How does the water cycle move water around Earth?
Water's Wild Ride
How does the water cycle move water around Earth?
Right now, the same water that dinosaurs drank 200 million years ago might be sitting in your glass. Water doesn't leave Earth — it just takes the longest, wildest road trip imaginable, moving from oceans to clouds to rivers to you and back again, over and over, forever.
The trip starts with the sun heating up oceans, lakes, and rivers. That heat gives water molecules enough energy to break free from the liquid and float up into the air as invisible water vapor — like steam from a hot shower, but happening everywhere, all the time. This escape act is called evaporation.
