AMITY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, NOIDA
SOCIAL SCIENCE
CLASS VII
GEOGRAPHY
CHAPTER 5-WATER
HANDOUT
Q1. Define:
a) Terrarium: It is an artificial enclosure for keeping small house plants.
b) Salinity: It is the amount of salt in grams present in 1000grams of water.
c) Precipitation: The sun’s heat causes evaporation of water vapour which
condenses to form clouds. From there it falls on the land and sea in the form of
rain, snow and sleet.
d) Tsunami : Tsunami is a Japanese word that means “Harbour waves”.
An earthquake, a volcanic eruption or underwater landslides can shift large
amounts of ocean water. As a result a huge tidal wave called tsunami is formed.
Q2. Describe the water cycle with the help of a diagram.
Ans. The process by which water continually changes it’s form and circulates
between oceans, atmosphere and land is known as water cycle.
Q3. What are the major sources of water?
Ans. a) The major sources of fresh water are rivers, ponds, springs and glaciers.
b) The ocean bodies and seas contain salty water.
Q4. Describe the distribution of water bodies?
Ans. The distribution of water in percentage is as follows:
Oceans 97.3 Saline water
Ice caps: 02.0
Ground Water 0.68
Fresh water lakes 0.009
Inland seas & Salt Lakes 0.009
Atmosphere 0.0019
Rivers 0.0001
Q5. Describe the movements that occur in the oceans.
Ans. The movements in the oceans can be categorized as:
a) Waves: When the water of the ocean rises and falls alternatively, they
are called waves.
b) Tides: The rhythmic rise and fall of ocean water twice in a day is called
Tide.
• It is high tide when water covers much of the shore by rising to it’s
highest level.
• It is low tide when water falls to it’s lowest level and recedes from
the shore.
c) Ocean Currents: They are streams of water flowing constantly on the
ocean surface in definite directions. The ocean currents may be warm or
cold.
Q6. What are the factors affecting the height of waves?
Ans. Waves are formed when gentle wind blows across the ocean surface. During
a storm, the wind blowing at very high speed form huge waves.
Q7. How are tides caused?
Ans. The strong gravitational pull exerted by the sun and the moon on the earth’s
surface causes the tides.
Q8. Describe the two types of tides. Draw diagrams. (FIG 5.5 )
Ans. a) Spring Tides: During full moon and new moon days, the sun, the moon
and the earth are in the same line and the tides are highest. This is called
Spring Tides.
c) Neap Tides: When the moon is in its first and last quarter, the ocean
waters get drawn in diagonally opposite directions by the gravitational
pull of the sun and the Earth resulting in low tides. These are called
Neap Tides.
Q9. How are tides useful?
Ans. a) High Tides help in navigation.
b) They help in fishing.
c) They help in generating electricity.
Q10. Distinguish between Cold currents and Warm currents. Give an example of
each type.
Cold Currents Warm Currents
a) They carry water from the They originate near the Equator and
higher latitudes to Tropical or move towards the poles.
lower latitudes.
b) They lower the temperature They bring about warm temperature
over land surface. over land surface.
c) Eg. Labrador cold current Eg. Gulf Stream warm current
Q11. Give reasons:
a) The quality of water is deteriorating because-
• people throw garbage, wash clothes, bathe their animals in the
the rivers.
• Industries discharge untreated chemical effluents into the rivers.
b) Ocean water is salty because:
• It contains large amount of salt.
MAP WORK
MARK THE FOLLOWING OCEAN CURRENTS ON THE POLITICAL MAP OF THE
WORLD—
1. COLD CURRENTS (to be marked with BLUE colour)
a) Oyashio
b) California
c) Cannaries
d) Labrador
2. WARM CURRENTS (to be marked with RED colour)
a) Kuroshio
b) Gulf Stream
c) Brazilian
d) Alaska
