BrainiLab Academy · Geography
Follow water from cloud to coast
Try ten short activities about water. Compare two glasses, read a river jar, work with shallow wells, and make sense of waves and tides.
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What you’ll explore
Follow water from the air to the ground and out to the sea. At each stop you can make a prediction, read a simple example and check your answer. Start at lesson one and continue in order, or go straight to the scene you want to understand.
Keep the water cycle reading hub open beside this course. It connects each exercise to a separate explanation and shows where water can go next.
One discovery at a time
Your lessons, step by step
- 1
Read →1 min read · Quick quiz
Evaporation practice: plan a fair drying test
Choose conditions for comparing exposed surface area without mixing it up with wind or temperature.
Ready when you are - 2
Read →1 min read · Quick quiz
Condensation practice: compare two glasses
Use a chilled and a room-temperature glass to identify why condensation appears.
Ready when you are - 3
Read →1 min read · Quick quiz
Fog practice: predict which road stays clear
Compare a valley road and a higher road using clues about cooling, moisture and altitude.
Ready when you are - 4
Read →1 min read · Quick quiz
Hail practice: trace a stone through a storm
Predict where a hailstone can grow and why it can fall past an updraught.
Ready when you are - 5
Read →1 min read · Quick quiz
Runoff practice: compare paving and grass
Predict what happens to the same rainfall on paving, dry soil and already wet soil.
Ready when you are - 6
Read →1 min read · Quick quiz
Water table practice: compare two shallow wells
Convert two well depths to water levels above the same reference and compare them.
Ready when you are - 7
Read →1 min read · Quick quiz
Waterfall practice: predict where the ledge moves
Arrange three erosion stages and predict which way the fall retreats.
Ready when you are - 8
Read →1 min read · Quick quiz
Sediment practice: read two jars of river water
Distinguish settling particles from colour that stays in the water.
Ready when you are - 9
Read →1 min read · Quick quiz
Tide practice: read a harbour prediction table
Calculate a tidal range and tell a height prediction apart from a current prediction.
Ready when you are - 10
Read →1 min read · Quick quiz
Wave practice: time the crests beside a pier
Calculate a typical interval between crests and distinguish it from the distance between them.
Ready when you are
A few words worth knowing
- Condensation
- Water vapour changing into liquid water.
- Runoff
- Water that moves across the ground surface.
- Tidal range
- The difference in water level between high and low tide.
- Wave period
- Time between successive wave crests passing the same point.
Curious to dig deeper?
- US Geological Survey · The water cycle
- NOAA Ocean Service · What is a current survey?
- NOAA Ocean Service · Waves and currents tutorial
Follow the sources, explore a little further, or tell us if something needs a correction. Suggest a correction.