Yearly Archives: 2022

Who I am Summary will take us through the chapter in a detailed manner. It throws light on the diversity of people. The chapter tells us how everyone has something special in them. Similarly, it discusses the uniqueness and its importance of people. To help us understand these unique traits and diversity better, it takes us through the lives of six different people. The chapter shows its uniqueness in their own way. The first person is Radha who enjoys climbing trees and how it gives her the feeling to achieve anything. Next, Nasir owns cotton fields in the village and wishes to learn to preserve seeds. Rohit is a travel enthusiast who wishes to go on a world tour. Further, Serbjit is trying to control his anger as no one believes him. Dolma is wished to become a Prime Minister. Finally, Peter enjoys spending time with his family.

Who I am Summary in English 

This chapter will take us through the lives of six different people. It tries to explain that every person on earth is different yet interesting in their own ways. To prove this point, the author describes six people in the lesson.

First up is Radha who loves climbing trees. In fact, it is her favourite activity. However, her mother always asks her to not to do it. One day, her mother also climbs up the mango tree with Radha outside their house. They talk to each other and eat raw mangoes. Radha feels like she can conquer the whole world when she climbs a tree.

Next, Nasir owns cotton fields in his village. He notices how his father spends a good amount of money to buy seeds for growing cotton plants. He remembers how his grandfather once told Nasir that he would collect seeds from his own plants in order to grow new plants.

However, it does not work these days. Nasir wishes to know the reason behind it. Moreover, he also wants to learn the art of preserving seeds. This way, he will be able to use them again and save a lot of money.

Rohit is the next person which the author talks about. He loves travelling and wishes to go around the world if he gets enough money. Similarly, he wishes to visit the mountains in New Zealand and the Amazon river in South America.

Further, Rohit also wants to enjoy the serene beaches in Lakshadweep and the Konark Temple in Orissa. Likewise, his other favourites are the old city of Beijing in China and the Pyramids of Egypt.

Serbjit is the next person who remains angry with most of the people in his life. It is because no one trusts him when he tells the truth. His teacher thinks that he is lying when he says that he couldn’t complete his homework because his book was borrowed by Ravi.

Similarly, his parents never believe him when he tells them that it is his little brother who started the fight. The blame always falls on him. So, he tries to control his anger. Next, Dolma is an ambitious girl who wishes to become the Prime Minister of her country.

She possesses leadership qualities as people come to her for solving problems. Finally, we have Peter who loves and looks forward to the second Sunday of the month. It is the day when his whole family goes for an outing.

They watch a movie and eat ice-cream afterwards. It warms his heart to see everyone enjoying and having a nice time together as a family.

A Different Kind of School Summary will take us through a unique school of Miss Beam. The story begins with the writer getting curious about Miss Beam’s school. He decides to visit the school himself. Upon entering the school, he notices a girl with bandage covered eyes being led by a little boy. He proceeds to meet Miss Beam who tells him about her unique teaching methods. She explains that her main aim to teach children to be thoughtful and kind towards everyone. He notices that in the open field, many children were on crutches, while some had eyes covered with bandages and so on. To his surprise, Miss Beam tells him that the one with crutches is not lame. Similarly, one having bandages on the eyes is not blind. It is Miss Beam’s way of teaching them to experience the pain and struggles of those less fortunate than us.

A Different Kind of School Summary in English 

It is a story which revolves around a unique school where the main aim is to teach children how to sympathize with others and be helpful. The writer of the story has heard a lot about Miss Beam’s school.

So, he decides to give it a visit. Upon reaching there, he notices that a saw with bandage covered eyes is being led cautiously by a little boy between the flower bed. He finally meets Miss Beam who explains her teaching methods.

She tells him that her main aim of teaching in this school is to help children become more kind and thoughtful. He looks out a window and it pains his heart to see a field full of happy children but not healthy ones.

Two girls have a bandage on their eyes while one is watching the others play as she is on crutches. However, to his surprise, Miss Beam tells him that the girl with the crutches is not lame. Similarly, the one with bandaged eyes does not have trouble in her eyes.

