Living on the earth
Living on the earth is rather like being at the bottom of a sea hundred of miles deep. Without the atmosphere, there would be no people or animals, birds or fishes, trees or plants. There would be no weather, winds or rain. And there would be no blue sky, no rosy sunsets or dawns. Fire would be impossible without air, for burning is the union of oxygen with whatever is burned. Nor would there be any noise, which is the vibration of air-waves against our eardrums.
By day the atmosphere serves as a great sun-shade. It protects the earth from the full force of the sun by absorbing most of its harmful radiation. But for the atmosphere, the daytime temperature would rise to 230 degrees F: hotter than boiling water. By night, the air acts like a giant greenhouse. It imprisons the heat collected during the day and prevents it from spreading into space. Otherwise, the temperature at night would plunge to —300 degrees F: far colder than we could stand.
Finally, the atmosphere catches and burns up, by friction, practically all the million meteors that fall each day from outer space into the earth’s field of gravity. If all these meteors actually landed here, the earth’s surface would be pitted and dented like the face of the moon, which has no atmosphere to stop them.
Questions
(a) Write any two ways in which air protects us?
(b) How is living on the earth is like?
(c) What serves as a great sun-shade?
(d) What would happen if all the meteors fell on the earth?
(e) Find the word from the passage which means ‘checks’.
(f) What is the process of burning?
Answers:
(a)(i) It absorbs the harmful radiation of the sun.
(ii) It acts as a greenhouse at night.
(b) Living on the earth is like being at the bottom of sea hundreds of miles deep.
(c) By the day, the atmosphere serves as a great sun-shade.
(d) Then the earth would be dented like the surface of the moon.
(e) ‘ Prevents’.
(f) Burning is the union of oxygen with whatever is burned.
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