Question

1.What is the difference between evaporation and transpiration? What role does each process play in the water cycle?

Answer 1

1. Evaporation is the escape of water molecules from their liquid phase to gas phase that go up into the atmosphere. Evaporation can occur anywhere where open liquid water is exposed to sunlight or any other source of energy. Transpiration, on the other hand, is the loss of water (by evaporation) from plants through the stomata. Evaporation and transpiration move water from the biosphere to the atmosphere.

2. Condensation is the return of water molecules from gaseous phase (vapor) back to liquid form. Precipitation, on the other hand, is the coming down of condensed water from the atmosphere to the earth (biosphere), which is a significant part of the water cycle.

3. Exchange pool is the pool from (or approximate amount) which water or other elements are shared (back and forth) between different spheres (such as biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere) in a cycle. A reservoir on the other hand is analogous to a ‘container’ that holds large masses of water or other elements such as a lake and the atmosphere.

4. The answer is No. because, today’s waters, due to increased pollution from industrialization that spews a lot of pullutans into the atmphere, ae contamiated. The water that precipitates is tainted by gases such as sulphuric dioxide tha makes it acidic. The water also gets polluted by other pollutants in the atmpshre and biosphere and hence become a health risk to animals and humans that drink it.