in modern times, the quantity of water in various states has remained fairly constant. About ninety-six percent is sea water and less than three percent is fresh water. The remaining H2O is in the atmosphere as water vapor.The water cycle describes the amazing movement of water between forms. Meteorologists call this cycle the hydrologic cycle. The three main phases of the hydrologic cycle are evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. After swimming you are wet, but eventually you become dry.That water does not simply disappear; it evaporates into the atmosphere. Molecules of water in the sky collect and form clouds. This is the process of condensation. Rain and snow are forms of precipitation, the falling of water from the atmosphere back to the ground.