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Pollution

By
Syskool
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1
The addition of constituents to water, air or land, which adversely alter the natural quality of our environment is known as Pollution. Pollution may also be defined as an undesirable variation in the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of our water, air and land that may or will harmfully affect human life or that of desirable species, our industrial processes, living conditions and cultural assets, or that may or will waste or deteriorate our raw material resources.

Global Aspect of Pollution

Entire world can be considered as a single vast ecosystem of the universe consisting of two parts:
 
(I) Biotic Community (or Living Part) 
That is the Biosphere in which life exists. The lack of living creatures and dis-balance in their life balance gives rise to the crises in the biological community.
 
(II) Abiotic Community (or Non-Living Part of Physical Environment) 
The abiotic or physical environment of all organism existing on the earth exists in three zones: Atmosphere, Lithosphere, and Hydrosphere.

Causes of Environmental Pollution

The root cause of environmental pollution has been men’s behave with the nature. Albeit, there are several reasons for environmental pollution, for example:

A. Harmful Gases in the Atmosphere

The concentration of harmful gases is increasing day by day in the atmosphere. Increasing Carbon dioxide content will warm up the earth atmosphere to such an extent that it will melt the polar ice and will cause a subsequent rise in sea level. Thus low line areas will be submerged, carbon dioxide is harmful to our health. Carbon mono-oxide, Sulpur dioxide, Hydrogen sulphide, Nitrogen oxide, Ozone etc also constitute the other harmful pollutant.

B. Industrial Waste (Effluents)

Discharge of untreated industrial effluents (for example Breweries, Tanneries, Dying, Textile and Paper can cause very serious pollution indeed.

C. Swage and Domestic Wastes

Dumping of tonnes of sewage, dead humans and animals and domestic wastes from cities into the water reservoirs are one of the major causer of water pollution. Discharge of untreated or partially treated sewage may cause: (a) depletion of oxygen content caused by biological oxidation of organic matter; and (b) stimulation of algae growth.
The above effects affects the diverse uses of water.

D. Insecticides and Pesticides

Insecticides used to kill insects which destroys (damages) our corps, spread several diseases in man, after spraying are washed off to the rivers and lakes and become a part fish body and other animal there. In the same way pollution of food grains by insecticides and pesticides and the various diseases caused by such food grains are also well known.
Must Read: Types of Polution

E. Automobile/Factory Exhausts

The air becomes foul by the exhaust from the internal combustion engines of automobiles used for personal conveyance, transport of goods and passenger traffic in the modern world. This polluted air is unhealthy for human and animal. Carbon monoxide is a deadly poisonous gas discharged from the automiles and factories is a serious problem in big cities of the world. It causes headaches, loss of vision, nausea, pain, convulsions, asthmatic spasm etc.

F. Fertilizers and Detergents

Fertilizers applied in the fields are also washed off into streams, rivers and the seas. Here they increase the growth of algae (algae is a microscopic green plan). This algae consumes the oxygen of water much more then they returned to water in dissolved state (during photosynthesis). In short supply of oxygen the animal living in water become suffocated.
Detergents also cause a serious problem to the fresh water resources. Major ingredients of most detergents are phosphates. When discharged into the water they support the luxuriant growth of algae.

Different types of pollution

Pollution can be classified mainly on the basis of (i) Environmental (water, soil, and air etc.); and (ii) Pollutants (lead, carbon-dioxide, solid waste etc.). On the basis of these two ways pollution may be classified as:
  1. Air
  2. Mercury Pollution
  3. Noise
  4. Pesticide and Herbicide Pollution
  5. Radioactive
  6. Soil
  7. Thermal Pollution
  8. Water Pollution

Must Read:

Most Polluted Cities in India

Indian Industry: Rules, Policies, and Types

Solid Waste Management (SWM) : Growing for Solutions

Satellites and Asteroids

By
Syskool
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0

Satellites: They are bodies revolving around the planets. Satellites is said to have been formed of the matter whirled off from a planet when still in molten state.  Except Venus, Mercury, and Pluto all other planets are accompanied by satellites. Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have one, two, twelve, nine, five and two planets respectively .

They are bodies revolving around the planets. A satellite is said to have been formed of the matter whirled off from a planet when still in molten state.  Except Venus, Mercury, and Pluto all other planets are accompanied by satellites. Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have one ,two, twelve, nine, five and two planets respectively .

