IB ESS SL 4.1.1 Water Movement Drivers Questions
Explain how gravity, solar energy, pressure and topography drive water movement.
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2026
- Course
- ESS SL
- Level
- SL
Exam points
- identify solar energy and wind as energy sources that drive ocean currents and water movement
- explain how solar heating causes evaporation, phase changes, winds and transfers of water and latent heat in the hydrological cycle
- link energy inputs and transformations to the movement of water between stores and flows
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IB ESS SL 4.1.1 Water Movement Drivers Questions question 1
[Maximum number: 4]
Outline how energy drives the hydrological cycle.
primary source of energy driving hydrological cycle is solar energy;
solar energy causes changes of state in water eg evaporation/sublimation/melting/transpiration;
condensation of water releases (latent) heat energy causing air to rise/hurricanes;
solar energy causes the temperature differences that create winds/cause movement of water vapour in the atmosphere/advection;
kinetic/wind energy moves clouds (from ocean over land, usually);
solar energy melts ice producing streams/lakes/rising ocean levels;
solar energy causes both transfers (eg advection) and transformations (eg evaporation) in hydrological cycle;
precipitation/run-off/streamflow occurs due to gravitational energy/difference in potential energy between the high and low positions;
transpiration is driven by opening of leaf stomata which is due to chemical energy (cellular respiration in mitochondria);
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