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  • Ahh!

  • When you're thirsty, nothing is better than a nice cool drink of water!

  • Oh, and it looks like my plant could use a drink, too!

  • Did you ever stop to think about where our water comes from?

  • Sure, when you get a drink of water, it might come from a faucet or a bottleand I give

  • my flower here water from a watering can...

  • But you know what?

  • The water that comes out of the faucet and the watering can may once have been part of

  • a cloud...or a snowflake...or even the ocean!

  • Awesome, right?

  • ...and it's because of something called the water cycle.

  • Now, a cycle is a set of steps that repeat over and over.

  • When you get to the last step in a cycle, you go back to the beginning and go through

  • the steps again.

  • For example, every year there are four seasons...spring, summer, fall and winter.

  • And when when winter's over...it's time for spring again!

  • We go back to the beginning of the cycle.

  • In the water cycle, all of the water on Earth goes through a set of steps that repeat over

  • and over.

  • Let's start with the step in the water cycle where we open up our umbrellas

  • ...that's right, Squeaks!

  • Rain.

  • Rain is water that falls from the sky.

  • Some rainwater soaks into the ground.

  • But a lot of it flows into little creeks and streams, and then ends up in rivers, lakes...and

  • eventuallythe ocean!

  • And then something really interesting happens.

  • Some of this water changes.

  • You might have noticed that after it rains, some water is left on the ground, like in

  • puddles you can jump in.

  • But what happens to all that water?

  • It seems like it's there one day, but then, after a little while ...it's gone!

  • Well, that water didn't just disappear.

  • When the sun comes out and the ground gets warm, water can change into a different form.

  • We call this form water vapor...and water vapor is a gas.

  • The air we breathe, it's a bunch of different gases mixed together!

  • And like the gases that make up air, you can't see water vapor gas.

  • When the sun shines on rivers, lakes, and oceans, some of the water changes into water

  • vapor.

  • And then the water vapor goes up high...very high...up into the sky.

  • And it gets pretty cold up there!

  • So, when the water vapor gets high enough, it starts to get cool.

  • And as water vapor cools down ... it changes back into little drops of liquid water.

  • You can actually see water vapor change into water drops right at home!

  • All you need is a mirror or window...and your mouth!

  • Put your face close to the mirror or window, open your mouth nice and wide...and breathe

  • out.

  • What happens?

  • The glass gets foggy.

  • That's because there's water vapor in your warm breath.

  • And when the water vapor in your breath touches the cool glass, it changes into teeny tiny

  • droplets.

  • A lot of the droplets together make the glass look cloudy.

  • And up in the sky, a lot of water droplets together makeclouds!

  • When there's a lot of water in a cloud, the cloud starts to get darker.

  • White fluffy clouds start to turn gray.

  • And as the clouds get grayer, the water in them gets heavier.

  • When the water gets too heavy, it falls...right back out of the clouds, as rain.

  • And rain is where we started in the cycle!

  • We made it all the way back to the beginning!

  • Now the water cycle can start over again.

  • All the water on our great big Earth goes through this same cycle, over and over.

  • Its falls the ground as rain or snow.

  • And soon that water ends up in a river, lake, or ocean.

  • From there, it heats up and turns into vapor.

  • And when the vapor rises into the sky and cools off, it comes right back down!

  • So the water that you drink, and the water that's in my watering can right now, might

  • once have been part of a raindrop that fell into the ocean on the other side of the world!

  • Think about that next time you take a drink!

  • Thanks for joining me on SciShow Kids!

  • Do you have a question about the weather...or anything else?

  • Ask a grownup to help you leave a comment below, or send us an email to kids@thescishow.com.

  • we'll see you next time, here at the fort!

Ahh!

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