AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Heated by sunshine, the ground heats the air just above it. That warmed air starts to rise because, when warm, it is lighter and less dense than the air around it. As it rises, its pressure and temperature drop causing water vapor to condense. Eventually, enough moisture will condense out of the air to form a cloud.

Detailed explanation-2: -Clouds form when the invisible water vapor in the air condenses into visible water droplets or ice crystals. For this to happen, the parcel of air must be saturated, i.e. unable to hold all the water it contains in vapor form, so it starts to condense into a liquid or solid form.

Detailed explanation-3: -In the water cycle, evaporation occurs when sunlight warms the surface of the water. The heat from the sun makes the water molecules move faster and faster, until they move so fast they escape as a gas. Once evaporated, a molecule of water vapor spends about ten days in the air.

Detailed explanation-4: -There are two main ways this happens: Heat from the Sun causes water to evaporate from oceans, lakes and streams. Evaporation occurs when liquid water on Earth’s surface turns into water vapor in our atmosphere. Water from plants and trees also enters the atmosphere. This is called transpiration.

Detailed explanation-5: -Water at the Earth’s surface evaporates into water vapor which rises up into the sky to become part of a cloud which will float off with the winds, eventually releasing water back to Earth as precipitation.