Let's talk about water.. a follow up to our rainy day

What type of water is rain? Is it salt water? Fresh water? Where does rain come from?

The ocean covers 71% of our Earth. Ocean water is SALTY.  As the sun heats up the ocean surface, water molecules in the ocean evaporate!

EVAPORATION is a part of the water cycle. Evaporation involves heat, which can turn water into water vapor or steam. When it is hot enough, water vapor leaves our ocean, rivers, and streams and rises into the air and stays in our atmosphere. 

In Oscar I Am, Oscar, Hank, and Hannah begin their adventure as water vapor, in the form of a cloud. The three friends later condense into water droplets and fall down as rain over the SC mountains. They took place in PRECIPITATION.

Rain is a form of precipitation. Rain water is FRESH water. There is no salt present in rain water.

So what happens to the salt in the ocean water as it evaporates into the atmosphere?! 

Salt water is a SOLUTION. A solution is two substances that are evenly mixed together. There are two parts: the SOLUTE and the SOLVENT. A SOLUTE is the substance being dissolved and the SOLVENT is the one doing the dissolving.

SALT WATER = SALT (SOLUTE) + WATER (SOLVENT)


So as evaporation takes place in the ocean, salt molecules stay behind, while the water molecules enter our atmosphere as water vapor, free of salt!