NCERT Solutions Curiosity Chapter 8 Fig. 8.9 Change of states and movement of water — Activity 8.11: Let us understand the process
Book page 159 Updated on2026-09-05
Q1.
Label Fig. 8.9 using arrows shown and the words given in the box to show where water is stored, how water changes its state and where it moves. [Cloud, Lake, Ocean, River, Groundwater, Evaporation, Condensation, Rain, Snow]
Answer
Here is the figure with all nine words placed correctly.
The water cycle. Water evaporates from the ocean, rivers, lakes and wet land; the rising air cools and the vapour condenses around dust particles to form clouds; the droplets join and fall as rain, hail or snow; the water collects in lakes and rivers, soaks in as groundwater, and finally flows back to the ocean.
Word from the box
Where it goes on the figure
What it shows
Ocean
The large body of water on the left
Where water is stored — most of the Earth's water
Evaporation
On the upward arrows from the ocean and from the wet land
Change of state: liquid → gas
Condensation
At the cloud that is forming, high in the air
Change of state: gas → liquid
Cloud
The floating masses of tiny droplets
Where water is stored in the sky
Rain
On the downward arrows and droplets below the dark cloud
Water moving back to the Earth
Snow
On the white cap of the mountain
Water stored in the solid state
River
The winding blue line from the hills to the ocean
Water moving over the land
Lake
The still body of water on the land
Water stored on the surface
Groundwater
The band below the land surface, with arrows soaking down into it
Water stored under the ground
The chapter's summing up:the water from the ocean and the Earth's surface evaporates into the atmosphere as vapour and returns as rain, hail or snow, ultimately flowing back to the oceans. This circulation of water is known as the water cycle.
Why it is called a cycle: there is no beginning and no end, and no new water is ever made. The same water goes round and round — the water in your glass today may have been in a Himalayan glacier, in the Bay of Bengal and inside a mango tree before it reached you. That is also why wasting or polluting water matters so much: we cannot manufacture more.
Q2.
What did I do well? Was I able to label all the parts of the water cycle? Which parts of the water cycle were unclear to me?
Answer
This is a self-reflection box, so the answer must be your own. Answer it honestly in three short parts — it is not marked, it is meant to show you what to revise.
Sample answer:What I did well: I labelled the ocean, the cloud, the rain, the river and the snow on the mountain without help, and I got all the arrows pointing in the right direction — upward for evaporation, downward for rain. Was I able to label all the parts? Yes, all nine, but I had to think twice about groundwater. What was unclear: I first wrote "condensation" next to the rain instead of next to the forming cloud. I now understand that condensation is the moment the vapour becomes droplets and makes the cloud, while rain is what happens later, when the droplets have joined into drops heavy enough to fall.
Points worth checking in your own diagram:
Does the arrow for evaporation point upward, and the arrows for rain point downward?
Is condensation marked where the cloud forms, not where the rain falls?
Is groundwater shown below the land surface?
Does the river end in the ocean, completing the circle?
Have you shown that evaporation happens from the land, lakes and rivers too, not just from the sea?
Why reflection is part of science: knowing exactly which step you got wrong is more useful than knowing your score. The chapter has used the same habit throughout — observe, question, guess, test, and then look back at what worked.