In order to help her children appreciated and understand the less-fortunate, the school makes them share in their misfortune. So, they are made lame or their eyes are covered so they can realize the true essence of the misfortune.

Similarly, she tells other children to help them out. Thus, each term, every child has one blind, one lame, one injured, one dumb and one deaf day. Everyone plays this ‘game’ at school.

Miss Beam asks the author to spend some time with the girl having a bandage on her eyes. The author finds out that the girl appreciates the help she got from the other children. Thus, it makes her strive to become a better person and help out others.

The girl tells the author how being blind for a day is the hardest thing to do. It is because movement becomes difficult and they always have to worry about getting hurt. They keep dodging things which are not even there.

Then, the writer goes for a short walk with the girl. After that, he realizes that he has become ten times more thoughtful. Moreover, he also realizes that describing things to people brings him great pleasure.

Conclusion of A Different Kind of School Summary

A Different Kind of School Summary teaches us how apart from education, we must also learn how to be respectful of others. Moreover, we must always help out the specially-abled people and be compassionate towards them. Finally, we must be grateful for what we have and make the most of it.

The story tells us about the life of the iconic woman, Kalpana Chawala. An Indian American Woman in Space Kalpana Chawla Summary will take us through her struggle and achievements.

Kalpana Chawala was born in Karnal, Haryana. She got American citizenship after marrying the American flight instructor, Jean-Pierre Harrison. Thus, we refer to her as an Indian-American.

Kalpana studies in the Tagore School Karnal. After school, she joined an engineering college. Soon, she went to the United States of America to study for her master’s degree. Even though her father opposed her decision, she never gave up and went there.

After obtaining her degree, she even enrolled in the PhD program in aerospace engineering. Soon, Kalpana qualified as a pilot. She decided to apply for NASA for a space shuttle program.

As she was quite a successful pilot, it inspired her to become an astronaut. At first, she got hired as a research scientist. In 1994, NASA selected Kalpana Chawla for training as an astronaut among others.

Thus, she went on to become the first Indian-American woman astronaut. The first space mission of Kalpana in the space lasted for 15 days, 16 hours and 34 minutes long. In her crew, there were astronauts’ from Japan as well as Ukraine.

Along with the help of her team members, she performed different experiments for a price tag of around 56 million dollars. Sadly, when the news of the Columbia Disaster broke out, it left everyone in shock and disbelief.

Soon, the news of Kalpana Chawla along with the death of her other crew members on the space shuttle program came. Many came together in solidarity for the lost lives. Moreover, a journalist also tagged her as a heroine.

As per the reporter, an astronaut is a very able person. They must be knowledgeable in everything from biology to astrophysics to aeronautical engineering. In other words, an astronaut has encyclopedic knowledge.

Therefore, we learn that Kalpana Chawla stated that we can turn our dreams into reality. We must only have the courage and determination to do it.

Conclusion of An Indian American Woman in Space Kalpana Chawla Summary

An Indian American Woman in Space Kalpana Chawla Summary teaches us how determination and hard work can help us achieve our goals. Moreover, we learn about the legacy of the inspirational woman, Kalpana Chawla.

Taros Reward Summary will tell you about the beautiful story of a devoted son. Taro is a woodcutter who lives with his old parents. He does not earn a lot and it upsets him as he wants to give his parents the best life. One day, his old father expresses his wish to have a cup of sake. Taro becomes sadder realizing that sake is expensive. Nonetheless, he gets up earlier than usual and starts chopping wood for a long time. Soon, he hears water falling and goes to drink it only to realize that it is sake. He brings it home happily and gives it to his parents. Soon, word spreads around the village and they all rush to the waterfall. However, it tastes like water only to them. Thus, they realize only Taro got the sake because he is a thoughtful son.

Taros Reward Summary in English 

Taro is a young woodcutter who lives with his old parents on a lonely hillside. He does not earn a lot from his work, so it upsets him to not be able to give his parents a better life. One day, it was quite old and his father wished to have a cup of sake.

