The water cycle, powered by the Sun and pulled by gravity

Grade 6 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. 1.

   Water-cycle diagram with one drop's path drawn: ocean, cloud, snowy mountain; the next arrow from the melting snow is blank. A drop evaporates from the ocean, condenses in a cloud, falls as snow on a mountain, and melts in spring. Where can it go next, by Esme's trace?

   • Nowhere; melted snow disappears
   • Straight back to the cloud it came from
   • Up the mountain, since the Sun pulls it uphill
   • Down a stream, or into the ground
2. 2.

   Rainwater soaks into the soil, a tree's roots take it up, and it leaves through the leaves as vapor. Which two processes does Jun name, in order?

   • Runoff, then precipitation
   • Infiltration, then condensation
   • Infiltration, then transpiration
   • Evaporation, then infiltration
3. 3.

   Vapor from a lake rises, cools into a cloud, and the drops grow until they fall back as rain. What moved the water up, then down, as Kira explains?

   • Gravity, then the Sun's energy
   • Nothing; clouds are just vapor that floats
   • The Sun's energy, then gravity
   • The Sun's energy both ways
4. 4.

   Luz's friend says clouds are made of water vapor. Which response is best?

   • Agree: vapor evaporates into clouds
   • Disagree: clouds are made of smoke and dust from the ground
   • Disagree: clouds are tiny drops; vapor is invisible
   • Agree: clouds are the vapor we can see
5. 5.

   A post says water that evaporates is gone for good. Milo checks the claim. Which response is best?

   • Agree: it turns into air, not water
   • Agree: evaporation destroys the water that it takes
   • Disagree: it becomes vapor and can fall again as rain
   • Disagree: it condenses straight into the ground
6. 6.

   Noah's cousin says a cold can of juice sweats because juice leaks through tiny holes in the metal. Which response is best?

   • Disagree: vapor in the air condenses on the cold can
   • Disagree: the cold metal makes new water from nothing
   • Agree: the drops come from inside the can
   • Agree: the juice evaporates out through the metal

7. Read this first

   Use this

   Drawing of a clear bag tied around a leafy branch at the stem, with drops inside the bag after 3 hours.

8. 7.

   Pia's class tied a clear plastic bag around a leafy branch on a sunny day. After 3 hours, drops lined the inside of the bag. What do the drops show?

   • Plants give off water vapor through their leaves
   • The leaves made brand-new water out of the sunlight
   • Rain got inside the bag
   • Water leaked in through the plastic
9. 8.

   Tala's teacher holds a tray of ice over a bowl of warm water. Drops form under the tray and drip down. What does each part model?

   • Tray: the Sun; drips: going up by gravity
   • Warm water: ocean; cold tray: cool air; drips: rain
   • Drips: water leaking through the tray
   • Warm water: cloud; tray: ocean; drips: evaporation
10. 9.

    A town paves over a big grassy field. What does Zee predict happens when it rains there?

    • Nothing changes, since rain water takes one path anyway
    • More water soaks in, since pavement is flat
    • More runoff, and less water soaking into the ground
    • The rain evaporates before it lands
11. 10.

    a forest with vapor arrows rising from the leaves, then bare ground with the arrows blank. A forest is cut down. What happens to the water vapor that its trees used to add to the air, by Bo's prediction?

    • More vapor, since the trees were blocking the Sun's heat
    • Less vapor goes up, since transpiration drops
    • The vapor disappears from the cycle
    • The same, since water takes one fixed path