Drop Cycle

What your child will figure out

• Change solar energy and observe how it changes evaporation without creating or removing water.
• Use cooling evidence to explain why invisible water vapour condenses into tiny liquid cloud droplets.
• Trace precipitation and runoff back to a reservoir while preserving a fixed water inventory.
• Transfer the cycle to a coastal mountain and predict rain on the cooling windward side.

The levels

1. Sun spark

   Play with solar energy, predict evaporation, then stop the energy while the fixed water inventory remains.

2. Cloud maker

   Predict and create condensation by moving cool air across rising water vapour.

3. Rain weight

   Keep the air cool while natural collisions grow droplets until gravity produces rain and runoff.

4. Golden round trip

   Follow one tagged particle through the complete loop and explain conservation of water.

5. Mountain crossing

   Transfer the model to moist ocean air rising over a mountain and predict the rainy side.