Water surrounding the earth

Our earth is called the water planet or the blue planet because of
the presence of the abandoned amount of water on it. Water
covers about 71% of the earth’s surface.

This 71% of water is present as oceans, rivers, lakes, underground

water, glacial ice, and water vapor in the air.
About 97% of the total water present on the earth’s surface
is in the ocean in the form of salt water. The name of those
oceans is the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic.
Rest 3% are in the form of freshwater available in rivers,
lakes, underground water, glacial ice, and water vapor in the air.
About 2% is glacier ice and less than 1% of all the water on the
earth is fresh water in rivers and lakes. The earth receives a
major part of fresh water through rainfall.
Q. Why is our earth called a water planet or the blue planet?
Q. The earth receives a major part of fresh water through__________.
The process of water cycle
Q. Name the important components of the water cycle. (D4)
Q. Explain the water cycle with the help of a diagram. (E3)
The water never remains static, it has a cycle that
has neither a beginning nor an end. This cycle is
called the water cycle.
The water cycle involves the process of
evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
Evaporation- the sun is the main source of heat
energy which causes water to evaporate. Hence, the
water of the oceans is converted into water vapours
due to the heat of the sun by the process of
evaporation.
Condensation- It is the process in which evaporated
vapours rise up in the atmosphere and are
converted into tiny crystals of ice or droplets of
water because of a decrease in temperature.
Precipitation- The condensed water vapour forms a
cloud in the sky. When the cloud gets filled up with
condensed water vapour and water droplets grow
bigger in size and unable to float, they fall down over
the Earth's surface as precipitation.
The water that falls on the earth surface in the
form of precipitation drains out in the rivers, lakes,
and ponds, sea, and ocean in the form of surface
runoff.
A small portion of rainwater percolates inside the
earth and become a part of the groundwater. This
groundwater is used by plants and human beings.

The amount of precipitation or rainfall is not equal in all places. This is the reason that some places have a surplus of
water whereas some places have a scarcity of water. So, the places where there is a scarcity of water, the water
must be conserved and should be used judiciously.
Various movements of ocean water
Movement of ocean waters are basically of three kinds i.e. ripples, waves, ocean currents and tides.
Ripples
When we throw pebbles in a river or a pond, we
observe ripples in the water. So, ripples are the
smaller version of waves.
Waves
Definition: - The waves are the movements in water
body where water particles move up and down.
Important fact: - Waves are just up and down
movement of water particles. Here water actually
does not travel with the wave.
This you can understand by throwing a ball in the centre of a pond or lake. And then creating waves in water
by throwing a stone into the pond. We will find that the wave that we have created is not able to push the ball into
the margin. The ball is just moving up and down in its own place. It’s just because in waves water particles are just
moving up and down. It’s not moving forward as we see in the case of river water. If you put any ball in river water at
some location, after some time you will see that the ball has moved to another location. This is because, in rivers,
water molecules move forward.
So, waves are the rhythmic up-and-down movement of water particles that produces a pattern, which we
can see as waves. And this rhythmic movement of water is created by the wind. So, the wind creates ripples and
waves in the ocean. The higher the wind speed higher will be the waves and vice versa. So, the height of the wave
depends on the speed of the wind and the duration of the wind blowing from a particular direction.
Q. On what factors does the height of a wave depends? (D1)
Q. How are waves caused?
Tides
Definition- tides are the periodic rise and fall in the level HIGH TIDE LOW TIDE
of ocean water.
Q. How are tides caused? (D3)
The reason behind tides- tides are caused due to the
gravitational pull of the moon and the sun.
Occurrence of the tide- tide occurs twice a day. The time
interval between a high tide and a low tide is 6 hours and
13 minutes.
Types of tides- there are 2 types of tides (I) high tide
(II)low tide
(I) High tide- When the level of water, rises it is a high tide.
(II) Low tide - When the level of water, falls it is a low tide.
Q. How are tides useful to us? (E1)
Importance of tide – (I) Tides are used to generate
electricity. So, the energy produced from tides is called
tidal energy. Tidal energy is one of the important
renewable sources of energy.
(II) High tide enables big ships to enter the harbour or sail
out of the harbour.
Tidal ports- tidal ports are the ports in which ships are able to enter and exit only during high tide.
Q. Name and define the types of tide? Q. Define tide. Give one example of a tidal port.
Importance of the ocean to human beings
Q. Name any 3 valuable resources which are found in abundance in the ocean. (D5)
Q. How are oceans beneficial to us in improving the quality of life? (E2)
I. The oceans facilitate countries and regions to trade with one another. Goods can be moved in very large quantities
by ships.
II. Transportation through the ocean is cheaper than any other mode of transportation.
III. The marine environment provides animals and plants life for food and trade in abundance. The ocean, thus, is a
valuable source of food.
IV. Some of the valuable mineral resources are also found on the ocean floor. Such as mineral oil, manganese
noodles, gold, platinum, nickel, copper, and cobalt.

Tsunami- Tsunamis are huge sea waves caused by

earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the seabed.
Q. Suggest 4 ways to help people affected by
devastation due to tsunami. (E5)
We can help people affected by devastation due to
tsunamis by
I. Donating money
II. Donating clothes
III. Donating medicine
IV. Donating bedding
V. Donating tents.
Ocean currents
Q. Define an ocean current. (D2)
Definition- the ocean current is the continuous
movement of a mass of water in a particular direction.
Types of ocean current- (I) cold ocean current (II) warm
ocean current
(I) Cold ocean current- In a cold ocean current, the
water is cold. Cold ocean current moves from pole to
equator.
(II) Warm ocean current- In a warm ocean current, the
water is warm. Warm ocean current moves from the
equator to the pole.
The reason behind the formation and movement of
ocean currents- ocean currents are formed due to the
heating and cooling of the ocean water.
We know that cold water is denser than warm
water. Due to the higher density of cold water, it sinks
down below the warm water. Thus, the cold water of
the polar region moves slowly towards the equator
along the bottom of the ocean. The warm water near
the equator moves along the surface of the ocean
toward the pole. In this manner, ocean currents move
from equator to pole and pole to equator.
Important fact about ocean current
(I) Ocean currents tend to move towards the right in
the northern hemisphere and towards the left in the
southern hemisphere.
(II) Generally, warm currents flow along the East Coast
of the continents while cold currents flow along the
West Coast of the continents.

Q. Explain three effects of ocean currents. (E4)

Effects of ocean current
(I) The ocean current plays an important role in
influencing the climate of the coastal region of the
continent. If a warm current passes along the
coast, it raises the temperature and makes the
place warmer than the surrounding area. Similarly,
the cold current makes the adjoining coastal
region colder.
(II) In coastal areas, warm ocean currents cause
rainfall and therefore, influence its climate,
making it warm and moist. Cold currents, on the
other hand, tend to make the climate cool and dry.
Thus, these oceanic currents modify the climate in
the coastal region.
(III) The confluence (meeting point) of warm and cold currents provides an ideal condition for the plentiful growth of
plankton, which is food for marine life. These areas serve as major fishing grounds, encouraging trade and
commerce.
(V) The ocean current also helps in navigation.