Definition of the Water Cycle
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Florencia Ucha, in Dec. 2013
The water cycle is another of the biogeochemical cycles important events that happen on our planet and that consists of water circulation between the different compartments of the hydrosphere: oceans, rivers, seas, lakes, among others. Meanwhile, as happens with this type of cycle, the intervention of chemical reactions and then the water moves from one place to another, or failing that, its physical state is modified.
On earth we find water in three different states: solid (snow and ice), liquid and gaseous (water vapor).
Meanwhile all the waters present on earth are in constant change, for example, the water on the surface evaporates, the water in the clouds rushes to the ground, the rain It also seeps into the earth, although it is important to note that the total water on the planet is not modified, that is, it is maintained despite the modifications indicated. So to the circulation and conservation This water is called the water cycle or the hydrological cycle.
The importance of the water cycle lies in the interaction it has with the ecosystem and also living beings depend on it to be able to subsist. It is worth mentioning that the water cycle also needs for its correct functioning of living beings.
The water cycle has been understood by a series of processes: evaporation (water evaporates on the surface of the oceans, on the earth's surface and in living beings through the perspiration of plants and sweating of animals), condensation(the vaporized water rises and condenses giving rise to the cloud), precipitation (When the water droplets that make up the clouds cool, they will end up falling to the ground depending on their weight and it will be liquid (rain) or solid (hail or snow), infiltration (The water touches the ground and penetrates the pores, becoming groundwater; much of the infiltrated water returns to the atmosphere by evaporation), runoff (water in liquid form travels downhill on the surface of the ground), underground circulation (it is a process similar to runoff but in location underground), fusion (it is when the snow transforms to the liquid state giving way to thaw) solidification (when the temperature inside the cloud, the water vapor or even the water freezes, falling to the ground in the form of hail or snow).
It is very important for the water cycle to occur as the atmosphere is as less polluted as possible and for its part the water has purity.
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