This upsets Taro even more because he feels he cannot afford an expensive cup of sake. Nonetheless, he decides to wake up the next morning earlier than usual. So, he does and goes to the forest.

Taro starts chopping up wood and keeps doing it for a long time. Even though his mouth becomes very dry and he starts feeling thirsty, he continues to keep chopping up the wood non-stop.

All of a sudden, he hears a sound of water falling from nearby. He stops his work as he has never heard or seen rushing water somewhere near. As he is thirsty, he runs into the direction of the sound.

Upon reaching there, he discovers a small yet stunning waterfall. He starts to drink the liquid only to realize that it is not water but sake. Excited, he starts filling a pitcher with it and heads home hurriedly.

On seeing a pitcher full of sake, his father gets very happy. He takes one sip and stops shivering. After that, the old man starts dancing to express his happiness. On the same day, a visitor from the village comes to their house.

They offer him the sake and tell her about the magical waterfall. Thus, the story starts to spread all around the village. Everyone from the surrounding villages starts visiting Taro and the pitcher empties in half an hour.

Next morning, all the villager rush to the magical waterfall, even before Taro. However, it tastes nothing like sake but simple cold water. This angers them and they all wish to drown Taro for spreading lies and cheating them.

Taro hides in the forest to escape the wrath of the villagers. When they leave, he goes again to taste the liquid and it still tasted like good old fine sake. Thus, it becomes clear that the magical waterfall offered sake only to Taro.

That is why others only tasted the water. It was obvious, God wanted Taro to have the privilege of being a thoughtful son. The emperor also learns about Taro and he rewards him with twenty pieces of gold.

Further, he also named the beautiful fountain of the city after Taro. Through this, he wished to encourage all children to honour and always be obedient towards their parents.

Conclusion of Taros Reward Summary

Taros Reward Summary teaches us to be respectful and honour our parents all the time. Ultimately, we will be rewarded for our good deeds

Once upon a time dogs were their own master lived in freedom and roam freely in the forest like wolves. But one day a dog was not happy as leading his life in this way. He was also scared of those animals who were stronger than him. So he decided to look for a master who was enough strong in this earth.

He began to search his master, at first, he met a big wolf and decided to take him as his master. He asked the wolf if he would like to be his master, the wolf accepted him as a servant. Both of them started walking on the way they met a bear, when the wolf got the smell of a bear out of fear he ran off deep into the forest. To find out the reason the dog came to know that the wolf considered the bear to be stronger than him.

Since the dog find the bear stronger, so he decided to take him as his master. Now both the bear and the dog went to find the herd of cows for food. Very soon, the dog found that the bear was afraid of the lion. Then the dog immediately left him and went to the lion. The lion also agreed to accept him as his servant. Now dog was sure that he will have a happy and safe Life Nobody will now herm him. One day both of them were moving together, suddenly lion gave a great roar. The lion saw a man and he asked the dog to run away with him to avoid any trouble.

As soon as the dog realised that he will take the service of man as he is the strongest creature of the world, from that day to now a days the dog went to join the man and stayed with him and served faithfully. The dog accepted the man completely as his master.

Who Did Patrick’s Homework Introduction

This is a wonderful story that has presented Magical realism (which means something that is not magic but a belief) in a beautiful manner. A boy Patrick who gets inspired and feels propelled to work hard by an imaginary elf (a supernatural being). He is not only able to complete his work rather scores high grades. This story conveys the message that self help works wonders.

Who Did Patrick’s Homework Summary

Who Did Patrick’s Homework Summary – Patrick was an active boy who loved outdoor games like hockey and basketball. He was an enthusiastic player but somehow was not interested in studies. Because of his poor interest in studies, he shirked work and was warned strictly by his teacher.

closely, he found that it was a small man-elf (a supernatural being). He was wearing a woolen shirt, a tall hat, and breeches. He was scared of a cat and needed help. He pleaded (requested) Patrick to save him and in return, he promised to grant him a wish.

