Water Cycle Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture notes on the water cycle.

What is gravity?

An attractive force that exists between all objects that have mass

What does immense mean?

Very great in size or amount

What does intense mean?

Very strong

What is moisture?

An amount of liquid (water) in something

What does permeable mean?

Allowing water, oil, or gas to pass through

What is a surface?

The outer face or area of a thing

What is groundwater?

Water that falls to Earth through precipitation and soaks down into the ground, filling tiny spaces between soil and rock.

What is precipitation?

Moisture that falls from clouds to Earth’s surface, can be liquid or solid (rain, snow, sleet, or hail)

What force pulled the rain down from the clouds?

Gravity

How does the Earth's water cycle change with global temperatures?

The amount of water on Earth does not change, but its cycling is affected by global temperatures, which leads to increased evaporation rates and intense precipitation

What had to happen for the water to begin to flow on the stream table?

The ground had to become saturated with water.

In the stream table investigation, what did the plastic tub eventually represent?

The plastic tub represents the ocean.

Where does rain water end up?

More than 75 percent falls into the ocean, and the rest falls onto land, eventually returning to the ocean or atmosphere.

What are the major water reservoirs on Earth?

Oceans, lakes, glaciers and ice caps, and groundwater.

What are aquifers?

Areas of permeable sediment or rock that hold significant amounts of water; water seeps through soil and into tiny pores between sediment and rock.

How does groundwater flow and how is it replenished?

From higher elevations to lower elevations to the ocean; Groundwater can seep into surface water sources and vice versa allowing groundwater to be replenished

Where are glaciers and ice sheets typically found?

Mountainous areas or polar regions that have high snowfall in winter and cool temperatures in summer

What force causes glaciers to flow downhill?

Gravity

What force pulls water and where is water stored?

Gravity pulls water from the atmosphere to Earth’s surface, from higher to lower elevations, and eventually to the oceans, where it is stored.

Which pathway of processes would explain how a water molecule from the stream could end up in an ice sheet?

Evaporation, condensation, crystallization, precipitation

Is the following claim true or false: Water on Earth will run out in our lifetime?

False, Earth has continually cycled its water through the water cycle

Why is preventing pollution easier than fixing polluted water?

Preventing pollution is the easier fix, since Earth recycles its water supply and cleaning up pollution is difficult and takes many years.

What is evaporation?

The process by which a liquid, such as water, changes into a gas.

What is transpiration?

The process by which plants release water vapor into the atmosphere.

What is condensation?

The process by which a gas changes to a liquid.

What is crystallization?

The process by which a liquid turns into a crystalline solid

What are aquifers?

Areas of permeable sediment or rock that hold significant amounts of water. Groundwater flows from higher elevations to lower elevations, and ultimately to the ocean.

What is the water cycle?

The series of natural processes by which water continually moves between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land

What causes water to disappear?

Evaporation and Transpiration

How can water reappear?

Condensation and crystallization