Download Water Vocabulary - Mrs. Leachman Science

Water Vocabulary
1. Atmosphere- The envelope of gases that surrounds Earth.
2. Atmospheric Conditioning – the atmospheric conditions that
comprise the state the atmosphere with temperature, wind, clouds
and precipitation.
3. Water Cycle- Continual movement of water among Earth’s
atmosphere, oceans, and land surface through evaporation,
condensation, and precipitation
4. Evaporation- process by which water molecules in liquid water
escape into the air vapor
5. Condensation- process by which molecules of water vapor in the air
become liquid water
6. Precipitation- any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches
the Earth’s surface
7. Transpiration- Evaporation of water through a plants leaves
8. Groundwater- Water that fills the cracks and spaces in underground
soil and rock layers
9. River system- A complete river starting from the beginning (runoff) to
the mouth (ocean or lake)
10.Watershed- Land area that supplies water to a river system
11.Reservoir- Lake that stores water for human use
12.Wetland- Land area that is covered with a shallow layer of water
during some or all of the year
13.Permeable- characteristic of a material that is full of tiny connected
air spaces that water can seep through
14.Impermeable – characteristic of a material that does not have air
spaces for water to seep through
15.Aquifer- underground layer of rock or sediment that holds water
16.Water Table- top of saturation zone or depth to the groundwater
under Earth’s surface
17.Conservation- practice of using less of a resource so that it will not be
used up