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• Renewable: Resources which occur in abundance and are renewed on their own by our mother nature through
                the natural process of recycling, replacement, and reproduction are called renewable resources. For example,
                forest, wind, water, sunlight, geothermal (energy from the heat inside the earth).
                 • Non-Renewable: Resources that are limited and cannot be replaced at the same speed at which they are used
                up are called non-renewable resources. It takes millions of years to form inside the earth. For example, fossil
                fuels, minerals, natural gases, nuclear energy, etc. Non-renewable resources can be called inorganic resources if
                they come from non living things. For example, minerals, LPG and rocks.
                 • Exhaustible: Resources which are present in limited quantity and will deplete after a few hundred years due to
                their over consumption by human activities. For example, coal, petrol, natural gas, water, etc.
                 • Inexhaustible: Resources which are present in abundance and cannot be exhausted even by their over
                consumption are called inexhaustible resources. For example, wind, solar energy, etc.

              Natural resources come in many forms. It may be a solid, liquid, or gas. It may also be organic or inorganic. It may
              also be metallic or non-metallic.

                 • Land Resources: Human beings use land as a resource for production as well as residence and recreation. It is a
                finite resource subject to both agricultural and non-agricultural uses, such as infrastructure development.
                 • Forest Resources: A forest is a natural, self-sustaining community characterised by vertical structure created by
                presence of trees. Wood is used for making furniture, tool-handles, railway sleepers, matches, ploughs, bridges,
                boats, etc. and as a source of energy for cooking purpose and for keeping warm. Tannins, gums, drugs, spices,
                insecticides, waxes, honey, horns, musk, ivory, hides, etc. are all provided by the flora and fauna of forests.
                 • Water Resources: Water covers about three quarters of Earth's surface and is a necessary element for life. Water
                resources include rivers, lakes, oceans, and underground aquifers, etc. Water is a vital resource in agriculture,
                industrial, household and recreational and environmental activities.
                 • Mineral Resources: A mineral deposit is a concentration of naturally occurring solid, liquid, or gaseous material,
                in or on the Earth's crust in such form and amount that its extraction and its conversion into useful materials or
                items are profitable now or may be so in the future. Mineral resources are non-renewable and include metals
                (e.g., iron, copper, and aluminium), and non-metals (e.g., salt, gypsum, clay, sand, phosphates). Some minerals
                consist of a single element, such as gold, silver, diamond (carbon), and sulphur.
                 • Food Resources: Resources that are used as food, or provide food for organisms are called food resources.
                Plants serve as food resources for herbivores and omnivores. Animals and birds are the source of food for many
                organisms who are carnivores and omnivores. Agriculture is the main source of plant food resource for human
                beings.

                 • Energy Resources: An energy  resource is
                something that can produce heat, power life,
                move objects, or produce electricity. There are
                5 fundamental sources of energy:
                   Nuclear fusion in the Sun (solar energy)
                ¬
                   Gravity generated by the Earth and Moon
                ¬
                   Nuclear fission reactions
                ¬
                   Energy in the interior of the Earth
                ¬
                   Energy stored in chemical bonds
                ¬                                             Non-renewable Resources           Renewable Resources
              Most of the energy we use today come from fossil fuels. But fossils fuels have a disadvantage in that they are
              non-renewable on a human time scale, and causes other potentially harmful effects on the environment.





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