Which process is part of the water cycle?

• A. Transpiration
• B. Osmosis
• C. Evaporation
• D. Filtration

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is that the water cycle relies on water changing states as it moves through the environment. Evaporation is the process where liquid water absorbs heat and becomes water vapor, rising from oceans, lakes, and soils into the atmosphere. This step is essential to transfer water into the air so it can later condense and fall as precipitation, continuing the cycle. Transpiration, the water vapor plants release from leaves, is related and does contribute to atmospheric moisture, but evaporation is the broad term that describes the primary phase-change process driving the cycle. Osmosis is the movement of water across a membrane to balance solute concentrations in cells, not a cycle-scale process. Filtration is about separating solids from liquids, not part of the cycle’s atmospheric transfer.