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Year 6 Science — States of water and the water cycle

Tell the three states of water apart by how they behave, name the changes between them, and follow water round the water cycle.

Name: ________________________

Before you start

The stages water passes through on its way from the ocean and back again.

1234
  1. 1. Evaporation
  2. 2. Condensation
  3. 3. Rain
  4. 4. The ocean

Water rises from the ocean as vapour, cools high up into cloud droplets, falls back as rain and flows to the ocean again. There is no first stage — water has been going round this loop far longer than anyone has been watching it.

  1. 1.Clothes take longer to dry on a rainy day than on a dry one. What is the reason the chapter gives?

    • a) Rainwater is heavier than ordinary water
    • b) The air already holds a lot of water vapour
    • c) Evaporation stops below a certain temperature
    • d) Cloth soaks up more water when it is cloudy

  2. 2.Cloud droplets are light enough to float. What has to happen before they fall as rain?

    • a) The droplets freeze solid and drop as ice
    • b) Many droplets join into drops heavy enough to fall
    • c) The cloud runs out of dust particles to sit on
    • d) The wind pushes the droplets downwards

  3. 3.Water is put into a freezer and turns into ice. What is this change called?

    • a) Freezing
    • b) Evaporation
    • c) Melting
    • d) Condensation

  4. 4.Dew forms on plants overnight, and drops gather under the lid of a boiling pan. What is the name of the change turning water vapour back into liquid?

  5. 5.Water moves round between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere and comes back again. This circulation has a two-word name. What is it?

  6. 6.Sort each substance by the state it is in.

    Groups: Solid · Liquid · Gas

    • Milk
    • Stone
    • Water
    • Oxygen
    • Ice
    • Water vapour

  7. 7.An ice cube left on a table turns into water. What is this change called?

    • a) Melting
    • b) Freezing
    • c) Condensation
    • d) Evaporation

  8. 8.Wet clothes dry, a mopped floor dries, and a puddle disappears. What is the name of the change turning that water into vapour?

Answer key — Year 6 Science — States of water and the water cycle

  1. 1. b) The air already holds a lot of water vapour
  2. 2. b) Many droplets join into drops heavy enough to fall
  3. 3. a) Freezing
  4. 4. condensation
  5. 5.
    • water cycle
    • the water cycle
  6. 6. Ice → Solid; Stone → Solid; Water → Liquid; Milk → Liquid; Water vapour → Gas; Oxygen → Gas
  7. 7. a) Melting
  8. 8. evaporation