Patrick felt happy and called himself a fortunate one. He asked the elf to do his homework in return. Though the elf was not ready for it yet, he offered to do this for him for 35 days (one semester).

However, a  problem arose when the elf told that he knew nothing of maths and history. He needed help to do these subjects. Patrick agreed and brought many books to read and consult. He sat next to the elf and put in a hard toll to complete the work.

Exactly after 35 days when the semester was over, the elf went away quietly. Patrick scored a grade ‘A’ in all the subjects. Everyone appreciated him. He became a very different person who was hardworking, generous, and an exemplary boy.

Patrick thought it is of who helped him score high but in reality, it was Patrick

Who Did Patrick’s Homework Explanation

PATRICK never did homework. “Too boring,” he said. He played hockey and basketball and Nintendo instead. His teachers told him, “Patrick! Do your homework or you won’t learn a thing.” And it’s true, sometimes he did feel like an ignoramus. But what could he do? He hated homework.

Nintendo: a video game
Ignoramus:  an ignorant person, who lacks education

Patrick never did his homework because he found it boring. Instead, he played outdoor games like hockey and basketball. He also liked to play video games like Nintendo. His teacher warned him to complete his homework otherwise, he won’t be able to learn anything. It was a fact because at times, he used to feel like an ignorant person who was completely helpless in this regard. He had no interest in studies and homework.

Then one day he found his cat playing with a little doll and he grabbed it away. To his surprise, it wasn’t a doll at all, but a man of the tiniest size. He had a little wool shirt with old-fashioned britches and a tall hat much like a witch’s. He yelled, “Save me! Don’t give me back to that cat. I’ll grant you a wish, I promise you that.”

britches: breeches, or short trousers. The writer here spells it, for fun, to rhyme with the word ‘witch’s’.
grabbed: caught
tiniest: smallest

Patrick couldn’t believe his luck to have the answer to all of his problems here . He said, “Only if you do all my homework till the end of the semester, that’s 35 days. If you do a
good enough job, I could even get A’s.”

Lucky::fortunate
problems: difficulties
semester:a half or quarter term in school or university

It was difficult for Patrick to accept that he was so fortunate to get an answer or solution to all his difficulties through this tiny man. So he asked him if he could do his homework till the end of the semester, that is a period of 35 days to help him score ‘A’ grade.Patrick was thinking that with elf’s help ,he can improve his grades.

The little man’s face wrinkled like a dishcloth thrown in the hamper. He kicked his legs and doubled his fists and he grimaced and scowled and  pursed his lips, “Oh, am I cursed! But
I’ll do it.”

dishcloth: a cloth used for washing dishes
hamper: a basket with a lid
Grimaced,scowled, pursed his lips:his face had these expressions,showing disgust,anger and disapproval
Wrinkled : slight folds on skin because of old age
Cursed:ill fated

After hearing this, the little man’s face gave a look of cloth lying in the basket used for washing dishes. He showed his disapproval for the work by kicking legs,doubling his fists and making unhappy faces. He asked if he was that unfortunate to do that task. But he promised to do the work.

And true to his word, that little elf began to do Patrick’s homework. Except there was one glitch. The elf didn’t always know what to do and he needed help. “Help me! Help me!” he’d say. And Patrick would have to help — in whatever way.“I don’t know this word,” the elf

