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Primary five (5)

Unit (3):
Our Earth’s resources

Name:
Class:
 Concept (1):
Unit (3) Hydrosphere and Biosphere interactions
Our Earth’s
resources

Water
During your previous studies you’ve learnt that, water has an important role in keeping all
organisms alive, as plants, animals, human and even microorganisms need it to survive.
Water also causes some weather phenomena, like raining and snowing.

1) States:

In extreme Liquid In extreme

(Ice) cold weather water hot weather (Steam)
Solid state (Water vapor)
Gas state

2) importance:
a) Human and animals drink water to survive.
b) Plants need water to grow.
c) Some animals and plants live in water.
d) It also can affect non-living things: Water can cause erosion and weathering of rocks.

Weathering: breaking down the rocks into small particles.

Erosion: transportation of small particles to another place.

3) Uses:

Recreation Bathing Cleaning Travelling

Preparing Generating electricity

Manufacturing Agriculture
food (the High Dam)

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4) Water bodies:

Oceans and seas:

Very large and always contains salt water.
Surrounds the continents. (oceans)
All oceans are connected to each other.
The ocean’s floor has mountains, plains and plateaus.

Lakes:
Are water bodies surrounded by land.
Usually contain fresh water and sometimes contain
salt water.
Are formed when water collects in a low-lying area.

Rivers:
Always contain fresh water.
Location: Mountains.
Flow from an area of high altitude (high place) to an area
of low altitude (lower place) in a definite channel.

Estuary:
At which salt water meets the fresh water so, it’s
always contain a mixture of salt water and fresh water.
It’s formed along the edges of seas and oceans.
It’s also a home for many animals and plants.

Wetland:
It’s a land partially covered with water.
Contains fresh water or salt water.
Kinds: swamps (marshes) and ponds (bogs).

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Runoff:
Formed of water from rain of melting snow and moves into rivers or underground.

Groundwater:
The water that lies beneath (under) the Earth’s surface.
Groundwater has been leaked into Earth through a layer of porous rocks forming known
as “aquifer”
Groundwater also supplies springs and wells with water.
The amount of ground water is larger than the amount of water in rivers and lakes.

Groundwater

Aquifer

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Renewable resource: A natural resource that can be replaced.

Water is a renewable resource cause it has what’s called “Water cycle”.

On high temperatures, the water in water bodies evaporates (water vapor) then
condensed in the form of clouds, finally when temperature goes down more the
water vapor turns into water in the form of rain.

Condensation

Rain
Water
Evaporation
cycle

Evaporation
Liquid state Gas state

Condensation
Gas state Liquid state

Solar energy plays an important role in the water cycle in nature, as it helps in the
evaporation of water.

Plants are considered as a renewable resource:

Cause plants can be planted from seeds then these plants produce flowers that
contain seeds, when these seeds kept in suitable conditions they grow in new plant.

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 Class work
A] Choose the correct answer:
1) By heating of water it changes from ………. state to …………. state.
a) solid – liquid b) liquid – gas
c) liquid – solid d) gas – liquid
2) At the beginning of water cycle, water …….. and goes into the air forming …………..
a) freezes – snow b) evaporates – clouds
c) freezes – clouds d) evaporates – snow

B] choose from column (B) that suits it in column (A):

(A) (B)
1) Oceans a) contain fresh water or salt water
2) Lakes b) contain salt water only.
3) Rivers c) contain mixture of fresh water and salt water.
4) Estuary d) contain fresh water only.
5) Groundwater e) it’s the water found under the Earth’s surface.
f) is the water found in a gas state.

1) …………… 2) …………….. 3) …………….. 4) …………….. 5) ………………

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 Home work
A] Choose the correct answer:
1) Water is used in all the following purposes, except …………
a) recreation b) burning c) bathing d) manufacturing
2) Which of the following is found between pores of rocks below Earth’s surface ?

a) Ice b) Groundwater c) Oceans d) Water vapor

B] What happens to …..

Fresh water of a river when it meets the salt water of a sea.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

C] Write (true) or (false):

1) Water can change into water vapor in extreme cold weather. ( )
2) Some animals and plants live in water. ( )

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 The Earth’s systems

Geosphere: Outer
core
Crust Mantle
Is the system that contains all the layers of Earth
(crust – mantle – outer core – inner core). Inner
core
Geo = Earth
The system contains:
Rocks – soil – minerals
Landforms (mountains, hills, valleys)
Molten rocks inside the Earth.

