Which parts of the water cycle require energy from the sun and how do water wind and thermal energy from the sun move about Earth's surface?
The water cycle, also known as the hydrological cycle, is the process by which water circulates through the Earth, passing through different phases such as evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff. The sun's energy plays a crucial role in many parts of this cycle:
1) Evaporation: Solar energy heats the surface of water in oceans, lakes, rivers and other sources of liquid water. This heat provides the energy needed to convert liquid water into water vapor, a process called evaporation. Solar energy provides the heat that allows water molecules to separate and evaporate into the atmosphere.
2) Transpiration: Plants absorb water from the soil through their roots and release it into the atmosphere as water vapour in a process called transpiration. Solar energy heats plant leaves, allowing water to evaporate through leaf pores (stomata). Plant transpiration is therefore also powered by solar energy.
3) Sublimation: In cold regions, sublimation occurs when ice transforms directly into water vapor without passing through the liquid phase. Solar energy provides the heat needed to sublimate the ice into steam.
4) Condensation: As water vapour rises through the atmosphere, it cools at altitude. This causes the water vapour to condense into tiny water droplets or ice crystals, forming clouds. Solar energy is not directly involved in this process, but it heats the Earth and atmosphere, creating the conditions for condensation to occur.
5) Precipitation: When the water droplets or ice crystals in the clouds become heavy enough, they fall as precipitation, such as rain, snow, hail, etc. Solar energy plays an indirect role in this process. Solar energy plays an indirect role in precipitation formation by heating the Earth's surface and creating the conditions that give rise to evaporation, condensation and cloud formation.
As condensation occurs and liquid water forms from the vapor, the water molecules become more organized, and heat is released into the atmosphere as a result. Energy from the sun causes water on the surface to evaporate into water vapor a gas. This invisible vapor rises into the atmosphere, where the air is colder, and condenses into clouds. The sun is what makes the water cycle work. The sun provides what almost everything on Earth needs to go energy, or heat. Through the water cycle, heat is exchanged and temperatures fluctuate. As water evaporates, for example, it absorbs energy and cools the local environment. As water condenses, it releases energy and warms the local environment. Liquid water is evaporated and changed into a gas. In this process, energy is absorbed (endothermic). The gaseous vapour rises and circulates in the atmosphere, cools and changes back into a liquid. This process is called condensation and releases energy (exothermic). The sun is what makes the water cycle work. The sun provides what almost everything on Earth needs to go energy, or heat. Heat causes liquid and frozen water to evaporate into water vapor gas, which rises high in the sky to form clouds that move over the globe and drop rain and snow. Without the Sun there would be no water cycle, which means no clouds, no rain no weather!” “And without the Sun's heat, the world's oceans would be frozen!” added Marisol.Evaporation and transpiration transform liquid water into vapor, which ascends into the atmosphere due to rising air currents. Cooler temperatures aloft allow the vapor to condense into clouds. Without the Sun , Earth's land, water, and air would all be frozen solid! Life on Earth would cease to exist. That's because almost all living things rely on the steady light and heat of the Sun. The Sun's heat makes liquid water on our planet possible. The transfer of light energy from the sun into heat energy on the earth makes molecules move faster. Warm air and water molecules rise and move away from the equator and towards the poles, while cooler polar air and water moves away from the poles and towards the equator. The sun provides what almost everything on Earth needs to go energy, or heat. Heat causes liquid and frozen water to evaporate into water vapor gas, which rises high in the sky to form c clouds that move over the globe and drop rain and snow. This process is a large part of the water cycle. Waves of solar energy radiate, or spread out, from the Sun and travel at the speed of light through the vacuum of space as electromagnetic radiation. The majority of the Sun's radiation reaching Earth is in the form of visible light we can see and invisible infrared energy that we can't see. When energy from the Sun reaches the Earth, it warms the atmosphere, land, and ocean and evaporates water. The movement of water from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean the water cycle is fueled by energy from the Sun. Changes in the energy cycle will ripple into the water cycle. The water cycle is driven primarily by the energy from the sun. This solar energy drives the cycle by evaporating water from the oceans, lakes, rivers, and even the soil. Other water moves from plants to the atmosphere through the process of transpiration.
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