Paper 5

1. Define natural resources and dicuss their salient features

answer: These are the resources that are found in the environment and are
developed without the intervention of humans. Common examples of natural
resources include air, sunlight, water, soil, stone, plants, animals and fossil fuels.
Natural resources are naturally occurring materials that are useful to man or
could be useful under conceivable technological, economic or social
circumstances or supplies drawn from the earth, supplies such as food, building
and clothing materials, fertilizers, metals, water and geothermal power. For a long
time, natural resources were the domain of the natural sciences.
Based on the availability are two types of natural resources:
1.Renewable: resources that are available in infinite quantity and can be
used repeatedly are called renewable resources. Example: Forest, wind,
water, etc.
2.Non-Renewable: resources that are limited in abundance due to their
non-renewable nature and whose availability may run out in the future are
called non-renewable resources. Examples include fossil
On the basis of origin, natural resources may be divided into two types:
Biotic — Biotic resources are obtained from the biosphere (living and organic
material), such as forests and animals, and the materials that can be obtained
from them. Fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum are also included in this
category because they are formed from decayed organic matter.
Abiotic – Abiotic resources are those that comes from non-living, non-organic
material,etc. Examples of abiotic resources include land, fresh water, air, rare-
earth elements, and heavy metals including ores, such
as gold, iron, copper, silver, etc.
Considering their stage of development, natural resources may be referred to in
the following ways:
Potential resources — Potential resources are those that may be used in the
future—for example, petroleum in sedimentary rocks that, until drilled out and
put to use remains a potential resource
Actual resources — Those resources that have been surveyed, quantified and
qualified, and are currently used in development, such as wood processing, and
are typically dependent on technology
Reserve resources — The part of an actual resource that can be developed
profitably in the future
Stock resources — Those that have been surveyed, but cannot be used due to
lack of technology—for example, hydrogen

2. Discuss the various sources and importance of water resources

Sources of Water:
The important sources of water can be classified into two groups:
Surface Water:
Surface water is found in rivers, lakes, or other surface impoundments. Surface
water is naturally replenished by precipitation and naturally lost through
discharge to evaporation and sub-surface seepage into the ground. Surface water
is exposed to many different contaminants, such as animal wastes, pesticides,etc.
Ground Water:
Ground water is water trapped beneath the ground. Rain that soaks into the
ground, rivers that, disappear beneath the earth and melting snow are but a few
of the sources that recharge the supply of underground water.
Other sources of water, which have not yet been tapped but represent a potential
source, are saline lakes, saline springs, snow and ice fields.
Rivers:
India’s rivers are classified as Himalayan, peninsular, coastal and inland-drainage
basin rivers.
i. Himalayan Rivers:
The principle Himalayan Rivers are the Indus, the legendary Ganga arid the
Brahmaputra. These rivers are both naturally snow fed and rain fed and hence
perennial throughout the year. Himalayan rivers discharge approximately 70 per
cent of their flow into the sea. The other rivers that chalk out their origin and
course in the Himalayan ranges include: Sutlej, Chenab, Beas, Ravi, Jhelum,
Yamuna and Spiti.
ii. Coastal Rivers:
Coastal rivers in India are primarily designated by the areas that lie close to or
nearby sea and oceans. The coastal rivers, which can be almost regarded as
streams, especially on the West coast, are short in length, episodic, ephemeral
and have small catchments. There are many as six hundred rivers on the coast.
iii. Deccan rivers:
The Deccan Rivers are primarily rain fed and as a consequence immensely
fluctuate in volume. All of these rivers are non-perennial in nature. The major
rivers in this region are Godavari, Krishna, Cauveri, Mahanandi, Narmada, Tapi,
Indravati, Tughbandra and Bhima.
iv. Inland Rivers:
Rivers of the Inland system, centered in western Rajasthan, are few and
frequently disappear in years of scant rainfall.
Importance of Water Resources
Water is life in every sense of the word. As the largest natural resource, many
living things humans included rely on water for survival. From cooking, drinking,
flushing toilets, washing clothes, brushing teeth amongst others, humans use
water in many parts of our lives. However, despite the many things that water is
used for, we rarely think about water as a resource. Water as a resource is scarce
and the availability of water resources is the most serious global problem. Only
3% of the world’s water resource is available for human consumption, but even
some of this is unusable because it is polluted.

