The Making of Rain and Snow Water constantly evaporates into the air from seas, lakes, rivers and is also released by plants, animals and human beings. Warm air rising upwards into the Atmosphere, carries with it the evaporated water vapour. 1 As the air rises it comes into contact with colder air which condenses the water vapour to form drops of water or ice crystals. Clouds are formed as a result...

Different Types of Clouds Clouds are an essential part of the weather conditions which exist around us. Warm air rises upwards in the atmosphere carrying with it dust and moisture from evaporated surface water. At higher altitudes the air is cooler and the vapour in the warm air reaches its ‘Dew point’ where it changes either to small particles of ice or into water thus forming clouds. Since cloud formation takes...

Weather Conditions in the Making   We have sunny days and we have days when the sky is covered with clouds which is Mowed by storms and rain. These changes are a part of the weather conditions which exist, on the Earth. The Sun is responsible for the weather conditions existing on the Earth. Since the Earth is round and tilted on an imaginary axis, the Equator receives a maximum amount....

Soil an Invaluable Resource One of the Earth’s most valuable basic resource is the soil. It is formed of several layers, ‘Humus’ made of decaying leaves etc covers the first layer of soil called the ‘Topsoil’. In this layer decayed plant and animal material is broken down by bacteria, insects and earthworms thus making it fertile. Below this lies the ‘Subsoil’ containing lesser organic material and reachable only by the roots...

Rivers and Their Changing Paths Rivers are formed either from underground springs, mountain ice which melts with the change of seasons or from water flowing out of large lakes. Rivers play a major role in shaping the Earth’s surface, either by eroding mountains or by depositing rocks and soil in new areas. As rivers flow, water erodes the banks and washes away the soil or rock. Over a period of time...

Glaciers In shaded valleys of snow capped mountains we can see vast rivers of  ice, these are called ‘Glaciers’. Most glaciers we see today actually date back to the last Ice age on the Earth. On occasions snow falls quicker than it can melt, thus accumulating large quantities. The upper layers of snow exert a downward pressure which compacts the lower layers and forms ice, this creates glaciers. Glaciers gradually move...

Tremors on the Earth Volcanic eruptions, landslides and movement of the Earth’s crust sends tremors across the surface these tremors are called ‘Earthquakes’. They often result in large Kettle damage to property and, on occasions, life in general. About 60 kms below the Earth’s surface tire the focus points for the earthquakes. The surface above the focus point is called the ‘Epicentre’ Like the Volcanic eruptions, most of the earthquakes occur...

Volcanoes Various plates of the Earth’s crust shift, due to the molten rock lying beneath them, this causes them to collide or spread out. This movement forces the molten rock to move upwards and come out on the surface thus forming volcanoes. It is because of this that most volcanoes are located on the edges of the Earth’s crustal plates. The name Volcano is derived from the name of an island...