Evaporation & the Water Cycle
Identify the role of evaporation and condensation in the water cycle, and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature
What a learner can do afterwards
- Describe evaporation as liquid turning to gas and condensation as gas turning to liquid
- Explain the water cycle: evaporation from seas/lakes → condensation into clouds → precipitation
- Explain why evaporation happens faster at higher temperatures (e.g. puddles dry faster on hot days)
The lesson
You already know that heating and cooling change how water looks. Now let's name two of those changes. Evaporation is when liquid water turns into a gas called water vapor. Condensation is the opposite: water vapor turns back into liquid water.
After a hot shower, the bathroom fills with steam, which is water vapor in the air. When that vapor touches the cool mirror, it condenses into tiny water droplets, and the mirror looks steamed up.
Next time you see a puddle after rain, check on it later on a warm day. The warmer the day, the faster the water evaporates into the air.
Evaporation turns liquid into gas, condensation turns gas back into liquid, and heat speeds up evaporation to keep the water cycle moving.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.