Water Cycle

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The Water Cycle is the process by which water is recycled on the Earth. The process begins with solar radiation from the Sun which is the ultimate source of weather and convection on Earth evaporates water from the surface of the Earth. As water vapor rises it cools and condenses around dust nuclei in the Earth's atmosphere and creates clouds. Once the atmosphere becomes saturated the clouds release the excess water in the form of precipitation. This precipitation may fall in the form of rain, sleet, snow or hail depending on the season and temperature. As the precipitation falls to the ground it is absorbed into the soil and is called groundwater. When the ground becomes saturated the excess water runs off into streams and rivers and flows to the sea and the process repeats itself.  Water may also return to the atmosphere as groundwater is soaked up by trees and other plants. The water is release through the leaves of plants during photosynthesis by a process called transpiration.