Chapter 1 A Tale of Two Birds Class 6 Summary

Chapter 2 The Friendly Mongoose Class 6 Summary

Chapter 3 The Shepherd’s Treasure Class 6 Summary

Chapter 4 The Old-Clock Shop Class 6 Summary

Chapter 5 Tansen Class 6 Summary

Chapter 6 The Monkey and the Crocodile Class 6 Summary

Chapter 7 The Wonder Called Sleep Class 6 Summary

Chapter 8 A Pact with the Sun Class 6 Summary

Chapter 9 What Happened to the Reptiles Class 6 Summary

Chapter 10 A Strange Wrestling Match Class 6 Summary

Chapter 1 Who Did Patrick’s Homework Class 6 Summary

Chapter 2 How the Dog Found Himself a New Master Class 6 Summary

Chapter 3 Taro’s Reward Class 6 Summary

Chapter 4 An Indian American Woman in Space: Kalpana Chawla Class 6 Summary

Chapter 5 A Different Kind of School Class 6 Summary

Chapter 6 Who I Am Class 6 Summary

Chapter 7 Fair Play Class 6 Summary

Chapter 8 A Game of Chance Class 6 Summary

Chapter 9 Desert Animals Class 6 Summary

Chapter 10 The Banyan Tree Class 6 Summary

Poem

A House, A Home Class 6 Summary

The Kite Class 6 Summary

The Quarrel Class 6 Summary

Beauty Class 6 Summary

Where Do All the Teachers Go Class 6 Summary

The Wonderful Words Class 6 Summary

Vocation Class 6 Summary

Whatif Class 6 Summary

Garbage is defined as the items or materials that need to be discarded because they no longer serve any purpose for us or are of no use to us.

Tonnes of garbage and is generated by us on a daily basis. Garbage is often associated with a pungent smell and a large amount of garbage may release fumes which are not healthy. Hence, we put such items in dustbins to be taken to faraway places so that our surroundings are clean and healthy.

Waste is generated by all of us and has four main sources:

Domestic: These constitute the kind of wastes that are generated by households, offices schools etc. and include food remains, fruit and vegetable skins, clothing items, used plastic items etc.

Industrial: These constitute the kind of wastes generated by power plants, chemical plants, cement factories, food processing industries, textile industries, each producing waste specific to the kind of industry they are a part of.

Agricultural: This constitutes the kind of waste that is produced by undertaking agricultural activities husks, expired medicines, fertiliser and pesticide containers etc.

Commercial: This constitutes the kind of waste generated by commercial enterprises including disposable plastic cutlery, food items, food packets, textiles etc.

Not all garbage can be classified as useless as there very well are products which can be reused or recycled. When garbage is taken away by the municipality, it is taken to a low lying and open area known as a landfill. Here, garbage is separated into two categories: the items that can be used again for some other purpose and items that cannot be used. The latter is then spread over the landfill and covered with a blanket of soil. Once full, it is converted into a playground or a park.

Image 1: A landfill

The useful components of the garbage can usually be classified into two categories: biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes.

• Biodegradable wastes are items such as egg shells, vegetable and fruit skin, tea leaves, waste food etc. which can be mixed with soil and roots over time by the action of certain microorganisms. This is usually not accompanied by a pungent smell. Now this mixture of soil and rotten organic materials can be used as manure to provide nutrients to the plants. This process of conversion of biodegradable waste into manure for plants is known as composting.
• Non-biodegradable waste comprises of items that do not rot over time by the action of microorganisms. Examples of such items are metal scraps, plastics, glass etc.

Apart from these, there is another category of non-biodegradable waste also known as electronic waste or e-waste that is composed of electrical appliances or components that no longer serve their specified function and are hence needed to be reused, re-sold, recycle or disposed off. These are non-biodegradable as no action by any microorganism is effective in breaking them down.

Image 2: Biodegradable v/s non-biodegradable items

Image 3: The correct way to dispose biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste

Garbage should be allowed to be processed by the authorities and not burnt because the burning of garbage releases toxic fumes which are harmful to the health of everybody.

Vermicomposting

• Vermicomposting is the process of conversion of biodegradable waste into manure with the help of a special type of earthworms called red worms.
• A layer of sand or chicken mesh is used as the base to which all types of biodegradable waste including dried leaves, husk, vegetable peels and remnants of fruit, dried animal excreta newspaper, cardboard etc.  A little water is sprinkled on this layer. On preparing this mixture, add the red worms to it and covered with a layer of grass or a sheet of cloth.
• The work, however, is not done yet. Red worms need to be fed. They do not have teeth. They have what is called a gizzard. This helps the worms grind their food.
• Fruit and vegetable remains, tea leaves, grass etc. act as food for the red worms and should be buried 2-3 cm deep in the soil. In a day, a worm can eat up as much food as it weighs.
• However, pickles, milk, vinegar and salty materials might help in the growth of disease-causing microorganisms and hence should not be added to the pit.
• They should not be kept in a very hot or a very cold environment. Red worms need care and water. They have the potential to double up in a month’s time, given proper nourishment and care.