3.

Most of us have probably realized it by now; that soil is necessary for the
sustainability of humankind. It might sound a little cliché yet what we sow is what
we harvest.
What we have done to take care of our environment has manifested in so many
ways, just like the disasters we have encountered in the past or the tragedies our
ancestors and elderly have gone through. Some of these may not affect us
deliberately, while some gave us memories that we can never forget and even
pass on to our juniors. There are things we really had to learn the hard way.

While we have started some precautionary and conservation measures, here are
a few reasons why soil protection is imperative:

1.The soil is literally the foundation of plant life. A tree will not be a tree
without soil. While there are some plants that can live in water or air, most
plants need to be rooted to the ground.
It is the soil that provides nutrition to this plant life. It is through this vegetation
that nourishes the humankind and the animal kingdom. Plants are important
resource of food and fuel and of wood and other by-products that make our other
life functions possible.

2.The soil additionally supports the animal kingdom. Our agriculture also relies
on soil, for its location and for other functions to be derived from its existence.
It will be almost impossible to support the animal and human life without land.
Biodiversity relies on soil at all times.
3.The soil is necessary for water supply. This is the magic of nature. The land is
also necessary to ensure the quality of water we derive from our earth. Soil
 and water co-exist. So do we and soil co-exist? Taking good care of our soil
equates to taking care of our water supply.
There are always a lot more reasons to conserve soil. However, I believe that the
above are simply enough for us to start conserving our land resources as soon as
we can.

Soil Conservation Measures:

Mulching: In agriculture and gardening, mulch is a protective cover placed

over the soil to retain moisture, reduce erosion, provide nutrients, and
suppress weed growth.
Contour Farming: On gentle slopes, crops are grown in rows across, rather
than up and down, a practice known as contour farming.
Terrace Farming: These are made on the steep slopes so that flat surfaces are
available to grow crops. They can reduce surface run-off and soil erosion.
Alley cropping: It is a form of inter-cropping in which crops are planted
between rows of trees or shrubs. This is called Agro-forestry.
Strip Cropping: Strip cropping is a method of farming used when a slope is too
steep or too long, or when other types of farming may not prevent soil erosion.

Paper4
1.
Earth is enveloped by a deep blanket of gases extending several thousands of
kilometres above its surface. This gaseous cover of the earth is known as the
atmosphere.
Compared to the earth’s radius, the atmosphere appears to be only a very thin
layer of gases. However, because of the force of gravity, it is inseparable from
the earth.
Composition of atmosphere:
The atmosphere is a mixture of many gases. In addition, it contains huge
numbers of solid and liquid particles, collectively called ‘aerosols’.
Other constituents vary in quantity from place to place and from time to time.
If the suspended particles, water vapour and other variable gases were
excluded from the atmosphere, then the dry air is very stable all over the earth
up to an altitude of about 80 kilometres.
The proportion of gases changes in the higher layers of the atmosphere in such
a way that oxygen will be almost in negligible quantity at the height of 120 km.
Similarly, carbon dioxide and water vapour are found only up to 90 km from the
surface of the earth.
Nitrogen and oxygen make up nearly 99% of the clean, dry air. The remaining
gases are mostly inert and constitute about 1% of the atmosphere.
Besides these gases, large quantities of water vapour and dust particles are
also present in the atmosphere. These solid and liquid particles are of great
climatic significance.
Different constituents of the atmosphere, with their individual characteristics,
are discussed below
1.Oxygen:
Oxygen, although constituting only 21% of total volume of atmosphere, is the
most important component among gases. .

