Water cycle: evaporation is not disappearance
| English | 中文 | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| precipitation/prɪˌsɪpɪˈteɪʃn/ | 降水 | jiàng shuǐ |
| condensation/kɒndenˈseɪʃn/ | 凝结 | níng jié |
What would explain this observation?
- Water evaporating from a pond has changed state and location. The molecules can later return as precipitation 降水 rather than being used up.
- Start with a prediction. State the quantities or features you would compare, then decide what evidence could distinguish two explanations.
Build the model
- Water evaporates from seas, lakes and other wet surfaces; plants also release water vapour through transpiration. Vapour condenses into droplets as it cools, forming clouds. Precipitation returns water to land and sea. Water on land can drain through rivers or move into soil and groundwater before returning to the sea.
- precipitation: Water falling from clouds to the surface; condensation 凝结: Change of water vapour into liquid droplets.
Which process changes water vapour into liquid droplets?
Freshwater supply supports plants and animals on land. Organisms take up water and later return it through processes including excretion, respiration and transpiration. The water cycle includes both abiotic stores and biological transfers. A diagram can simplify the system, but not all rainwater immediately travels through the same route.
Match each technical term to its precise meaning.
Use the definitions to distinguish related quantities and processes.
Choose evidence that can test it
- Freshwater supply supports plants and animals on land. Organisms take up water and later return it through processes including excretion, respiration and transpiration. The water cycle includes both abiotic stores and biological transfers. A diagram can simplify the system, but not all rainwater immediately travels through the same route.
- Trace processes on a supplied diagram and distinguish changes of state from movement between places. In a school model, observe teacher-approved evaporation or condensation without assuming it reproduces the scale of global circulation. For balances, define the store, time interval and any inflow or outflow omitted.
Which two habits make the investigation or model in this case more defensible?
Trace processes on a supplied diagram and distinguish changes of state from movement between places. In a school model, observe teacher-approved evaporation or condensation without assuming it reproduces the scale of global circulation. For balances, define the store, time interval and any inflow or outflow omitted.
Work from known quantities
- State the known values and their units. Choose the relation because its assumptions fit this case, then rearrange before substitution.
- Known: a fictional pond begins with 200 water units, gains 40 in rain and loses 25 by evaporation and 15 by drainage. Final store = 200+40−25−15 = 200 units. An unchanged store can still involve large transfers; it does not mean the cycle stopped.
A pond begins with 150 units, gains 30 and loses 18 by evaporation plus 12 by drainage. Find final store. Use the same sequence: known quantities → model → relation → substitution → unit and interpretation.
A pond begins with 150 units, gains 30 and loses 18 by evaporation plus 12 by drainage. Find final store.
The result is 150 water units. Known: a fictional pond begins with 200 water units, gains 40 in rain and loses 25 by evaporation and 15 by drainage. Final store = 200+40−25−15 = 200 units. An unchanged store can still involve large transfers; it does not mean the cycle stopped.
Check the conclusion and its limits
- Evaporation is liquid changing to vapour; condensation is the reverse. Precipitation is not the same as transpiration. Water can be recycled while its availability at a particular habitat changes, so global cycling does not guarantee local water supply.
- Return to the original observation. Explain what the result supports, which conditions it assumes, and one way to test a competing explanation.
An unchanged water store proves there were no transfers. This claim is false: Evaporation is liquid changing to vapour; condensation is the reverse. Precipitation is not the same as transpiration. Water can be recycled while its availability at a particular habitat changes, so global cycling does not guarantee local water supply.
Water cycle: evaporation is not disappearance: Freshwater supply supports plants and animals on land. Organisms take up water and later return it through processes including excretion, respiration and transpiration. The water cycle includes both abiotic stores and biological transfers. A diagram can simplify the system, but not all rainwater immediately travels through the same route.
An unchanged water store proves there were no transfers.
Evaporation is liquid changing to vapour; condensation is the reverse. Precipitation is not the same as transpiration. Water can be recycled while its availability at a particular habitat changes, so global cycling does not guarantee local water supply.
Water falling from clouds to the surface: write the technical term.
precipitation means Water falling from clouds to the surface.