The life of a water droplet is an adventure filled with lots of changes!  Water can be in a liquid form, solid form, or gas form.  Follow along with this water droplet!

Water moves from the different forms in a process known as the water cycle.  The water cycle happens all of the time all around us.

The first form water can be is a liquid.  Most people think of water as a liquid.  Liquid water is wet and flows.  Molecules in a liquid are loosely held together which allows them to flow.

Water in its liquid form is found in the ocean, swimming pools, drinking water, and puddles.

Then the water droplet may get heated up. When this happens its liquid state is turned into a gas during the process of evaporation.  This produces water vapor or steam that rises in the air.

The sun's heat helps water evaporate.  The molecules in the water heat up and gain energy.  They escape the liquid and enter the air as water vapor or gas.

After the gas rises in the sky it cools down and becomes liquid water again.  The water molecules around one another also lose energy and become liquid water.  All of the new liquid water clings together.  This is known as condensation.

All of the water droplets, now as liquid water, collect together in the sky to form clouds.  Clouds occur when there is so much water vapor that the molecules condense into their liquid form.