Image 4: Red worms

Image 5: Vermicomposting pit

The compost gets ready in three to four weeks’ time.

Recycling of paper

Recycling paper on a small scale is a relatively easy process. All we need to do is tear up the paper in small pieces in a bucket and pour water in it. Let it rest for a day and pound it to make a thick paste out of it. Spread this evenly over a wire mesh to allow the water to drain water. Peel this layered paste and then allow it to dry in the sun. Paper is ready.

Plastics – boon or curse?

The plastic problem is mounting day by day. A huge amount of plastic is thrown away carelessly on the street and in water bodies and such irresponsible disposal of plastic can cause a number of problems:

• Animals and birds alike, in search of food, end up consuming some amounts of plastic due to which many of them end up choking on these.
• Although plastic bags seem convenient to store food items, consuming these are very harmful to our health.

• It gets worse when dirty and thrown away plastic bags are re-used upon mere dusting and washing them which is also very harmful.
• Upon burning or heating, plastics give rise to toxic and dangerous fumes and gases, which can potentially cause cancer in humans.
• Careless disposal of plastic on the roads also ends up choking the sewer and drainage systems.

Image 6: The plastic problem is very harmful for all beings alike

Plastic, while very harmful for the environment has become a very indispensable part of our daily lives and hence it becomes all the more difficult to replace or in some cases, even cut-back on our plastic consumption. Plastics have a lot of characteristic features which give it an edge over its metal counterparts.

Bioplastics have hence emerged as the most environment-friendly version of plastics which are made of biodegradable items such as corn starch, vegetable fats and oils and other kinds of food waste. Bioplastics take about three to six months to be decomposed fully as opposed to several hundred years taken by their synthetic counterparts.

After learning so much, it should be everyone’s top priority to do their bit in saving the environment:

• 3Rs- Reduce, Re-use and Recycle. Reducing the use of plastic and re-using harmless plastic to help reduce its over-production. Recycling paper and such articles whenever possible.
• Carrying jute and cloth bags when carrying out errands to avoid the use of polythene bags.
• Properly disposing plastic and polythene bags
• Not using plastic products and bags to store eatables.
• Never burning plastic or dry leaves etc. and disposing them properly.
•  Using registers and notebooks made of recycled paper as much as possible.
•  Avoid putting waste materials in polythene bags and throwing them on the street.
• Adopting practices like recycling paper and vermicomposting to make the best use of biodegradable waste. This not only helps to reduce the waste that we produce but also becomes a valuable addition to the soil and helps in the nourishment of crops and plants.

The invisible gaseous medium around us, mainly constituted by oxygen and nitrogen is known as air. It is through this air that we are able to carry out the process of respiration. Air is transparent and colourless. It occupies space and is present all around us.

Atmosphere: The thin blanket of air surrounding the surface of the Earth is called the atmosphere.

The atmosphere is divided into five distinct layers on the basis of variations in temperature that changes due to increasing altitude. Air gets scant as we move up in the atmosphere. These are as follows:

• Troposphere: This is the first layer to the atmosphere which is nearest to the surface and is responsible for weather conditions. The troposphere itself is said to contain about more than 75% of the atmosphere!
• Stratosphere: This is the layer just above the troposphere which contains the ozone layer and where the aeroplanes fly and is also home to most of the clouds!
• Mesosphere: This is the third and the coldest layer of our atmosphere and extends to a good 80 km above the surface of the Earth.
• Thermosphere: This is the fourth and one of the hottest layers of Earth where temperatures go to a 1500^o This is where the space shuttles go to study Earth from space! The air in this layer is very thin and about 99.9% of the atmosphere is said to lie below this particular layer.
• Exosphere: This is the outermost layer of the atmosphere where molecules and atoms escape into space. Beginning at 480 km above the Earth, this layer then extends into the space.

