Evaporation

Have you ever seen a big, splashy puddle on the sidewalk after it rains? It's perfect for jumping in. But if you come back later when the sun is out, the puddle is gone. Where did it go? It’s one of my favorite tricks. I also love to visit laundry hanging on a line. A shirt might be dripping and soggy, but I sneak in and, little by little, I make it soft and dry, ready to wear. I do it so quietly, you never see me working. Sometimes, I even visit a glass of water sitting on a table. Day by day, I make the water level go down, down, down, until it looks like someone took a tiny sip when nobody was looking. It seems like magic, doesn't it? I am the master of the disappearing act, making water vanish right before your very eyes.

But it’s not magic, it’s me. I am Evaporation! For a very, very long time, people were puzzled by my disappearing act. They would scratch their heads and wonder where all the water went. Then, hundreds of years ago, in the year 1580, a very curious man named Bernard Palissy was watching me work. He was clever and paid close attention to everything. He saw the puddles dry and the rivers get lower in the summer sun. He realized the water wasn't gone forever. He figured out my big secret. The water was just changing its clothes. I take tiny, teeny bits of liquid water, called droplets, and turn them into a gas that you can’t see. This invisible gas is called water vapor. My secret helper is the big, warm Sun. The Sun shines down and its warmth is like a super-powered invitation for the water droplets to have a party. This warmth gives them so much energy that they start to wiggle and jiggle and dance. They dance right out of the puddle and up into the air, floating away like millions of tiny, invisible balloons. They are so light and full of energy, they just float up, up, up into the sky. So Bernard Palissy was right, the water isn't gone, it's just on a new adventure high above the world.

My disappearing trick is a very important job. In fact, it's the very first step in a giant, worldwide journey called the water cycle. After I lift all that water vapor into the sky, it gathers together to form big, fluffy clouds. And what do clouds do? They give us rain to help the plants grow and fill up the rivers again. I am also the reason you cool down on a hot day. When you get sweaty, I visit your skin and help the sweat evaporate, which takes away some of the heat and makes you feel better. I am part of a super team that keeps our world wonderful. I do the lifting, my friend Condensation does the cloud-building, and Precipitation handles the rain and snow. Together, we make sure there is always fresh water for everyone to drink, for fish to swim in, and for flowers to bloom. We keep the whole world alive.