Earth’s Resources

What are Resources?

Humans make use of a number of natural resources. The water we drink, the petrol
we use in our cars, the wood we use to build houses, the metal we use in
manufacturing; all of this is provided by the earth somehow. So what natural
resources are there, and where do they come from?
Resources and their Origin

Water. Water is a very important resource. We need drinking

water to live, but we also need it to grow food, to wash, to use
in industrial processes, and much more. We can find it in rivers,
lakes, the ocean, underground – even in the atmosphere,
where it sometimes condenses from water vapour into a liquid
and falls as rain. Some of this water is useful, and some isn’t – for
example, we can’t drink salt water from the ocean. All of the earth’s water supplies
are connected by the water cycle.

Metals. Metals are elements with particular properties that can

make them very usefult o humans. They are usually found in the
ground – not in pure form, but all mixed up with rock in
something called ore. Some processes used to extract metals
from their ore are smelting and electrolysis.

Fossil Fuels. A fossil fuel is a fuel that is formed when organic

matter (dead plants or animals) is buried deep underground
for a very long time. The heat and pressure so far underground
slowly turn the remains of the plants or animals into a fuel.
Some examples of fossil fuels are oil (which we use to make
petrol), coal, and natural gases such as methane. Fossil Fuels
are made primarily of carbon, and the process that makes fossil fuels is part of the
carbon cycle.

Wood. We use the wood from trees for building and carpentry, and
also as a fuel. Wood is considered a better fuel than fossil fuels,
partly because it is cleaner, and partly because it is renewable: if
we cut down trees to use, we can plant some more. However,
sometimes trees are cut down and not replaced, leading to major
deforestation.

Plastic. Plastic is slightly different in that it is not a naturally

occuring material. Humans manufacture plastic using by-products
from the oil industry. It is cheap to make, and does not use up
much valuable resource. However most plastic is not
biodegradeable, meaning it is not able to be broken down by
living microbes (such as bacteria). For this reason, we are polluting the earth with our
plastic – huge amounts of it are being found in the ocean.