Nature's Treasures

About this chapter

Nature's Treasures is the eleventh chapter of Class 6 Curiosity. Bhoomi and Surya visit their Ajji in a village on the edge of the Western Ghats and learn how air, water, sunlight, forests, soil, rocks, minerals and fossil fuels sustain life on Earth. The chapter builds seven core ideas — air as a mixture of gases (nitrogen 78%, oxygen 21%, argon, carbon dioxide and others 1%) and moving air (wind) as a source of energy through firki and windmills; freshwater as a limited resource that needs conservation and rainwater harvesting (bawadi, vav); the Sun as the main source of energy on Earth; forests as natural habitats that need protection (Van Mahotsav, Chipko movement); soil, rocks (slate, laterite, granite, sandstone, marble) and minerals (aluminium, gold, copper, iron) as treasures; fossil fuels — petroleum, natural gas, coal, CNG, LPG — and their limited stock; and the classification of natural resources into renewable and non-renewable. CTET Paper 2 Science tests this chapter through composition of air percentages, identification (which is non-renewable), classification, and application questions on conservation. The four tests below — Practice 15, Quiz 15, Hard 15, Mastery 30 — cover these ideas at exam depth.