The Water Cycle — Interactive Diagram
Watch how water moves between the earth and the sky — evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection — one step at a time.
TL;DR: Watch how water moves between the earth and the sky — evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection — one step at a time.
Written & reviewed by the Syllab.in Academic Team (CBSE/NCERT subject experts) · Updated
The Water Cycle: Watch how water moves between the earth and the sky — evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection — one step at a time.
Why it matters: The water cycle explains rain, rivers and why fresh water never runs out — a guaranteed exam favourite and the basis of weather and the monsoon.
The Water Cycle — Step by Step
- The Sun heats water in oceans, rivers and lakes. The water turns into invisible water vapour and rises — this is EVAPORATION.
- High in the cooler sky, the vapour cools and turns back into tiny water droplets that gather into clouds — this is CONDENSATION.
- When the droplets grow heavy, they fall as rain, snow or hail — this is PRECIPITATION.
- Rain water flows over land into rivers and back to the sea (COLLECTION). Then the Sun heats it again — and the cycle repeats forever.
Quick Notes — the Exam Crux
- The Sun's heat drives evaporation: liquid water turns into invisible water vapour.
- High up, the cooler air makes vapour condense into tiny droplets that form clouds.
- When droplets grow heavy they fall as precipitation — rain, snow or hail.
- Water collects in rivers, oceans and groundwater, then the cycle repeats — no new water is ever created.
- Transpiration (water vapour released by plant leaves) also feeds moisture into the cycle.
Remember It (Memory Trick)
Remember the 4 stages as "Every Cloud Pours, then Collects" — Evaporation → Condensation → Precipitation → Collection.
Real-Life Example
Leave a glass of cold water out on a hot Chennai afternoon and droplets appear on the outside — that is condensation, the very step that builds clouds. The monsoon that fills our rivers is just this same cycle at a giant scale.
Test Yourself
Which process turns liquid water into vapour, and what supplies the energy?
Evaporation; the Sun's heat supplies the energy.
Why does the amount of fresh water on Earth never run out?
Water is recycled endlessly — it only changes state, it is never destroyed, so the same water keeps moving through the cycle.
What is transpiration's role in the water cycle?
Plants release water vapour from their leaves, adding moisture to the air that later condenses into clouds.
📖 Read the full explanation of The Water Cycle →
More Visual Lessons
- States of Matter
- Life Cycle of a Butterfly
- Phases of the Moon
- The Solar System
- The Rock Cycle
- The Greenhouse Effect
🤖 Stuck on any of these? Ask Syllab's free AI Tutor to explain step by step →