David Sandham, age 11, of Dolhousle, Ontario, for his question:

  What is the water cycle?

A cycle is a series of events which repeats itself again and again. The earths s water supply, or some of it, has a habit of repeating a series of events time and again. To do this, it needs the help of the smiling sun and the help of gravity which hugs everything to the surface of the earth.

The sun warms the surface of the seas, lakes and streams. Every day this causes hundreds of tons of water to evaporate. It becomes vapor in the air. The vapor turns to floating clouds, Sooner or later the clouds become too heavy to float aloft. Then the earth's gravity pulls them down as rain, snow or hail. Some of the rain water sinks into the ground, feeding the plants and animals. Some of it runs back to the sea. There it may evaporate and the water cycle starts all over again.