What is water cycle?

• A. The continual movement of water among Earth's atmosphere, oceans, and land surface through evaporation, condensation, and precipitation
• B. A cycle of water that occurs only in rivers
• C. A cycle of water that is stored in rocks only
• D. A cycle of water that happens exclusively in plants

Answer: (A)

The water cycle describes the continuous movement of water through Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces. Water from oceans, lakes, and other bodies evaporates into the air, rises and cools to form clouds through condensation, and falls as precipitation back to the surface. Water also moves via plant transpiration and surface evaporation, and then travels across the land by runoff or soaks into the soil to become groundwater, continuing to feed streams and rivers. This description matches the idea of a continual movement of water among the atmosphere, oceans, and land through evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. The other ideas are too narrow, since they limit the cycle to rivers, rocks, or plants and miss the global, interconnected pathways that move water across different parts of the planet.