Figure 1 The five layers of the atmosphere

Constituents of Air

Air is a mixture of a number of gases and some other particles such as:

1. Water Vapour: Air contains water vapour which helps maintain the water cycle. When air comes in contact with cold surfaces, it is these vapours that turn into or condense into droplets of water. The amount of water vapor in the air from place to place and time to time. At a normal 30°C for instance can contain say upto 4% of water vapour.
2. Oxygen: It is the oxygen in the air that helps humans and animals carry out the respiration process. Oxygen is also required for fire to keep burning. If we were to keep an inverted tumbler covering a burning candle, the candle will go off in a few seconds because of the lack of oxygen-containing air due to the tumbler. Dry air is said contain about 21% of oxygen.
3. Nitrogen: Dry air is said to contain about 78% of nitrogen. This component of air helps plants in their growth process.
4. Carbon dioxide: Carbon dioxide is a very small (only 0.04%) component of air and is a byproduct of respiration by humans and animals. Fire also uses up oxygen to burn and then produces carbon dioxide and a few other gases upon burning. This is why we feel suffocated if there is something burning inside a room. This happens due to an excess of carbon dioxide as the fire continues to burn in the room, choking out oxygen in the air.
5. Dust and Smoke: Smoke is another component given out when fire burns. It is very harmful and adds fine dust particles and a few other gases to the air. This is why industries use long chimneys in order to release this smoke in the air. But as we know this act is what contributes to air pollution in the environment.

Air also contains very fine dust particles which can be seen when a beam of light enters a dark room. The tiny particles flying around in the beam are actually these dust particles. It is hence advised by our elders to breathe only through our nose and not our mouths so that the fine hair and mucus in the nose is able to filter out these dust particles so that we don’t inhale them and harm ourselves.

Figure 2 The composition of the components of air

As we can see from the Figure above, Oxygen and nitrogen together make up 99% of air while the other components come up to a mere 1% of all air in our environment.

Availability of Oxygen in Water and Soil

It is often asked how animals under the soil and in water are able to breathe. The answer is that both soil and water have air dissolved in them.

• When we heat or boil water, we often notice that bubbles start to form. These bubbles are in fact, an indication that air molecules are present in the water. When water is heated, the air dissolved in it escapes first followed by water itself getting converted into vapour. This is how animals living underwater are able to respire.

Figure 3 Air bubbles can be seen when water is heated

• To see the presence of water in the soil, we take a small lump of it in a beaker and add water to it. We see bubbles coming out of it which as we discussed, is proof of the existence of air molecules in the soil. As water is added, it displaces the water molecules in the soil which we see in the form of bubbles. Animals make use of this air to breathe under the soil. Some animals make holes and burrows in the soil to help make pathways for air to enter the soil. When it rains heavily, earthworms and other animals come out of the soil because these pathways get blocked by the water and they need to come outside to find the air to breathe.

Figure 4 Air particles present in soil

Balance of Oxygen in the Atmosphere

It is common knowledge that humans and animals can’t survive without plants because they produce oxygen via photosynthesis. The balance of oxygen in the environment is thus maintained through the respiratory processes of plants and animals.

The importance of Air

Air has a number of uses:

• The air which is in motion is known as wind. The wind is important for the rotation of windmills which help in drawing water from tube wells.
• They also help in running flour mills.
• Windmills are also used to produce electricity.
• Insects and birds are only able to fly because of the presence of air
• Boats, yachts, aeroplanes and parachutes also need air to sail and glide
• Air has a very important role to play in the water cycle as well.

Figure 5 A windmill in action

• It also helps in distributing the pollen and seeds from flowers of various plants.

Figure 6 Air helps birds and insects fly