Lesson -6 If the well goes dry Question and answer

Comprehension

A. Answer in one sentence each:

Question 1. How much water does the human body contain?
Answer. The human body contains 71% water.

Question 2. You since when has man been changing his relationship with the earth drastically?
Answer. Man has been changing his relationship with the earth drastically since the industrial revolution.

Question 3. Where do we get fresh water from?
Answer. We get fresh water from the Earth.

Question 4 what threat do rising sea levels pose to the human population?
Answer. Rising sea levels pose the threat of more powerful and more frequent storms.

Question 5. Where do chemical pollutants come from?
Answer. Chemical pollutants come from industrial establishments.

B. Answer in about 40 to 60 words each:

Question 1. Why does water carry spiritual significance in most religions? (2009)
Answer. Water plays a significant role in our life. Our body contains 71% of the whole human body. In most of the religions, it has a spiritual significance for it is considered to be a divine purifier. No worship or offerings to God in Hindu religion is performed without purification with water. In Christian baptism too, it is great.

Question 2. What is the resemblance between the patterns of human Civilization and those of the distribution of freshwater?
Answer. The human civilization is spread over for many more centuries. But now it has been decayed for on the path of decay. It is very rare. In the same way, freshwater is now a rarity for us. It is only 2.5 % of the total amount of water on earth.

Question 3. What drives the cold Ocean stream from the poles towards the equator?
Answer. As the warm ocean water from the tropics moves northward, far of it evaporates along the way. When it hits the cold polar winds between Greenland and Iceland, the evaporation accelerates leaving behind much salter seawater which grows denser and heavier. This rapidly cooling water sinks to the bottom forming a deep current near the ocean floor. In the process, it transfers cold from the poles back towards the equator.

Question 4. Write two ways in which global warming raises sea levels.
Answer. Global warming raises sea level in several ways. Higher average temperatures result in the melting of glaciers, in ice being Greenland, and in the thermal expansion of the volume of the sea as its water warms.

Question 5. What causes the average hurricane to be more powerful? How?
Answer. Warming causes the average Hurricane to be more powerful because of the depth and warmth of the ocean's top layer is the single most important factor in determining the speed of hurricanes winds. More powerful and more frequent storms coming into the land from the ocean would in turn greatly exacerbate the damage from rising sea levels for it is during a storm surges that the sea advances farthest inland from the coast.

Question 6. How do the forests produce rain clouds?
Answer. Forests produce rain clouds partly because of evapotranspiration. Transpiration is the plant equivalent of sweat, add to it the evaporation from surface is like broadleaves. Immediately after the rain falls on the rainforest, a fine Mist begins to float back into the sky. It increases both humidity in the air and the odds of more rain just downwind. Forests may also attract Rain by producing gases called terpene and is small amounts of a compound called dimethylsulfide.

Question 7. Describe the effects of chemical pollutants on mankind.
Answer. Chemical pollutants are a threat to human life. The cause severe contamination of water. They pollute the atmosphere. As a result of our body gets set badly affected. Several diseases like cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and diarrhoea from both viral and bacteriological sources are caused by this pollutants. We lack proper sanitation.

Question 8. Why do the solutions to freshwater problem like desalinization plants and towing of glaciers seem unfeasible?
Answer. The solutions to freshwater problem like desalinization and flowing of glaciers seem infeasible because this scheme is too costly to afford for the poor countries that actually need it. Moreover, this technology, like the schemes to lasso icebergs and pull them from the polar regions to the populous tropics is unlikely to solve the underlying problem because of the enormous energy - and CO2 costs involved.

Question 9. What should we do to solve the problem of freshwater?
Answer. Since human beings are the worst victim of the problem of freshwater, they need to lasso their common sense. The Rains bring us trees and flowers; the droughts bring gaping cracks in the world. The lakes and river sustain us slowing through the veins of the earth and into our own. So we must be aware to take care to let them flow back out as pure as the came. We should not poison and waste them.

C. Answer in about 75 words each:

Question 1. Write the chemical combination of the human body. In what way is the human body similar to the earth?
Answer. The human body is a combination of several chemical elements. Water is the most prominent of all of them. The human body contains 23 % carbon, 2.6 % nitrogen, 1.4% calcium, 1.1% phosphorus, with many amounts of roughly three dozen other elements. Added to these we have 61% of oxygen and 10% of hydrogen fused together in the unique molecular combination known as water. The human body contains 71% of water.

