Download What is the Water Cycle?

The Water Cycle:
http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsyst
em/watercycle/
Ground Water
Accumulation
What is the Water Cycle?
The Water Cycle is an endless cycle where water is
constantly moving throughout earth and the
atmosphere
Water is constantly changing form:
– Ex: solid Snow melting into liquid water
– Ex: Pond water evaporating into water vapor
Did you know that the amount of water present on
Earth never changes?
Water just gets recycled from snow or ice to liquid
water, and from liquid water to water vapor.
Fact: 97% of all the water on Earth is in the seas
Fact: Only 3% of Earth’s water is fresh (0.0036% of
that is found in lakes, rivers…etc)
Fact: Over 3,000 meters of the planet’s ice is found
in Antarctica
Processes of the Water Cycle:
Evaporation – liquid water changes to water vapor
Transpiration – water evaporates from leaves of
plants
Condensation – water vapor changes to liquid water
Precipitation – water falls from the atmosphere as
rain, snow, hail, or sleet
Runoff – water flows down hills or mountains
Ground water – water that is stored underground
The Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen is an important element to all living things
It aides in digestion, photosynthesis…etc
The Nitrogen Cycle is a model describing how
nitrogen moves from the atmosphere, to the soil, to
living organisms, and then back to the atmosphere
Most nitrogen is found in the air, as a gas but most
plants and animals need nitrogen that has been
combined with other elements to form nitrogen
compounds
These nitrogen compounds can be gases, solids, or
liquids.
The Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen in the air
Lightning causes
some nitrogen fixation
Plant roots take up
nitrogen from soil
Bacteria in soil
convert nitrogen
back to gas
Animals get nitrogen
from plants
Dead animals and plants
Decomposition
releases
nitrogen into soil
Bacteria in soil and
plant roots perform
most nitrogen fixation
What is Nitrogen Fixation?
Nitrogen fixation- is where soil bacteria turn nitrogen
into nitrogen compounds to make them usable to
plants
Plants absorb these nitrogen compounds through their
roots
Animals obtain the nitrogen by consuming other plants
or animals
When dead organisms decay, the nitrogen in their
bodies returns to the soil or to the atmosphere by the
work of decomposers (mushrooms, sac fungi, slime
molds)
** Sometimes lightning can cause nitrogen fixation
The Nitrogen Cycle:
http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsyst
em/nitrogencycle/