What is the difference between evaporation and condensation?

Evaporation is liquid water becoming a gas, which needs heat: the Sun warms the sea. Condensation is that gas cooling and becoming liquid again, which is what makes a cloud. They are the same change in opposite directions, which is why they are the pair to get straight first.

Why is the Sun one of the stages?

Because it is what drives the whole thing. A class that can name all four processes but not what powers them has learnt a sequence rather than a cycle, and the Sun is also the easiest way to explain why evaporation happens faster on a hot day.

Where is transpiration?

Left off. Water leaving plants is real and worth mentioning out loud, but it is not on the primary curriculum and a fifth arrow across the same picture would crowd the four that are.

Is the diagram to scale?

No. A cloud is a kilometre up and a mountain is a kilometre high, and the sea is thousands of kilometres across; nothing about that fits on a board. What is true is the order of the stages and which way the water goes.

The Water Cycle

Science · Year 4–Year 5

Name the stages of the water cycle, and what happens at each one.

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About the water cycle

The sea, the Sun, a cloud and a mountain, with the four stages of the water cycle drawn as arrows. Tap a stage to name it and read what happens, or press Next to walk round the whole cycle a stage at a time.

Evaporation and condensation are the Year 4 objective, and they are the two a class most often has the wrong way round. Both are written out in full: the Sun warms the sea and the water turns into vapour, then the vapour cools high up and turns back into drops, which is what a cloud is.

The other two stages close the circle, which is the thing worth ending on. The rain that falls on the mountain runs down into rivers and the rivers carry it back to the sea, and it is the same water that left it. There is no new water.

The Sun is one of the stages to name, because a class that can say all four processes and not what drives them has learnt a sequence rather than a cycle.

The parts named here are processes, not things. The dot on the rain is on precipitation and the arrows are what is being named, which is the reason a water cycle is worth a diagram rather than a photograph.

How to use it on your whiteboard

1Tap a dot to name that stage and read what happens. Tap it again to take the name off.
2Next names the stages in order, so you can walk round the cycle with a class.
3Show all names every stage at once. Clear starts again.
4Tap Fullscreen to fill the board.

Questions

What is the difference between evaporation and condensation?: Evaporation is liquid water becoming a gas, which needs heat: the Sun warms the sea. Condensation is that gas cooling and becoming liquid again, which is what makes a cloud. They are the same change in opposite directions, which is why they are the pair to get straight first.
Why is the Sun one of the stages?: Because it is what drives the whole thing. A class that can name all four processes but not what powers them has learnt a sequence rather than a cycle, and the Sun is also the easiest way to explain why evaporation happens faster on a hot day.
Where is transpiration?: Left off. Water leaving plants is real and worth mentioning out loud, but it is not on the primary curriculum and a fifth arrow across the same picture would crowd the four that are.
Is the diagram to scale?: No. A cloud is a kilometre up and a mountain is a kilometre high, and the sea is thousands of kilometres across; nothing about that fits on a board. What is true is the order of the stages and which way the water goes.