Question 2. How does global warming affect the climate pattern? (2011)
Answer. Global warming affects the climate pattern of the earth in a very adverse manner. The health of the planet earth depends on maintaining a complex balance of the interrelated system. Global warming is changing the way water is transferred from oceans to the land and precipitation accelerating the entire cycle. In addition, the increased warmth also increases the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere which magnifies the greenhouse effect and speeds the process still further. As global warming heats up the polar regions faster than the tropics. It changes the way the earth achieves a balance between hot and cold.

Question 3. How does rising sea level threaten freshwater supply?

Answer. Global warming causes a rise in sea level in several ways. Higher average temperatures result in the melting of glaciers, in ice being discharged into the oceans from the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland and in the thermal expansion of the volume of the sea as its water warms. The rising Sea would post the water table up, in some cases to the surface. Warming oceans are also likely to cause the average hurricane to be more powerful because the depth and warmth of the ocean's top layer is the single most important factor in determining the speed of a hurricane's winds. More powerful and more frequent storms coming into the land from the ocean would intern greatly exacerbate the damage from rising sea levels. It would change the entire water cycle and cause great damage to a freshwater system.

Question 4. Describe the effects of deforestation on the ecosystem. (2012)
Answer. Widespread deforestation is a great concern for the future of human life. The destruction of a forest and affect the hydrological cycle (the natural water distribution system) in a given area. More water is stored in the forests of the earth especially the Tropical rainforests- than and its lakes. Forests themselves produce rain clouds, partly because of evapotranspiration. Immediately after the rain falls on the rain forest, a fine Mist begins to float back into the sky. It increases both the humidity in the air and the odds of more rain just downwind. Forests also attract rain by producing gas is called terpenes and small amounts of a compound called dimethylsulfide which floats into the atmosphere as a gas, the tiny 'grains' around which droplets of rainwater from. The deforestation would cause damage to the ecosystem as it would cease is this contribution of the forests and thereby the rain and mist.

Question 5. Describe the effects of population growth on the global water system. (2010)
Answer.  Population growth is one of the major factors which threatens the existence of human life. The population is growing at a very rapid speed but resources are limited. Naturally, the pressure of population is becoming Grave on the resources. As result resources are exhausted. Because the speed of the ability of nature to refill or recharge its resources is much slower in comparison to the speed of growth of the human population. Hence resources are sinking. We are cutting forests, digging Earth- all invitation to our own Doom.

D. Answer in about 150 words:

Question 1. Man is saving the path of his own Doom. How?
Answer. Man is said to be the creator of his own destiny. He is the most sensible creature who takes everything logically and wisely. But sometimes it is felt that he himself is saving the part of his own doom. There are a number of reasons behind search feelings. First man himself is responsible for the Rapid population growth which is one of the many causes of man's doom. As the population grows, a pressure is created on the resources which are limited. It's refilling or recharging is speed is very slow. Hence resources in all their capacity fail to fulfill the human need. As a result, the man starts to over exhaust the resources. This damages the ecosystem, in fact, the entire system of life. We have no enough habitation, nor enough water to drink nor sanitation, nor education and above all, not a healthy living condition. They are polluting the whole atmosphere, water, food, etc. Only man can do something for the safety of the earth and its resources. He must be sensible otherwise he is doomed to die.

Question 2. Recount and explain the five strategic threats to the global water system, as described by A L Gore.
Answer. A L Gore in a very specific manner recounts five major threats to the global water system- redistribution of freshwater supply. The rise of sea levels resulting in the low-lying coastal areas, widespread deforestation, contamination of water resources and the pressure of rapid population growth.

We depend largely on freshwater which is only 2.5 % of the total amount of water on earth. Most of that is locked away as ice in Antarctica and to a lesser extent in Greenland, the north polar ice cap and mountain glaciers. Groundwater makes up most of what remains living less than .01 percent of all the lakes, creeks, streams, rivers and rain Falls. This still leaves more than enough water to meet all our need, but it is distributed unevenly throughout the world. As a result, human Civilization has been restricted to more or less the same Geographic pattern. Any lasting alteration of that pattern would, therefore, pose a strategic threat to global civilization. In the same we rise in the sea level due to global warming is damaging the ecosystem. The widespread contamination of water causes several deadly diseases. Deforestation causes the flood. The pressure of rapid population growth represents the biggest major strategic threat to the global water system. In many parts of the world, groundwater is being extracted from aquifers at rates that far exceed the ability of nature to refill or recharge them. Man alone can save his future by adopting a discretionary approach.