Water Adventures

The other day in class, Ms. Nietsky [spelling??] came in to complete an activity with us about the water cycle. We were first given cards with either cloud [small cup] or evaporation [spoon]. The people with spoons went around evaporating water from one reservoir to another as indicated on the card. The people with small cups walked around, and if a person with a spoon ran into them, the spoon was emptied into the cloud. Once the clouds were filled up, they "rained" into the reservoir specified by the card. After the first round was completed, results indicated an even system of water distribution. For the second round, some people were given cards for people [big cups]. The round went the same as the first, but the people with big cups removed water from the reservoirs and dumped it into new reservoirs put in place by people, such as agriculture, residential, and industry. There were some floods and droughts in this round due to uneven water circulation. For the third and final round, everything went the same as the second round, only a drop or two of blue food coloring was added to the industry and agriculture reservoirs to represent pollution in the water cycle. When the round was over, results were similar to those in the previous round except for blue coloring in every single reservoir, even residential [people]! This last round demonstrated how pollution generated in industry and agriculture affects the rest of the world's water. Here I found an animated diagram that illustrates just what the first round of this activity did. I learned from that site how the water cycle moves. From this site, I learned that the water cycle is also known as the hydrolic cycle and that there is no start or end point to the water cycle. This activity was a great way to demonstrate the movement of water and the effects of pollution on the rest of the world's water, even us! It makes you think about what is really in your body these days.