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Home Task Class : 5th Subject :S.st

Unit #1
Answers
1. A physical map shows the landforms such as hills, mountains, rivers, lakes,
valleys, deltas, plateaus, seas, and oceans; whereas a political map shows the
different countries, their capitals and major cities, and the international borders
between countries.
2. Meridians of longitude are the imaginary lines that run vertically, north to south,
across the globe. They converge (meet) at the poles. The imaginary lines that run
horizontally from east to west are called parallels of latitude.
3. The directions on a map are shown by a compass rose or an arrow marked with N
at the top. The compass rose shows the general directions, and the arrow tells us
where north is.
4. The location of a place is calculated by its position in degrees, north or south of
the Equator and east or west of the Prime Meridian or the International Date Line.
5. Students should write the page number. Its coordinates are: 30.3753° N,
69.3451° E.
2 World climate
Answers :
1. Climate affects how we live: the kind of houses we live in, the food we eat, the
clothes we wear, our activities and work, and the way we spend our time indoors
and outdoors.
2. The Arctic Circle, the Tropic of Cancer, the Antarctic Circle, and the Tropic of
Capricorn are the lines of latitude that divide the world into different climatic zones.
3. The temperature, the amount of rainfall, the amount of water vapour, the direction
and frequency of winds, and the presence of hills and mountains are factors that
influence the climate.
4. Climate change is a phenomenon that occurs when there is a change in the
climatic patterns of a region or on a global scale. From the mid to late 20th century
onwards, the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have caused a
rise in the temperatures on Earth.
5. Trees act as the lungs of the Earth. They take in carbon dioxide, which is the main
cause of climate change, and release oxygen in the air. This way the air gets
purified.
6. Greenhouse gases exist in the Earth’s atmosphere and allow sunlight to pass through
it and reach the Earth’s surface, thereby regulating the Earth’s temperature.
7. The greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere trap heat to keep our Earth
warm. This trapping of heat inside the atmosphere is called the greenhouse effect.
8. The use of fossil fuels, destruction of forest area for agriculture purposes,
deforestation in general, manufacture of cement, chemicals, metals, etc. are some
of the factors that are responsible for climate change.

3 Life in desert and forest regions

Answers :
1. Continental deserts are in the middle of a continent; they get no rain clouds, e.g.
Gobi Desert in Mongolia and the Great Australian Desert.
2. Deserts are hot, dry places, with a harsh climate; there is little or no vegetation,
very little water, poor soil, no farming, and no food crops; there are no settlements
and no development, hence the population is very low. Mostly nomadic tribes live
in these areas.
3. Desert plants are spiny and have thick, fleshy stems that store water. The spines
prevent the animals from eating the plants.
4. Saudi Arabia has large reserves of oil underground. The government sells the oil
and uses the money for the development of the country.
5. Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil in South America have equatorial forests.
6. These forests are very important because they are a source of oxygen for all living
things and are known as the lungs of the Earth.
7. Equatorial forests are hot, wet, and humid all year round; the vegetation is very
dense as the plants grow very close together; there is a large variety of animals.
Temperate forests are very cold, and the vegetation is very different: the trees
grow apart and there is ground vegetation in the form of bushes; the animal, bird,
and insect population is not as high as in the equatorial regions.
8. People find it difficult to travel through these thick, dense forests and they cannot
clear the land for cultivation; they also face the problem of tropical diseases.
9. There are fewer temperate forests in the southern hemisphere because there is
less land mass, and more water covering the surface of the Earth. The ocean
currents, on either side of Africa and South America, keep the land warmer than
the huge land mass of the continents in the northern hemisphere.