I'm traveling this week and my granddaughter has graciously written this blog for us about one of her favorite subjects.
We all know rain as that “wet” form of weather. But there has to be more, and there is.
For example, when you drive down your slippery driveway during a storm, you often turn on your windshield wipers. Whenever too much liquid forms on the glass in front of you, the wipers swish it all away. Though the water doesn’t sound crucial, it actually is very important.
To understand why rain matters, let’s talk about condensation and evaporation. They are complete opposites. Condensation is the process of water changing from gas to liquid, while evaporation is when liquid becomes gas. This affects even the simplest of things, like the windshield wipers pushing the water away from the driver’s eye view. When it’s extremely hot, the water droplets that form on the car may evaporate and take the form of gas. The evaporated liquid is light enough to go into the atmosphere, and continues to rise. After a bit of time, it joins other vaporized water in the form of clouds.
Let’s look at when the opposite happens. Suppose it’s really humid outside. You may notice condensation form on your car windows as the invisible form of gas turns into a liquid haze. Amazing, right?
Pollution is dangerous to our water and to the environment. Animals and fish have no control over how much we litter, and chances are, we are hurting them. But not only does our wildlife suffer from pollution, we do too, like when you see a cigarette in the water at the beach, or worse, when you see floating plastic. It affects our water quality. Most of us have a well, or the town or city we live in controls the water, keeping it clean for our use. If we pollute, we don’t have the clean water we need, and instead we have sickening water, and it may lead to illness. Really, not polluting is not that big a request. If each of us does our part we will all be better for it.
Now let’s talk about us. 55 to 60 percent of our bodies are made of water, which is fascinating to think about. About 71 percent of the earth’s surface is water-covered, and oceans provide 96.5 percent of the water. We drink water and use it to cook and clean. We travel on it in rivers, lakes, and oceans, and it feeds our plants and wildlife. So, in conclusion, without water there would be no way to live. It’s like living without breathing, impossible. We need rain, this natural water resource to survive.
Source: www.usgs.edu