The water cycle, powered by the Sun and pulled by gravity
Grade 6 Science Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
Wet towels hung outside in the morning are dry by evening. Where did the water go, by Esme's thinking?
- Down into the ground as runoff
- It condensed into the towel threads
- It was destroyed by the Sun
- Into the air as water vapor
On a freezing morning, Jun breathes out and sees a small white cloud. What is the white cloud?
- Tiny drops from breath vapor that cooled
- Smoke made by the cold air
- Invisible water vapor
- Breath that evaporated in the cold
Rain falls on a grassy field with loose, dry soil. Where does much of the water go next, in Kira's model?
- It soaks into the ground toward the groundwater
- Back up to the clouds right away
- It has to flow along the surface straight to the ocean
- It disappears into the grass
“low corner” Rain falls on a big paved parking lot. Where does most of that water go, as Luz predicts?
- It runs off the surface into drains and streams
- It has to evaporate before it can move
- It condenses into a cloud right away
- It soaks down through the pavement into the groundwater
A snowflake lands on a glacier high in the mountains. What might happen to its water, by Milo's reading?
- It must melt and flow down to the ocean that same week
- It vanishes once it lands
- It could stay frozen in the ice for many years
- It condenses back into a cloud
Read this first
Table (USGS, Where is Earth's Water?), with columns Place and Share of all water
Oceans about 96.5%; ice caps and glaciers about 1.7%; groundwater about 1.7%; lakes, rivers, air and living things, less than 0.1%.
Noah reads the USGS table of where Earth's water is. Where is most of Earth's water?
- Ice caps and glaciers
- Rivers and lakes
- The oceans, about 96.5%
- Clouds and air, since rain falls so often
Ice caps and glaciers about 69%; groundwater about 30%; lakes, rivers and other surface water about 1%. Pia reads that most of Earth's fresh water is not in rivers or lakes. Where is most of it, by the USGS figures?
- In rivers and lakes
- In clouds and fog
- Underground, at about 90%
- Frozen in ice caps and glaciers
Earth's water has been cycling for billions of years. Why don't the oceans dry up from evaporation, as Ren explains?
- Ocean water is too salty to evaporate
- Clouds hold the extra water for good
- Evaporated water is gone, so oceans slowly dry up
- Rain and rivers bring the water back
Table, Two puddles (example data, read about), with columns Puddle, Temperature and Time to dry
Puddle in shade, 18 °C (64 °F), dry after 6 hours; puddle in sun, 30 °C (86 °F), dry after 2 hours.
Tala reads about two equal puddles. The one in the shade, at 18 °C, dried in 6 hours. The one in the sun, at 30 °C, dried in 2 hours. What does this show?
- The shady puddle condensed instead
- Warmer water evaporates faster
- Gravity pulled the sunny puddle into the ground
- The sunny puddle's water was destroyed faster
Warm, moist air rises up a mountainside and cools as it climbs. What does Zee expect to form near the top?
- Clouds, as the vapor condenses into drops
- Nothing; the Sun pulls the air back down
- A cloud of invisible vapor
- Clear air, since cooling makes vapor evaporate