Earths Materials
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EARTH’S MATERIALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES Name__________________________ Date_____ Block____ Natural Resources A natural resource is a useful material that comes from the Earth. Natural resources can be classified as non-renewable, renewable, or inexhaustible. People use natural resources to meet their basic needs and to make their lives better. People need natural resources for daily life. We use these resources to meet our basic needs, such as the need for water or shelter. But we also use the resources to make things that make our lives easier and better. Some of Earth's resources are present in limited amounts. Other resources can be replaced almost as fast as we use them. Still other kinds of resources can never be used up. These three kinds of resources are called non-renewable resources, renewable resources, and inexhaustible resources. Non-Renewable Resources Metals, rocks, oil, and natural gas are non-renewable resources. Non-renewable resources can be used up. • Metals—We use metal to build homes and other buildings. We make cans to hold drinks and food. We make cars and buses so we can go places. We make silverware to eat with. We dig metal ore out of the Earth and use it to make steel for buildings, cars, and buses. • Rocks—Rocks are earth materials, usually made of minerals. Rocks can be found in and on Earth's crust. Many kinds of rocks are considered to be non-renewable resources because they can take hundreds to millions of years to form. Rocks are used for building roads, bridges, and buildings. Sand, which is a kind of rock, can be melted and processed to make glass. 1 EARTH’S MATERIALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES Name__________________________ Date_____ Block____ Rocks are used to build many things, including bridges and buildings. • Fossil fuels—Oil, coal, and natural gas are non-renewable resources. They are found under the ground. They are made from plants and animals that died a very long time ago. We call oil, coal, and natural gas fossil fuels because they are made from these dead organisms. We use oil to make plastics and synthetic (man-made) fibers to make clothing. We use plastics to package new things—from food to toys to school supplies. We use at least some plastic parts in televisions, cars, computers, and kitchen appliances. We also use oil, natural gas, or other fossil fuels to heat homes, cook food, and to power cars and electrical appliances. The video below talks more about plastics and how they come from oil that is pumped from the ground. _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ Renewable Resources Renewable resources can be replaced within a short time of when they are used. Water, sunlight, plants, and animals are renewable resources. • Water—Nearly all lifeforms on Earth need water in order to survive. Water is considered a renewable resource because it is not destroyed with use. It is simply changed to a different form. Much of the water that people use for drinking and daily activities is pumped out of the 2 EARTH’S MATERIALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES Name__________________________ Date_____ Block____ ground or out of surface bodies of water, such as lakes. Sometimes, fresh water sources like wells or lakes can run out of water because the water that was removed from them travels to a different place. Drinking water is usually pumped out of lakes or the ground. The old windmill shown on the right pumps water when it turns. • Sunlight—The Sun provides the Earth with light and heat energy. We use the light to see during the daytime. The heat keeps most of the Earth at a temperature in which humans and other animals can survive. Plants use the light energy to make food, which humans and other animals eat for energy. The heat and light energy from the Sun is renewable, or even inexhaustible because we cannot use it up. The Sun constantly produces heat and light energy. Some of this energy reaches the Earth's surface. • Plants—Trees and plants are renewable because they can be regrown. We use trees to make paper, lumber, firewood, and cardboard. People also get food from plants. Fruits, vegetables, beans, and grains all come from plants or trees. Paper is used to make books so 3 EARTH’S MATERIALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES Name__________________________ Date_____ Block____ we can learn. It is used to make newspapers and magazines so we can find out what is going on in the world around us. Lumber is used to build homes and other buildings. Firewood is burned to heat homes. Cardboard is used to make boxes for shipping and storing things. We have to cut down trees to make paper, like the paper we use for books. • Animals—Animals are renewable natural resources because they are able to reproduce. People get many useful materials from animals. For example, they use chicken eggs, feathers, and meat for food. They raise cows to get milk and meat that they use for food, and to get leather they can use to make clothing, furniture, and other goods. People raise animals on farms to get useful products from them. Energy Resources We use many different kinds of natural resources to produce electrical energy for powering the machines we use in our daily lives. Some energy sources are renewable or inexhaustible natural resources. Others are nonrenewable. 4 EARTH’S MATERIALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES Name__________________________ Date_____ Block____ We use energy for many things. It heats our homes. It makes our cars run. Many different kinds of natural resources can be used to produce energy for these things. These different resources are available on Earth in different amounts. The resources that can be used up are called non-renewable. The resources that can be replaced about as fast as we use them are renewable. Resources that cannot be used up, no matter how much we use, are inexhaustible. Nonrenewable Energy Sources Most of the electrical energy we use is produced with non-renewable resources. Oil, coal, and natural gas are non-renewable. They are found under the ground. They are made of decayed plant and animal material. Oil, coal, and natural gas took millions of years to form, so these kinds of fuels are called fossil fuels. Fossil fuels cause pollution when we burn them to create electrical energy. Oil is pumped out of the Earth using rigs, like the one shown here. Renewable Energy Sources Energy produced from moving water is a renewable energy source. Moving water has energy. This energy can be used to make hydroelectric power when it turns a waterwheel or the blades of a turbine. While the amount of water on Earth will stay about the same, the amount of water in a particular area can decrease due to drought or building of dams farther up the river. Therefore, energy from water is renewable, but not inexhaustible. 5 EARTH’S MATERIALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES Name__________________________ Date_____ Block____ Hydroelectric plants are built on rivers. As river water moves through the dam, the water turns turbines. Inexhaustible Energy Sources Some kinds of renewable resources are called inexhaustible resources because there will always be more of them, no matter how much of them we use. The wind, the Sun, and ocean tides are considered to be inexhaustible sources of energy. We will not run out of wind. We will not use up the Sun. We cannot stop the tides. Energy is made from wind when the wind turns the blades on windmills or turbines, such as the one shown here. The video talks about using falling water and sunlight as sources of energy. While these resources are plentiful and not harmful to the environment, there are still some drawbacks to relying on them completely. 6 EARTH’S MATERIALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES Name__________________________ Date_____ Block____ Plants & Animals as Resources Humans have basic needs that must be met if the humans are to survive. These needs include food, water, air, and shelter. Humans meet their needs through the use of natural resources, such as plants and animals. Plants and animals are natural resources that humans use to help them to survive and to live more comfortably. People depend on animals for • food • clothing • transportation • other useful products People depend on plants for • food • clothing • oxygen • shelter • other useful products Food Humans eat many meat products, such as beef, chicken, turkey, and pork. Meats are a good source of protein. In addition, animals produce the milk we drink and the eggs that we eat. Dairy cows, like the ones shown, are raised for their milk. All plants get their energy from the Sun. Through a process called photosynthesis, they change solar energy into chemical energy, such as sugars and other carbohydrates, that animals and people can then use for food. Tomatoes, carrots, apples, oranges, broccoli, and lettuce are all examples of foods that come from plants. Cooking oil, like olive oil, vegetable oil or corn oil come from pressing parts of plants. Spices and extracts like cinnamon, vanilla, and peppermint all come from plants too. 7 EARTH’S MATERIALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES Name__________________________ Date_____ Block____ Clothing Humans also make clothing out of many plant and animal products. The fibers from plants like cotton and flax can be manufactured into fabrics for clothing, such as blue jeans and cotton shirts. Many types of clothing are made out of fabric that is made from cotton plants. Transportation Some of the first forms of human transportation were animals. Whereas most humans now rely on cars or buses for transportation, animals such as horses used to be a main way to travel.