The earth is made up of a lot of water. Some of this water evaporates and goes into the air as water vapour. Water also evaporates from the surface of the leaves through transpiration. Transpiration is an extremely important way of putting water vapour into the air.
72 THE WATER CYCLE
Water vapour condenses as it goes into the atmosphere When water evaporates into the air, it is in the form of a gas. When the gas cools, it changes from a gas into the liquid. This is called condensation. The liquid water forms tiny droplets and forms clouds.
72 THE WATER CYCLE
Water falls from clouds as rain, hail or snow Eventually the droplets in the cloud become so large that they fall to the ground. This is called precipitation rain. Other types of precipitation include hail and snow. When the water falls onto the land, it can flow into streams and rivers which flow to the sea. Some of the water will be taken up by the plant roots. It travels up through the plant, and is lost to the air by transpiration.
72 THE WATER CYCLE
72 THE WATER CYCLE
72 THE WATER CYCLE
Deforestation can cause soil erosion and flooding Trees are very important to the water cycle, but trees are being cut down deforestation. If there are trees, the rain hits the trees before falling to the ground. If there are no trees, the rain falls directly to the ground. It damages the soil by pressing the top layer tightly together.
72 THE WATER CYCLE
Deforestation can cause soil erosion and flooding As it presses, it wears the soil away and the soil is carried along with the water into rivers and streams. If there were trees, the roots would help stop soil from washing away when it rains. The roots bind the soil together.
72 THE WATER CYCLE
Deforestation can cause soil erosion and flooding The soil erosion is damaging because: 1. Soil is lost from the land. 2. Soil fills up streams and rivers. This makes water overflow from rivers causing flooding.