Skip to the lesson
Water and oceans · Discover & try

Where can a drop of water go next?

Reading level 5 of 5 · AdvancedChange
1 · Shorter sentences5 · More detail

Scientists call water stores pools and the processes moving water between them fluxes. Evaporation, precipitation, infiltration, and recharge connect those pools. Human activities such as pumping also move water. The branching activity shows possible routes without claiming they are equally likely or equally fast.

Word help
evaporation

Liquid water changing into water vapour.

infiltration

Water entering the ground from the surface.

transpiration

Water vapour released from plant leaves.

storage

Water remaining in a place before moving onward.

Watch · Try · Explain

See how it works

The interactive activity is loading.

Possible water pathways; arrows do not indicate travel times or probabilities.

What to look for
  • More than one route from the same place
  • Changes between liquid, ice, and vapour
  • Places where water can remain stored
Explain what you noticed

What can happen after rain reaches the land?

Keep this idea: Water can take branching paths and remain stored.

Follow the sources

Source material checked 2026-10-28. Explanations and activities by Nepedia. Agency source links do not imply endorsement.

Keep following the idea

Which river will this rain reach?

Next discovery →

← All five questions in this journeySaved experiments