Wohin verschwindet eine Pfütze?

Have you ever watched a puddle disappear on a sunny day? It's like water playing hide-and-seek: you can't see it, but it hasn't left the game. If water truly vanished, plants couldn't keep getting the rain they need. So where does that puddle water go?

Sunlight warms the puddle. Some water becomes an invisible gas called water vapor and rises into the air. Higher up, cooler air turns that vapor back into tiny drops, which gather in clouds. When drops join together and grow heavy, they fall as rain. The hiding water returns!

After a shower, look for a new puddle on your sidewalk: rain has brought water back down, though not necessarily to the same spot. The sun can warm that puddle again, so the game keeps going. How does hidden water return? It cools into cloud drops, then falls as rain.