its movement. Sealed roads limit infiltration, so replacing a forest with sealed roads can send more runoff to streams sooner and increase flood risk. Tree removal can also reduce transpiration nearby. Reduced transpiration is a separate change, not the main immediate cause of fast storm runoff. Some paving lets water through, so the surface type matters.

**Recap.** Solar energy supports evaporation. Cooling allows condensation, and gravity moves water down. Runoff, infiltration and transpiration are different water-cycle pathways.

*Lesson, questions and flashcards written for this dataset.*

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Evaporation & the Water Cycle](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/evaporation-and-the-water-cycle-mt_Qkewo5M3_c)

## Optional connections

- [The Water Cycle](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/the-water-cycle-mt_fhqVdj4BYr)