This definitions covers Key Definitions within The Water Cycle for GCSE Biology. Topic 6: The Water Cycle It is section 5 of 11 in this topic. Make sure you can use the exact wording confidently, because definition marks are often lost through vague language.
📖 Key Definitions
Water cycle: The continuous movement of water between the oceans, atmosphere, land, and living organisms through processes including evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, and percolation.
Evaporation: The process by which liquid water on the surface (oceans, lakes, rivers) is converted into water vapour by the energy of the sun and rises into the atmosphere.
Transpiration: The loss of water vapour from plants through the stomata in their leaves. Part of the transpiration stream — water entering at roots and exiting at leaves.
Condensation: The process by which water vapour cools at altitude and changes back into tiny liquid water droplets, forming clouds.
Precipitation: Water falling from clouds back to Earth as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
Percolation: The downward movement of water through soil and rock into the ground, forming groundwater stores that feed springs and rivers.
Stomata (singular: stoma): Tiny pores, mainly on the underside of leaves, through which plants release water vapour (transpiration) and exchange gases.
Abiotic factor: A non-living component of an ecosystem (e.g., water availability, temperature, light intensity) that affects the distribution and abundance of organisms.
Practice questions for The Water Cycle
What is the water cycle?
Explain the role of transpiration in the water cycle.