Earthquake and Volcanic    Earthquakes are taking place very frequently all over the world. The shaking of the earth as a result of these quakes is called a ‘Tremor’. Most are these tremors are weak and do not cause any damage, however there are others which are so powerful that they cause crevices to appear in the land and buildings to collapse. In India one of the most recent earthquake was...

Below The Earth’s Crust Hidden below the Earth’s crust is a wealth of minerals and resources, some of the most important ones include Iron, Coal, Crude petroleum, gold, Silver etc. These have become essentials for us and day to day life would not be possible without them. As an example we have been using coal for ages as a fuel and many other minerals for various purposes, accordingly it would be...

Fog Both clouds and Fog are formed for the same reasons. Often damp and moist air cools and condenses at a ground level and forms clouds which are called Fog or Mist. This phenomenon can occur for various reasons. When moist air moves over a land surface which is very cool, the water vapour it contains condenses and fog is formed. Cold air is heavy and tends to sink, this is...

Hail and Snow Condensation of water vapour in the atmosphere results in the formation of drops of water which ran to the Earth in the form of rain. There are occasions when the weather is so cold that these drops of water freeze to form ice crystals. These ice crystals collect together to form snow flakes which fall to the ground in the form of snow. Often strong winds toss the...

Avalanches A mass of snow which detaches itself from a mountain and falls down the mountain slope is called an Avalanche. Avalanches can be made up of loose snow or of large blocks of frozen snow. Minor earthquakes or changes in temperature generally cause the snow to break loose from the mountain and fall downward. Besides this avalanches are also caused because of the changes in depth, humidity and pressure. Most...

Rainbows a Wonder of Nature When we pass light through a prism of glass, we are able to see the seven colours it is made up of. A shower of rain leaves everything around looking bright and fresh. On occasions, during a shower of rain, we see an arch of seven colours in the sky, quite like the seven colours of light passing through a prism of glass. In reality both...

Storms, Hurricanes, and Tornadoes Storms are basically very strong winds. Most Storms or Thunderstorms take place when large masses of warm air rise rapidly thus forming large cumulonimbus clouds, others may occur along cold fronts in temperate regions. Storms result in heavy downpours of rain after which the sky becomes clear. Storms are generally accompanied by thunder and lightning. As the large clouds form, strong currents of air cause the raindrops...

Rains and Monsoons Water evaporates from the surface of the Earth and rises upwards into the atmosphere in the form of water vapour which gets condensed back into drops of water at higher altitudes. These droplets of water arc very light and clusters of them form clouds, as these droplets merge with each other to form larger drops, they become heavy and fall back to the Earth as rain. Clouds arc...