Rain's Long Trip

Part One · Up

This drop of water has a secret. Here is its trip, from the sea.

The sun shines down on the ocean. The warm drop turns into vapor. Vapor is water you cannot see.

The air around you has some right now. Our drop floats up into the sky.

Up high, the vapor turns back into tiny drops. So many tiny drops make a cloud. Our drop is in the cloud now.

Part Two · Down

The cloud drifts over a little hill. Then the drops fall, plip, plop, as rain.

Our drop lands on a hill and runs down. It joins a little stream.

The stream runs into a river. The river runs to the sea. That is where our drop began.

Did you know? The ocean holds almost all the water on Earth. That is 96 cups out of every 100.

The sun shines down again. The warm drop rises. The long trip starts over.

The water on Earth goes round and round. It has done that for a very long time. Almost all of it is old.

So the water in your glass has been rain before. It may even have been a dinosaur's drink.