Free interactive chemistry · SIM-ENV-001
Water and air cycle
Water molecules travel through the water cycle: oceans, air, rain, rivers and ice.
Open the interactive simulation →How to use this simulation
- Watch the molecules evaporate, travel as vapour, fall as rain and flow back.
- Open the “Reservoirs” panel to see where Earth’s water is stored.
- Read the residence times: how long a molecule usually stays in each place.
What to notice
- Almost all water is in the oceans; fresh liquid water is a tiny share.
- A molecule stays in the air for about 9 days, but in deep ground water or ice for thousands of years.
Try this
Find the reservoir with the longest residence time. Why is pollution there hard to clean up?
Try it for free →