My Life as a Raindrop Noah N

 

My Life as a Raindrop

I started my journey on a sunny day at the Mount Bold Reservoir in South Australia. The evaporation rate of the reservoir on that day was high due to the temperature of the water and the large surface area. I began moving up as water vapour into the atmosphere because air expands when it is heated. When air expands it becomes lighter and rises. Expanding also lowers the temperature. I was also lifted a little bit by the wind blowing at the rising air. The vapour that had followed me cooled down due to the low temperature of the atmosphere. Atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude, so the rising air that included uscontinued to expand and caused us to cool down.

After the humidity had risen over 100% most of us condensed into water droplets to start forming clouds. If there were no small particles and debris in the air for us to cling to, we would not have been able to start forming clouds. Condensation occurred because the water vapour was cooled in the sky beyond the dew point. More water vapour from the reservoir and the air above the surrounding area joined us and most of them also became water droplets caused by the high level of moisture. The wind was not so strong in the sky and we were able to form a stable cloud.

The next day was windy and we were blown quite quickly over Kyeema Conservation Park and reached Currency Creek. After a week of slowly moving around the area close to Encounter Bay, Gulf St Vincent and Investigator Strait we ended up back over Lake Alexandrina. By this stage, the conditions were all suitable for precipitation. The heavy water icicles and droplets located at the top of the cloud began falling down through the cloud and grew bigger. After becominghuge, they began falling through the air due to its own weight. They then melted and also hit each other sometimes before reaching the ground and the river as rain. I fell down through the clouds the same way as they did. We did not reach the ground as snow or hail because the conditions for that were not right. I fell onto the ground near Lake Alexandrina and was absorbed into the earth. After reaching the groundwater flowing out to the oceans, I became runoff that was travelling underground in a stormwater drain. I emptied out into the sea and re-joined many of the raindrops that had been with me in the cloud. They had come through the Murray Mouth.

I can’t wait to go on another trip around the water cycle. We wouldn’t be able to continue having our trips if the sun didn’t exist. Around 20% of the sun’s energy that reaches the Earth’s atmosphere is used for the evaporation of water.

 

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