Page 142 - SST Class 06

TRY THIS
Making Rain: Birds in
the air
Here’s a neat activity that will help you understand
the process that leads to rainfall.
Materials Required: Vegetation
Ø a jar with a metal lid Ø 1 cup of water Sea creatures
Animals
Ø a hammer Ø a nail in the ground
Marine living
Ø ice cubes Ø some salt organisms
Ø a spoon Microscopic Dead plants
organisms and animals
Procedure:
1. Use the hammer and nail to make 5 dimples on Biosphere
the inside of the metal lid. Make sure not to
with one another in various ways, which is well
poke holes through the lid, just make little
elaborated under the trophic levels of food chain
indentations.
– how energy is transferred in ecological systems.
2. Boil one cup of water. Pour the boiling water into
ATMOSPHERE
the jar.
3. Place the metal lid upside down on top of the jar, This is envelope of air that surrounds the earth
completely covering the mouth of the jar. like a blanket. It is the presence of air that saves
4. Place 3-4 ice cubes into the lid. Add a little bit of life on the earth from extreme temperature and
cold water and a pinch or two of salt and stir. also gives us air to breathe. The atmosphere
Make sure that the mouth of the jar remains extends up to about 1,000 km above the earth’s
completely covered by the lid. surface, but 97 per cent of the density of the air
5. Wait a few minutes and watch as drops of rain column is found within a height of 27 km. In
start to fall from the lid to the water below. other words, maximum air is found closest to the
surface of the earth. As we go higher, the air
BIOSPHERE
becomes thinner and in space there is no air.
All the living things in the planet are categorised
EXOSPHERE
under the biosphere. In this view, the biosphere 500
includes all of the animals, plants, and microor-
ganisms of the earth. Humans as well, belong to
THERMOSPHERE
this group. The entire ecological communities
within the physical surrounding of the earth are
within the umbrella of living things (biosphere). 80 MESOSPHERE
These ecological communities interact together
with the physical aspects of the earth including HEIGHT IN KILOMETRES
the hydrosphere, lithosphere and the atmo- 50 Stratopause
sphere.

Collectively, these ecological communities are
STRATOSPHERE
made reference to as biomes. Deserts, forests, Aeroplane
OZONE
grasslands, aquatic, tundra and chaparral are the
six main biomes that are present in the bio- 10 Tropopause
TROPOSPHERE
sphere. The living things on the earth interact
Atmosphere
Social Science-6 142