NIOS Class 12 Environmental Science Chapter 16 Conservation of other Natural Resources

NIOS Class 12 Environmental Science Chapter 16 Conservation of other Natural Resources Solutions to each chapter is provided in the list so that you can easily browse throughout different chapters NIOS Class 12 Environmental Science Chapter 16 Conservation of other Natural Resources Notes and select need one. NIOS Class 12 Environmental Science Chapter 16 Conservation of other Natural Resources Question Answers Download PDF. NIOS Study Material of Class 12 Environmental Science Paper Code 333.

NIOS Class 12 Environmental Science Chapter 16 Conservation of other Natural Resources

Also, you can read the NIOS book online in these sections Solutions by Expert Teachers as per National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) Book guidelines. These solutions are part of NIOS All Subject Solutions. Here we have given NIOS Class 12 Environmental Science Chapter 16 Conservation of other Natural Resources Solutions, NIOS Senior Secondary Course Environmental Science Solutions for All Chapter, You can practice these here.

Conservation of other Natural Resources

Chapter: 16

Module 5: Environmental Conversation

Textual Question Answer

INTEXT QUESTIONS 16.1

1. Define resources and natural resources.

Ans: Resource is anything useful or can be made useful to humans to meet their needs. Resource that is directly available for use from nature is called natural resource. 

2. Give five examples of natural resource.

Ans: Examples of natural resources are – fresh air, fresh water, soil, forest, minerals and fossil fuels. 

3. Which are our primary energy sources? How are these formed in nature?

Ans: Our primary energy sources are crude oil (petroleum), natural gas and coal. They are formed in nature when plants and planktons get compressed under hard rocks for millions of years. 

4. Name the top petroleum producing region of India.

Ans: Mumbai high is the top petroleum producing region of India. 

5. What are lignite and anthracite? How do they differ?

Ans: Lignite is brown coal with low heat content and anthracite is hard coal with high heat content. 

INTEXT QUESTIONS 16.2 

1. How do you classify minerals.

Ans: Minerals are classified into:

(i) Metallic minerals.

(ii) Non-metallic minerals.

(iii) Fossil fuels (Oil, Coal, Gas, Lignite, Peat).

2. What are haematite, magnetite and limonite?

Ans: These are iron ores. Haematite and magnetite are rich iron ores and limonite is inferior quality ore. 

3. What is limestone? What are its uses?

Ans: Limestone is a non-metallic mineral. It is used in cement industry, iron and steel industry, sugar, paper, fertilizer and ferro manganese industries. 

4. Which is the most important mica producing region of India?

Ans: Bihar and Jharkhand are most important mica producing states of India. 

5. How can you check depletion of mineral resource?

Ans: Depletion of minerals can be checked by reuse, recycle of existing supplies, wasteless, useless, find a substitute. 

INTEXT QUESTIONS 16.3 

1. Write the difference between perpetual or unconditional natural resource and conditional natural resource?

Ans: Perpetual or unconditional renewable natural resources last forever on human time scale. Conditional renewable natural resources must reproduce or regenerate in order to last forever.

2. How can soil become a non-renewable resource?

Ans: Formation of an inch of top soil takes 200 to 1000 years and soil erosion may occur faster than rate of soil formation, thus it can become a non-renewable resource as the top soil may be lost forever. 

3. How is biodiversity of great significance in modern agriculture?

Ans: Biodiversity of great significance in modern agriculture in three ways –

(i) as a source of new crops. 

(ii) as a source of material for crop improvement.

(iii) as a source of new biodegradable pesticide.

TERMINAL EXERCISE

1. Define natural resources. Name two unconditionally renewable natural resources.

Ans: Resource that is directly available for use from nature is called natural resource.

Examples of unconditionally renewable natural resources are solar energy and wind.

2. How do you reduce the use of lead and steel in the communication? 

Ans: The use of lead and steel in communication can be reduced by:

(i) Replacing them with safer alternatives like optical fibre cables and lightweight alloys.

(ii) Encouraging re-use and recycling of materials.

(iii) Extending product life and reducing unnecessary consumer demand.

3. What is the advantage of having synthetic substitute of mica?

Ans: Mica was one of the indispensable minerals used in the electrical and electronic industries till recently. Inhalation of mica dust is hazardous and can cause coughing, weight loss, and weakness. Mica capacitors are costly and are known to exhibit jump in value on several occasions. Synthetic mica is a fluorphlogopite that can replace mica in Cosmetics and is safe as compared to mica. The synthetic mica has a better temperature resistance, light transmission performance, and corrosion resistance compared to natural mica.

4. Ocean floor is a rich manganese nodules but people are kept away from mining them. Give two reasons. 

Ans: Manganese-rich nodules present on the deep ocean floor may be a future source of manganese and other important metals. They can be sucked up by giant vacuum pipes by a mining ship. But because of the high cost involved in the process and who owns them or the ocean have kept people away from this project.

5. When does a mineral element become economically depleted? 

Ans: A mineral is said to be “economically depleted” when it costs more to locate, mine, transport, and process the remaining deposit than its worth. In such cases, people will look for other alternatives like a synthetic substitute.

6. Suggest any four ways to check and reduce depletion of minerals. 

Ans: The ways to check or reduce the depletion of minerals are as follows;

(i) To reduce depletion of minerals, 5 choices are recycling or reuse existing supplies, wasteless, useless, find a substitute or do without.

(ii) One way to improve mining technology is to utilize microorganisms to extract metals from its ores called “biomining” which may be an economical and environmentally preferable way to mine low-grade ores. it is feasible, especially with low-grade ores.

(iii) The science of nanotechnology has immense potential. The role of many metals can be taken over by new materials generated by nanotechnology.

(iv) When a mineral becomes scarce, its price rises. This can promote exploration of new deposits, or find new alternatives, stimulate the development of better mining technology and make use of efficient technology to mine lower-grade ores.

7. What is biomining and what is its advantage? 

Ans: Biomining is defined as the process of the mineral process with microbes. In this process, the microorganism is used to extract the metals for economic interest. The advantage of biomining is that it consumes little energy and produces few microbial by-products such as organic acids and gases. It is also cheap and simple.

8. What are the main causes of land degradation? (Any three). Why should land degradation be checked? (Any three suggestions)

Ans: The main causes of land degradation are desertification, deforestation, overgrazing, salinization of soil erosion, and other biophysical factors such as rainfall, wind, and temperature, etc.

The land degradation must be checked because agriculture depends upon land and soil, overdrafts may result in poor farming practices, livestock also gets affected by land degradation.

9. Which is an unconditionally renewable resource. Give two examples. 

Ans: Unconditionally renewable resources are those which cannot be exhausted on a human time scale.

Examples: Solar energy and wind energy.

10. State any two methods to check depletion of fresh water resources. 

Ans: The two methods to check the depletion of freshwater resources include checking the house water system and avoiding throwing anything into the river or any water bodies.

11. Which are the three levels at which biodiversity occurs? 

Ans: The three levels at which biodiversity occurs are:

(i) Genetic diversity.

(ii) Species diversity.

(iii) Ecosystem diversity.

12. What is the major cause of biodiversity loss?

Ans: The major causes of biodiversity loss are:

(i) Habitat destruction and deforestation.

(ii) Over-exploitation such as hunting and over-fishing.

(iii) Pollution and disturbance of biogeochemical cycles.

(iv) Introduction of exotic species and other human activities.