Class 6 Science · Original EZT practice
A Journey through States of Water (Class 6 Chapter 8): summary and practice
A puddle vanishes in the sun and drops form on a cold glass. Chapter 8 follows water through its three states and the changes between them, ending with how clouds give rain. All questions are original EZT tutor practice following the chapter's own section order. Edition note: this page covers the new NCERT book Curiosity (Grade 6). Older Class 6 books numbered this chapter differently - check your chapter title, not just the number.
8 original worked examples, 8 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 20 October 2026:
1. Where does water go? Evaporation
Water slowly turns into invisible water vapour at any temperature - this is evaporation. It happens faster when it is warmer, when the exposed surface is larger, when the air is dry and when there is wind.
2. Three states of water
Water exists as a solid (ice), a liquid (water) and a gas (water vapour). A solid has a fixed shape; a liquid takes the shape of its container; a gas spreads to fill the space.
3. Changing the states
Heating ice makes it melt into water; cooling water makes it freeze into ice. Heating water turns it into vapour (evaporation or boiling); cooling vapour turns it back into liquid - condensation. Water freezes at zero degrees Celsius and boils at hundred degrees Celsius at normal pressure.
4. Cooling effect and rain
Evaporation takes heat from the surroundings, so it cools. Sweat evaporating cools the body; water in an earthen pot (matka) stays cool because water evaporates from its outer surface. Clouds are tiny water droplets formed when rising water vapour cools and condenses; when the droplets grow heavy they fall as rain.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Explain why spread-out clothes dry faster
Choose the method: Check which conditions for faster evaporation the sunlight and spreading provide.
EZT practice question
Wet clothes dry faster spread out in sunlight than folded in shade. Why?
Show the worked solution
- Spreading the clothes makes the exposed surface larger.
- Sunlight makes them warmer.
- Larger surface and more heat both speed up evaporation.
Answer: A larger exposed surface and more heat speed up evaporation, so spread-out clothes in sunlight dry faster.
Check: The answer names the two changed conditions: surface area and warmth.
Watch for this: Do not credit only the sun; spreading the clothes out matters just as much.
Now try it yourself
Define evaporation.
Check your answer
The slow change of liquid water into water vapour at any temperature.
That is the chapter's definition of evaporation.
Name conditions that speed up evaporation
Choose the method: Recall the four helpers: heat, surface, dry air, wind.
EZT practice question
Name two conditions that make evaporation faster.
Show the worked solution
- Think of what changes how fast water disappears.
- Any two of: higher temperature, larger surface area, dry air, wind.
Answer: Any two of: higher temperature, larger surface area, dry air and wind.
Check: Each named condition is one the chapter lists as speeding up evaporation.
Watch for this: Do not say humid air; moisture-laden air slows evaporation down.
Now try it yourself
Why do clothes dry slowly on a humid day?
Check your answer
The air already holds a lot of water vapour, so it cannot take up much more.
Evaporation slows when the surrounding air is already moist.
Name the state of water in common examples
Choose the method: Ask whether it has a fixed shape, takes the container's shape, or spreads out.
EZT practice question
Name the state of water in ice, a river and steam.
Show the worked solution
- Ice has a fixed shape - solid.
- A river's water takes the shape of its bed and banks - liquid.
- Steam spreads out - gas.
Answer: Ice is solid, river water is liquid, steam is gas (water vapour).
Check: Each example is matched to the shape behaviour of its state.
Watch for this: Do not call steam a liquid; tiny droplets aside, steam itself is water vapour, a gas.
Now try it yourself
Which state has a fixed shape?
Check your answer
The solid state.
Solids keep their own shape; liquids and gases do not.
Identify the state that spreads to fill space
Choose the method: Ask which state has no fixed shape or volume of its own.
EZT practice question
Which state of water fills a whole closed room?
Show the worked solution
- A solid keeps its shape and stays put.
- A liquid settles at the bottom of its container.
- A gas spreads to fill all the available space.
Answer: Gas - water vapour spreads out to fill the whole room.
Check: Only the gas state has the spreading behaviour described.
Watch for this: Do not say liquid; a liquid takes the container's shape but stays at the bottom.
Now try it yourself
Name the gaseous form of water.
Check your answer
Water vapour.
The chapter calls water's gas state water vapour.
Explain drops on the outside of a cold glass
Choose the method: Ask where the water could come from and what change cooling causes.
