Curiosity Corner: When it rains, where does the water come from?

Children often wonder when it rains that, “Where is all this water coming from?” They generally tend to think that the sky an endless supply of water and there’s a tap open. What they don’t know that rain actually happens because of a natural process called the water cycle. Children get curious and a lot of questions in their minds. In a fun way here’s a way to their make them understand.The journey of rain begins on earth and not in the clouds. When the Sun heats up, water from all water bodies get evaporated. Just like when water evaporates when it is boiled in a pan or any utensil. Water from oceans, seas, rivers, lakes and even puddles get warms and it changes into vapour. The process is called evaporation and the water gets collected in the sky. It can’t be seen. But it’s noticed in wells, small water bodies, when they get dried up.As water bodies dry up, it rises as vapour and cools down in the sky. And when it cools down, it changes into water droplets or even ice. This process is called condensation. And further it forms into clouds. They might look like cotton candy, but it is actually built of millions of tiny water droplets. When these droplets collate and join, the clouds become bigger and heavier. This is when the clouds become too full to hold water anymore. They become just like a sponge full of water.This is when rainfall happens. With the water droplets becoming too heavy for the cloud to hold, gravity comes into play. It pulls cloud down to earth. This process is called precipitation. It ultimately makes rainfall happen and what we see is water drop either in drizzles or splash heavily. It all depends on the density of the water droplets formed.They are also different types of precipitation and how one sees it. It falls as hail, snow or sleet depending on the temperature of the water. And when rain again reaches ground, it gets collected in the water body.It is called cycle of nature. Rain helps balance the dryness. It helps plants grow, provides use with drinking water and also keeps temperature on Earth cool. In simple words, it keeps life going. Rain water can also be recycled by purifying it, using in harvest and there are many uses of water.