Atmosphere (air):
Is the system that includes all the gases that
surround the Earth.
Atmos = Vapor
It’s a mixture of a lot of gases:
(Oxygen – Carbon dioxide – Hydrogen – Nitrogen)

Biosphere:
The system that includes all living organisms on Earth (animals – plants – human).
Bio = life
Some characteristics of biosphere:
Biome:
It’s a large region of the world that has similar
soil, climate, plants and animals.
Examples: Rainforests biome
Desert – Forests – Rainforests – Grassland – Wetland

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Hydrosphere:

The system that includes all water on, above and under the Earth.
Hydro = water Large sheet of ice or snow
The system contains: that moves slowly on the
Oceans – Seas – Rivers – Groundwater - Glaciers Earth’s surface
And they represent most of
the fresh water on Earth.

*Hydrosphere includes a system called “Cryosphere” that represents the frozen water
on Earth.
Some characteristics of hydrosphere:
30%
It contains all water on Earth (liquid, solid and gaseous).

Covers nearly three-quarters (¾) (70%) of the Earth’s surface. 70%

This water may be: Fresh water

3%
Salt water:
Forms about (97%) of water on Earth.
Found in oceans, seas, gulfs and some lakes.
97%
Fresh water:
Salt water
Forms about (3%) of water on Earth.
Found in rivers, rainwater, groundwater, streams and
most lakes.
All water on Earth

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 Earth’s systems interactions

Erosion and weathering of rocks.

Hydrosphere Formation of lakes.

with Groundwater present under the Earth’s surface in rocks (aquifer).
geosphere
Presence of rocks in water.
A spring flows out from a rock.
Presence on animals or plants in water bodies (oceans, seas, rivers,
Hydrosphere ponds, lakes or streams) .
with Human and animals drinking water.
biosphere
Plants absorbing water (irrigation of plants).

Biosphere Plants taking in carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen.

with Human and animals inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide.
atmosphere
Air pollution due to burning of wood of trees.
Worms, microorganisms living in soil or rabbits digging a borrow in the
Biosphere soil.
with Extending of roots of any plant in the soil to fix the plant.
geosphere
Soil providing the plants with nutrients (minerals).
Atmosphere
with Evaporation of water forming clouds and falling of rain.
hydrosphere
Biosphere
with Polar bears, arctic fox and penguins live on ice.
cryosphere

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 Types of Aquatic Ecosystems

Salt water

Shallow areas:
These areas contain coral reefs and intertidal zones
Intertidal zone: the area along the coast that disappears underwater at high
tide and appears at the low tide.

Deep areas:
Called “abyssal zones” and sunlight cannot reach them.

Salt water lakes:

Lake Assal in Djibouti:
Has a high concentration of natural salts, so most of aquatic
animals can’t live in it but there are some plants and different
types of bacteria live in this lake.
Lakes Manzala, lake Mariout, lake Bardawil and lake Idku found in Egypt.
Other water bodies:
Oceans and seas:
Water movement:
It’s constantly moving in the form of waves that crash onto the shore.
Species that live in oceans:

Kelp Dolphin Starfish Moses fish

(flounder fish)
Notes
1) Oceans and seas environment include many smaller ecosystems.
2) Ocean water circulates around the world in patterns called “ocean currents”
3) The direction of ocean currents around the world can be predicted.

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 Fresh water
Flowing
Still
(running)
water water
ponds
Rivers

Lakes
some Some Streams
plants like insects live (water is
Lake cool and
water lilies and lay
Nasser flows fast)
live in their eggs
ponds in ponds
Lake
Qaroun Some mosses
(look like algae)
Lake attach themselves to
Wadi the rocks of streams
Al-Rayan
Some
types of Salamanders
worms and frogs live
such as in ponds and
leeches eat insects
live at the found there
bottom of
ponds
Catfish

Cray fish

Trout

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Micro plastics and analyzing pollution:
Micro plastics:
- Their length is less than 5 millimeters.
- Produced due to the breaking down of plastic wastes by wind, sunlight or waves.
- They found every where on Earth.
- Micro plastics are more harmful than large plastic wastes.

Hydrologists
Are concerned about the amount of plastic pollution found in the hydrosphere.

Analyzing pollution:
A group of Indian scientists took samples of water and soil of a polluted river and found
that, micro plastics are found in both water and soil. These micro plastics were from
decayed plastic bags, packing materials and fishing lines.

Rivers carry plastic waste materials from land to the ocean.

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 Class work
A] Choose the correct answer:
1) Presence of dolphins in ocean represents an interaction between …....… and ….......
a) biosphere – hydrosphere b) biosphere – geosphere
c) hydrosphere - atmosphere d) hydrosphere – geosphere

2) Acacia tree has very long roots that grow downward through soil rocks, that
represents an interaction between ……….. and ………..
a) biosphere – hydrosphere b) biosphere – geosphere
c) hydrosphere - atmosphere d) hydrosphere – geosphere

3) Water covers nearly ………… of the Earth’s planet.

