The Water Cycle

Water goes round in a circle between the sea, the air and the ground. This is called the Water Cycle. It has no beginning and no end. Here you can learn how the Water Cycle works and how it makes life possible.

In Scotland we are lucky to live in a country with lots of hills and mountains. Clouds from the sea hit the hills. This causes rain to fall on the land. The rain then drains through the soil to fill the rivers and lochs.

When the sun heats the rivers, lochs and oceans, the warm air rises and turns some of the water into water vapour. This is known as evaporation.

As the water vapour cools down it turns into tiny drops of water so small that we cannot see them. This is called condensation.

The tiny droplets of water bump into each to form clouds which are blown around by the wind.

As the clouds cool down the drops become big and heavy and they fall as rain, hail or snow. This is called precipitation.

The rain falls onto the land and into the rivers. The rivers flow into the lochs and the sea and the water cycle starts again, as it has done for millions of years.

In fact the water we all use and drink today is the same water used by the dinosaurs!

Watch the Water Cycle in action in the interactive games section.