2.Nitrogen:
Nitrogen accounts for 78% of total atmospheric volume. It is a relatively inert
gas, and is an important constituent of all organic compounds
3.Carbon dioxide:
The third important gas is Carbon Dioxide in dry air and is a product of
combustion. Green plants, through photosynthesis, absorb carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere and use it to manufacture food and keep other bio-physical
processes going.

2. A food chain explains which organism eats another organism in the

environment. The food chain is a linear sequence of organisms where nutrients
and energy is transferred from one organism to the other. This occurs when
one organism consumes another organism. It begins with producer organism,
follows the chain and ends with decomposer organism. After understanding
the food chain, we realise how one organism is dependent upon another
species for survival.
The food chain consists of four major parts, namely:

The Sun: The sun is the initial source of energy, which provides energy for
everything on the planet.
Producers: The producers in a food chain include all autotrophs such as
 phytoplankton, cyanobacteria, algae, green plants. This is the first stage in a
food chain. The producers make up the first level of a food chain. The
producers utilise the energy from the sun to make food. Producers are also
known as autotrophs
herbivores are known as primary consumers and carnivores are secondary
consumers. The second trophic level includes organisms that eat producers.
Decomposers: Decomposers are organisms that get energy from dead or waste
organic material. This is the last stage in a food chain.
3. samjh nahi aaya tha mama

Paper 6

1.

Sources of Energy
1.Renewable Energy
a.Solar Energy
b.Wind Energy
c.Biomass and Biofuels
d Water and geothermal
2.Non Renewable energy
3.Related Resources
Energy is the capacity of a physical system to perform work. Energy exists in
several forms such as heat , kinetic or mechanical energy, light, potential energy ,
electrical, or other forms. Energy is the ability to do work. Energy sources could
be classified as Renewable and Non-renewable.

I helps in development of a nation in following ways:

IMPROVED QUALITY OF LIFE
1.Human Development Index (HDI). The
UN Human Development Index (HDI) 3 scores correlate strongly (76.0%)4 with
access to commercial energy and even more strongly 87.6% to electricity
2.Education: Education indicators link positively with modern energy services,
with higher literacy and overall (male and female) school enrollment rates
correlating to electricity access
3.Health: Reduction in maternal mortality is significantly correlated (-84.5%) with
electricity consumption. The correlation with infant mortality rates is somewhat
weaker (-60.3%). Increases in life
expectancy have a 65.7 percent correlation with increases in electricity
consumption in low-income countries.
4. GDP and Income:Increasing per capita
electricity consumption has a 90 percent correlation with increasing per capita
GDP. By relieving the burden of gathering traditional fuels (fuel wood, dung,
agricultural residue) and allowing poor citizens to dedicate the time savings to
income-generating opportunities and by facilitating the shift to mechanized
agriculture and small commercial enterprises, modern energy sources allow the
most vulnerable citizens to better provide for their household

3.A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed underground from the

remains of dead plants and animals that humans extract and burn to release
energy for use. The main fossil fuels are coal, petroleum and natural gas,which
humans extract through mining and drilling. Fossil fuels may be burnt to provide
heat for use directly (e.g. for cooking), to power engines (such as internal
combustion engines in motor vehicles), or to generate electricity.[The principal
origin of fossil fuels is the anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms,
containing organic molecules created in ancient photosynthesis
Coal is a fossil fuel, and is the dirtiest of them all, responsible for over 0.3C of the
1C increase in global average temperatures. This makes it the single largest source
of global temperature rise.
Oil releases a huge amount of carbon when burned - approximately a third of the
world’s total carbon emissions. There have also been a number of oil spills in
recent years that have a devastating impact on our ocean’s ecosystem.
Natural gas is often promoted as a cleaner energy source than coal and oil.
However, natural gas is still a fossil fuel and accounts for a fifth of the world’s total
carbon emissions