𝟏 𝟏 𝟑 𝟏
a) b) c) d)
𝟒 𝟐 𝟒 𝟓

B] choose from column (B) that suits it in column (A):

(A) (B)
1) The word “Geo” refers to a) Water
2) The word “Hydro” refers to b) Earth
3) The word “Atmos” refers to c) Life
4) The word “Bio” refers to d) Vapor
e) Sun

1) …………… 2) …………….. 3) …………….. 4) ……………..

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 Home work
A] Write (true) or (false):
1) Fresh water forms about 3% of water on Earth. ( )
2) Living organisms are parts of the geosphere. ( )
3) The place where two oceans meets called estuary. ( )
4) Rivers and streams are fresh water moving bodies. ( )

B] What happens if …..

Aquatic organisms eat pieces of plastic instead of their real food.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

C] Give reasons for …….

Recycling of water bottles is more better than throwing them in seas and oceans.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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 Concept (2):
Water as a valuable natural resource
You’ve learned before that the amount of fresh water is limited (very small)
compared to that of the salt water, so we have to conserve fresh water.

How to conserve fresh water?

“Drinking more juice instead of water”

“Turning off the water tap during brushing your teeth”
“Turning off the water tap while washing your hair”
“Taking a quick shower”

Without a doubt, fresh water is so important to all living organisms, also there is more
than 10% of the world’s animal species live in fresh water habitats.

Poor quality of water may lead to:

1) The death of thousands of organisms every year.
2) The extinction of some species live in fresh water like some fishes and amphibians.

River is considered as an important resource of fresh water, at the end of

the river there a formation called the Delta.

Formation of delta:

The river often starts in Fast moving water in As the water moves
the mountains as a a river can erode quickly across the land
stream. deep valleys. it picks up sediments.

The water slows down The flow of

Delta is a triangular- and sediments are water ends
shaped area of mud deposited at the river’s when it meets a
and other sediments. endpoint forming a sea or a large
delta. river.

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As the amount of fresh water is limited, using it in a wrong way leads to the occurrence
of water imbalance causing drought of flooding that impact the organisms.

Human strategies to conserve fresh water:

1) Building dams across the rivers.
2) Diverting (changing) the path of water to irrigate crops.

These human activities cause imbalance of water that leads to:

1) Drought in some places.
2) Flooding in some other places.

Watershed
It’s an area of land where water from different sources
flows towards a common location, usually an ocean, a
sea or other large water body.

Watershed

The study of freshwater systems focuses on the balance of water in the

watershed, where:
1) When there is a little rainfall, the level of water in rivers or streams will decrease
causing drought.
2) When there is too much rainfall, the level of water in rivers or streams will increase
causing floods.
Which in both cases impact the level of water in the watershed.
When there is water balance, rivers or streams will have a constant source of freshwater.

Tributaries:
They are a small water bodies (small creeks or streams) that flow into a bigger river.

You should know that water bodies are connected to each other, so:

Tributaries as Larger water

Flow Flow
small creeks or into Bigger river into bodies as bays,
streams seas and oceans

Upstream is the places where a river starts. Downstream is the place where a river ends.

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What happens upstream affects the water bodies downstream.

If a factory is built near a tributary at the area

(A):

- The factory waste will affect the tributary at

area (A)

- Water at tributary at area (A) carries the factory

If there is a farm using waste to other water bodies connected to it
chemical fertilizers near causing water pollution.
a tributary at area (C):

- The farm waste will

If a dam is built across the
affect the tributary at
tributary at area (B):
area (C)
- The water in tributary in
The dam will hold the
area (C) carries the farm
water behind it and this
waste along causing
causes a change in the
water pollution
amount of water bodies
connected to this
tributary.

If a trash dump is established near a tributary at area (D):

- The litter of a trash dump will be blown into the water of tributary at area (D)
- On windy days, the water carries the litter into the other water bodies
connected to it causing water pollution.

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 Class work
A] Choose the correct answer:
1) Delta is formed when …………….
a) the speed of water increase.
b) the speed of water decrease.
c) the amount of river’s water decrease.
d) the river’s water dry up.
2) Among the examples of fresh water bodies in which more than 10% of the world’s
animals live are ……………..
a) rivers and seas b) streams and seas
c) oceans and seas d) rivers and streams
3) The level of water in a river may increase causing flooding if there is more …………
a) wind b) rainfall c) sunlight d) sediments

B] Write the scientific term:

1) It’s an area of land where all the water flows to a common
location usually an ocean, sea or other large water body.
( )

2) A building established across a river which can hold water

behind it.
( )

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 Home work
A] What happens if ...