EZT practice question
Drops form on the outside of a cold glass of water. Which change is this and where does the water come from?
Show the worked solution
- The drops are on the outside, so they did not leak from inside.
- Air around the glass holds invisible water vapour.
- Vapour touching the cold glass cools and turns to liquid.
Answer: Condensation - water vapour in the air cools on the cold glass and turns to liquid.
Check: The source (air) and the change (vapour to liquid on cooling) are both named.
Watch for this: Do not say the glass leaked; the water comes from the air, not from inside.
Now try it yourself
At what temperature does water freeze?
Check your answer
At zero degrees Celsius.
Water turns to ice at zero degrees Celsius at normal pressure.
Name the change of state in everyday events
Choose the method: Identify the starting and ending state, then name the change.
EZT practice question
Name the change in each: (a) ice cream melting, (b) water in the freezer becoming ice, (c) mist forming.
Show the worked solution
- Ice cream goes from solid to liquid.
- Water in the freezer goes from liquid to solid.
- Mist is vapour turning into tiny liquid droplets.
Answer: (a) melting, (b) freezing, (c) condensation.
Check: Each name matches the direction of the state change.
Watch for this: Do not mix up freezing and melting; freezing is liquid to solid.
Now try it yourself
What is condensation?
Check your answer
The change of water vapour into liquid water on cooling.
That is the chapter's definition of condensation.
Explain why an earthen pot keeps water cool
Choose the method: Follow the heat: what evaporates, and what loses heat?
EZT practice question
Why does water in an earthen pot stay cool?
Show the worked solution
- The pot's walls are porous, so a little water seeps to the outer surface.
- That water evaporates from the outside surface.
- Evaporation takes heat away from the pot and the water inside.
Answer: Water seeps out and evaporates from the pot's outer surface, taking heat away, so the water inside stays cool.
Check: The explanation links evaporation to the loss of heat.
Watch for this: Do not say the pot blocks heat like a thermos; the cooling comes from evaporation.
Now try it yourself
Why do we feel cool when sweat dries?
Check your answer
Sweat evaporates and takes heat from our skin.
Evaporation always draws heat from the surface it leaves.
Put the steps of rain formation in order
Choose the method: Start at the sea or puddle and follow the water upward and back down.
EZT practice question
Put these in order for rain: cloud droplets grow heavy, water evaporates, vapour condenses, rain falls.
Show the worked solution
- First, water evaporates from water bodies.
- Rising vapour cools and condenses into tiny droplets - a cloud forms.
- The droplets grow heavy and fall as rain.
Answer: Water evaporates, vapour condenses (cloud forms), droplets grow heavy, rain falls.
Check: The order follows water from the ground to the cloud and back down.
Watch for this: Do not place condensation before evaporation; vapour must exist before it can condense.
Now try it yourself
What are clouds made of?
Check your answer
Tiny water droplets formed when water vapour cools and condenses.
Condensed vapour in the sky collects as the droplets we see as clouds.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. What is evaporation?
Show answer and reason
The slow change of liquid water into water vapour.
It happens at any temperature, faster with heat, wind, dry air or a large surface.
2. What is condensation?
Show answer and reason
The change of water vapour into liquid water on cooling.
Drops on a cold glass are the standard example.
3. At what temperatures does water freeze and boil?
Show answer and reason
Zero degrees Celsius and hundred degrees Celsius at normal pressure.
These are the two fixed points named in the chapter.
4. What are clouds made of?
Show answer and reason
Tiny water droplets.
Rising vapour cools and condenses into droplets.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Why does a puddle vanish faster on a windy day than on a still day?
- Name the state change when (a) dew forms on grass and (b) ice cubes turn to water in a glass.
- Explain in two sentences how clouds give rain.
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Questions about this practice page
- What is evaporation?
- The slow change of liquid water into water vapour, faster when it is warm, dry, windy or the surface is large.
- What is condensation?
- The change of water vapour into liquid water on cooling.
- At what temperatures does water freeze and boil?
- At zero degrees Celsius and hundred degrees Celsius at normal pressure.
- Why does a matka keep water cool?
- Evaporation from its outer surface takes heat from the water inside.
- Are these the NCERT exercise questions for A Journey through States of Water?
- No. EZT pages are original practice following the chapter's section order - use them to prepare for the textbook exercises, not as a substitute for your book.