Asteroids: Asteroids are very small planets revolving around the Sun in orbits lying between Jupiter and Mars. These are said to be the fragments of the large planet disrupted long ago. So far, more than 1,400 asteroids have been discovered. Ceres, the first to be discovered is the largest known asteroid having a diameter of 480 miles. The smallest known asteroid have the diameter of three miles only.

Must Read: Solar System

METEORS AND METEORITES

Meteors: Meteors are small bodies often witnessed in the sky shooting with great speed from one point to another producing a trail  of light because of friction and inter planetary space.

Meteorites: Big pieces of solid mass falling on the earth presumably from regions beyond the atmosphere are called meteorites.

Light Year: The distance traveled by light in one year is called light year.

Also Read: The Planet Earth and the Universe

STARS

Stars: Stars are self-luminous celestial bodies. Many of them are much larger than the Sun which is the star nearest us. Some of the stars are so distant that it takes a million years for light to reach us. The distances of star are expressed in light years.

Kind of stars: Stars have been classified as
(a)variable stars,- Stars whose brightness varies from time to time are called variable stars.

(b)Double or binary stars- These stars are group of two stars revolving round the common center under mutual gravitational attraction.

(c)New or temporary stars- Stars which suddenly flare up to greatly increased brightness that fades away after a short time are called new or temporary stars which are also called nova.

(d)Fixed stars-The stars which do not appear to alter their relative positions in the sky are called fixed stars.

Red Giants. Red giants are stars which have consumed some 10%of their Hydrogen on account of which they appear reddish. Red giants consume their Hydrogen at increased rate so that they eventually contract and become white dwarfs.

Have a Look at: All About Earth

GROUPS OF STARS 

Constellation: Constellation is a group of fixed stars usually associated with an imaginary figure, e.g a bear. Great Bear is a group of seven stars in the north. It is also called plough or use major.

OTHER CELESTIAL PHENOMENA

Comet: It is a luminous celestial body moving round the Sun in elliptical or hyperbolic orbits, consisting of a bright nucleus and a fainter tai which increases in length as it approaches the Sun.

Galaxy: The galaxy is a vast collection of stars and other celestial bodies stretching across the heavens, seen like a luminous belt of densely populated stars. Our Solar system is a tiny part of galaxy.

Milky way: It is the starry belt, seen on a clear night as an arch-shaped huge concentration of faint stars encircling the sky.

Nebulae: The clouds of rarefied gas existing between stars and made to glow by the radiation of the light of stars enmeshed within it.Their visibility is faint and hazy.

Have a Look at: Space Exploration From Earth

Isopleths

By
Syskool
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3
Isopleths
A line drawn on a map through all points having the same value of some measurable quantity is known as isopleths.

ISANOMAL – Isopleth of anomaly
ISARITHM – Any line representing continuous value on maps.
ISOBARS – Lines of equal pressure
ISOHYET – Isopleth of rainfall
ISOBRONTS – Lines joining places experiencing a thunderstorm at the same time.
ISOCHRONES – Lines joining places located at equal travel time from a common center.
ISOPHENE – Isopleths of seasonal phenomena, Ex-flowering dates of plants.
ISOPOTENTIAL – surface to which artesian water can rise.
ISOZYMES – Lines of equal frost.
ISOTHERMS – Isopleths of temp.
ISOHYPSESS – Lines of equal elevations or contours.
ISOGONAL – Lines of equal magnetic declinations
ISOHELS – Lines of equal sunshine
ISOBATH – Lines of equal depth below sea level
ISONEPH – Lines of equal cloudiness
ISODAPANE – Lines of equal transportation cost for a distance
ISOCLINE – Line of equal slope
ISOHALINE – Line of equal salinity
ISOSEIMAL – Line joining the equal intensity of the earthquake.

by John Kanri

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Monsoon, Floods, and Droughts

