A water droplet stops on vegetation as it passes through the water cycle. Water travels from the land and ocean into the atmosphere and then returns to the land and ocean in a process called the water cycle. Evaporation, condensation, and precipitation are its three components. A spring of water that emerges from the earth in a valley lifts it upward. The raindrop falls into the springwater, which then empties into a river. The entire river pours into the ocean and goes downward. In the ocean, a raindrop dries out and transforms into water vapor, a gas. When water vapor touches microscopic dust particles floating in the sky, raindrops start to form. When the dust droplets reach millimeter size, they become sufficiently heavy to start dropping.