Students are curious about what happens to precipitation as it falls to Earth. They model a rain storm occurring on the side of a hill using a stream table. After pouring 500 mL of water onto the stream table and collecting the water runoff in a bucket, they measure 400 mL of runoff in the bucket. What conclusion is best supported by the experiment?

Modeling rainstorms using a water table has no limitations.

Most precipitation that falls to Earth is water in the form of a liquid.

Some precipitation that falls to Earth is absorbed into the soil.

All precipitation that falls to Earth flows back into the oceans.