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The Earth and the Moon

By
Syskool
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2
The Earth and the Moon
The moon, being a satellite of the earth, revolves around it. At the same time, the moon also rotates on its axis and the axis of the moon is more or less parallel to the axis of the earth (the axis of the moon is inclined at the angle of about 58 degrees 43 inches with respect to the plane of the ecliptic).
The moon has a diameter of about 3480 km and has a mass about 1/81 that of the earth. Like that of the earth and the moon orbits is also elliptical. At its nearest point to the earth the moon is said to be in perigee, and at its farthest, in apogee. The distance between the earth and the moon varies from about 356,000 km at perigee to about 407,000 km at apogee. As the moon completes one revolution around the earth every month, the perigee and apogee are monthly phenomenon’s, unlike perihelion and aphelion that are the annual phenomenon.
The moon’s period of revolution with reference to the sun is about 29.53 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.8 seconds) this period is called a synodic month. In term of sidereal time, it takes about 27 and half days (27.32 days, or 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 11.6 seconds) for the moon to be re-located in exactly the same meridional position with respect to the stars. This period of about 27 and half days is called the sidereal month and is the time required by the moon to complete one revolution about the earth with respect to the stars. The time taken by the moon in completing one revolution around the earth (synodic month) is longer than one sidereal month because of the fact that while the moon revolves around the earth, the earth also evolved around the sun and thus the moon has to travel a longer distance to be re-located exactly in the same position with respect to the earth and the sun.

 

Read Also: Space Exploration from Earth

As mentioned above, just like the earth and the moon also rotates on its own axis. The time taken by the moon to complete one rotation on its axis is also exactly one sidereal month. This fact has an important bearing upon the earth-moon relationship. Consequent to this relationship we always see the same face of the moon from the earth also, we can never see from the earth the complete surface of the moon. Only 59 percent of the total surface of the moon is visible from the earth. The remaining 41 percent is never seen. In fact at any given time at the most 50 percent of the surface of the moon is visible from the earth and another 9 percent can be seen from time to time with shift of the apparent edges of the illuminated part of the moon because of the relative motion (liberations) due to changes in the angle of the view from the earth.

Must Read:

Water on the Earth

Movements of Earth

Agricultural Regions of India

By
Syskool
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2
Agricultural Regions of India
A number of agricultural scientists have attempted to delimit agricultural regions of India using a variety of criteria. One of the popular schemes provided by the Randhawa is briefly outlined here.
  1. Temperate Himalayan Region: Due to climatic and accompanying variations in corps this region is further divided into two sub-regions.

  • The Eastern Himalayan Region: This Agricultural Regions of India is wet and the rainfall here is more than 250 cm. including upper Assam, Sikkim, and Mishmi Hills, this region is largely covered by forests. Tea plantations on hills slopes and paddy cultivation in low-lands are the major agricultural activities.
  • The Western Himalayan Region: Western Himalayan Region is climatically dry and this includes Kulu, Kangra and Kashmir Valley, and Garhwal, Kumaon, and Shimla hills. Horticultural crops of apples, almonds, and apricots are important in the highland areas. In relatively lower parts and on gentler slopes are cultivated the crops such as potato, maize, and paddy.
  • Northern Dry Region: This region has a rainfall of less than 75 cm and the soils are alluvial and sandy. Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and western Madhya Pradesh are included in this region. Wheat, maize, and cotton are the chief crops. Sugarcane and rice are grown in irrigated areas.
  • Eastern Wet Region: This is the area of more than 150 cm of rainfall. The soil is alluvial in some parts and deltaic in others. This region includes West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Chhattisgarh and the states of the North-East including Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram. Rice is the main staple crop of this region. Other crops include tea, jute, and sugarcane.
  • Western Wet Region or Malabar Region: This region includes Kerala, Karnataka, and adjoining parts with more than 200 cm rainfall. This is the region of laterite and lateritic soils. Plantation crops and rice are dominant crops. This region produces coconut, cashew-nut, areca nut, rubber, pepper, and cardamom. Rice is the dominant food crop of this region also.
  • Southern Region or the Millet Region: Receiving an annual rainfall of 50-100 cm, this region includes parts of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Western Tamil Nadu, Eastern Maharashtra and South Gujarat and part of Karnataka. The southern extreme part of Uttar Pradesh also comes from under this region. Soils in this part are partly black and partly lateritic and red soil. Jowar, bajra, cotton, ragi, groundnut and tobacco are the chief crops of this region. Much of the products also come from this region. Coarse grains are the staple food of a large majority of the people of this Agricultural Regions of India.

Must Read:

Useful facts about Agriculture & Farming

Monsoon, Floods, and Droughts

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