Natural resources

Materials found on Earth in the environment.

Natural resources are used for everything you see. Some examples of natural resources include:

• wind

• wood

• sand

• coal

• water

• minerals

• plants

• animals

• soil

These resources may be used as they are, such as when you drink water or use it to water plants or animals. Or, they may be used in combination, such as when wood pulp is mixed with water and chemicals to make paper. Concrete, for example, is a human-made material composed of the natural resources water, sand, and limestone. Some natural resources are used as sources of energy. For example, your body turns food into energy for you to use. Wood can be burned to make heat energy to cook food. Natural resources can be used to make electricity. Coal, oil, and natural gas are burned at many power plants to run generators that create electricity. Water is controlled by dams that then release the water to generate electricity.

Natural resources are obtained in many different ways. Fishing, hunting, and farming are ways that people obtain and use the resources of animals and plants. Forests can be harvested, planted, and maintained for wood. However, most natural resources require finding them where they are. If you want to build a windmill, you must do it where there is wind! Water, soil, sand, coal, and other minerals exist only in certain places on and in the Earth. Metal and minerals are mined from underground. Mining is sometimes done with shovels, and sometimes with large machinery.