1) Water is collected in a low-lying area.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2) The quality of fresh water becomes poor.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

B] Write (true) or (false):

1) Assal lake is surrounded by land and it is a low-lying area. ( )
2) Ocean’s floor may have mountains, plateaus and plains. ( )
3) Groundwater is formed in the spaces between underground rocks. ( )

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 Some things made of natural resources:
Plants and animal
Trees products
Oil products

Clothes are made from plants

Paper is made from tree such as cotton and animal Plastic is made from oil
trunks (stem) products such as wool of products
sheep

The results of overusing natural resources:

Natural resource Results of using them more quickly than they can be replaced

Overfishing marine organisms more than they are replaced cause

Fishes
that, the fishes become rare and fishing will decrease.
Wells are supplied by groundwater, so overusing this water more
Groundwater
than it can be replaced by rain the well will become dry.

So, human can conserve natural resources in two ways:

Preservation Sustainability

The action of control reaching Using the resources in ways that doesn’t negatively
of humans to the natural affect the future supply of these resources.
resources or using them Require management of how a resource is used

Examples: Examples:
Countries prevent using or Cows feeding on grass in an area where grass grow
developing of natural slowly
resources in some protected
areas of land such as: Unsustainable Sustainable

Ras Mohammed protectorate If the cows are placed If cows are placed in
in South Sinai in many small area one large area they
they will eat all the will have more food
Wadi Al-Hitan protectorate grass before new grass and the grass will
in Fayoum could grow, so the grow back in the
grass will disappear other areas

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Resource sustainability is affected by:
1) Overpopulation
2) Unequal distribution of resources.
3) Overuse or damage of resources.
4) Pollution

Natural resources can be classified into:

Renewable resources: Nonrenewable resources:
Water, plants, animals …. Oil and coal

Renewable resources are not unlimited, that means that they can used up if we don’t
use them wisely.

Examples:

Cutting down too many trees

leads to deforestation so, Burning of nonrenewable
water and wind carry away soil resources (oil and coal) polluted
causing soil erosion. the soil that leads to the death
of plants and animals.

When fresh water on Earth

is polluted, it becomes
undrinkable.

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How to calculate the average amount of water that a person use daily?
There are two methods:
First method:

Total amount of

Multiply
Activity The number of

Equal
Amount of water water used to do
requires minutes to do this
used each time this activity each
water activity each time
time

Taking x =
10 minutes 7 litters 70 litters
shower

Second method:
Total amount of
Activity Number of times
Multiply

Equal
Amount of water water used to do
requires you repeat this used each time this activity in
water activity one day

Washing
hands
6 x 4 litters = 24 litters

The average of total amount of water used by a family formed of (4) members:

Total amount of Total amount of

Activity water for the
Multiply

Equal

water used to do Number of family

requires this activity in one members family to do this
water day activity in one
day

Washing
hands
20 litters x 4 = 80 litters

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 Recycling of polluted fresh water:

Activity:

Tools:

Scissors Plastic bottle Cotton balls

Charcoal Sand Dirty water

Steps:

Cut off the bottom of the plastic bottle and place it upside
down on the other part of the bottle.

Make a layer of cotton balls in the cut bottle.

Put charcoal above the cotton balls and put the sand above
the charcoal.

Pour the dirty water in the filter.

Observation:
1) The filter removes most of the dirt from dirty water.
2) The filtered water moves down at the bottom of the container.

Conclusion:
Water filter removes harmful materials from water so we can drink it safely.

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 Waste water engineers

They work in water treatment plants such as Bahr Al-Baqar waste water treatment
plant in Egypt.

The role of waste water engineers:

1) They design tools that provide us with clean water.
2) They observe the water quality and check the amount of pollutants in water.
3) They decide where to build water treatment plants.
4) They design ways to protect the community from floods.
5) They calculate the amount of drinking water that the community needs.

After water treatment process occurs, waste water engineers test the treated water
to make sure it’s safe before water is released to rivers and lakes or used by humans.

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 Class work
A] Choose the correct answer:
1) Cutting down too many trees of forests leads to ……………..
a) deforestation and soil deposition
b) overpopulation and soil erosion
c) deforestation and soil erosion
d) overpopulation and soil deposition

2) If some rabbits are placed in only one large area of grass, this is considered as an
example of ………………... of green areas.

a) deforestation b) preservation c) sustainability d) pollution

3) …………… can be used to recycle wastewater to be used again in human activities.

a) Bottles b) Filter c) Dams d) Generators

B] Give reasons for …….

1) We should turn off water during washing dishes.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

2) Scientists recycle fresh wastewater to get filtered water again.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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 Home work
A] complete the following sentences using the words below:
(harmful – charcoal – mud – filter - sand)

1) Human can …………..…. Water to recycle wastewater to be used again.

2) Cotton, ………..……… and ……………….. can be used in making a simple water filter.

3) Water filter are used to remove ………………… materials from polluted water.

4) Clear water can be polluted if it is mixed with …….........

B] Write (true) or (false):

1) Water is considered as non-renewable natural resource. ( )

2) Preservation and sustainability are ways to conserve natural resources. ( )
3) Soil pollution causes the death of plants and animals. ( )

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