What are resources?

Outcomes

Describe the uses of a variety of natural and made resources extracted from the various spheres around the Earth.
Give examples of uses of natural and made resources extracted from the biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere.

What is a resource?

A resource is anything that we can take from the Earth to meet a particular need. Our most basic needs include:

Oxygen
Water
Food
Shelter

Resources can be:

Natural: from the Earth, minimal processing
Synthtic, man-made: involve a large amount of processing

Figure 1. Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs (Research History, 2017)

Many of these needs rely on our relationships with our family, our friends and what we think of ourselves.

However our most basic needs are our physiological needs; the need to breath, to eat, to drink, to find shelter and warmth, for clothing and to sleep.

To meet many of these most basic needs, we use resources from the Earth.

Earth's Resources

The Earth has many natural resources that make life in the modern world possible.
For example, rocks are used in their natural state to make buildings, but they can also be processed to provide the materials we need to make anything from bridges and cars to silicon chips and jewellery.
FOSSIL FUELS provide us with energy, but so does water flowing down rivers, the wind, and even the Sun.
Resources such as rocks and fossil fuels must often be extracted from the ground by MINING.

The Earth is made up of several spheres. These superspheres contain a range of extremely useful resources:

Hydrosphere – water is a critical resource for all living things and we will look more closely at water later in this topic. Water is a renewable resource.
Lithosphere – the lithosphere is the upper layers of the earth containing rocks and minerals. Important metals can be extracted from minerals in the rock and fossil fuels are also found in the lithosphere. These are non-renewable resources as they take so long to form. The lithosphere also includes soils, tiny rock particles and minerals which are also a potential resource for humans.
Biosphere – living things are found in the biosphere. They are a renewable resource and we use them primarily for food.
Atmosphere – the atmosphere primarily contains the gases nitrogen and oxygen. Oxygen is a resource which is critical to our survival. Two important processes which cycle gases through the atmosphere are respiration and photosynthesis. The resources in the atmosphere are renewable.

Resources can be either natural, such as those shown above, or man made; foods, clothing, plastics, fuels, refined metals and alloys, glass, ceramics, building materials and medicines.

Questions

Construct a table listing natural and man-made resources. Add a description of the uses of each type of resource.
Identify the sphere each resources is extracted from in another column of your table.

Group Activity

Jobs for each group:

Research the answer to all four questions.
Identify which cycle you need to include on your poster.
Decide how you want your poster to look. Will you draw and write everything or will you print images and information and paste them on?
You can prepare a presentation to accompany your poster if you wish.
Decide who will be explaining the different sections of your poster to the rest of the class in your next lesson.

Earth – Group 1

Identify the inner structure of the Earth
Describe the three different rock types and discuss how they form. Provide an example of each.
Explain how the processes of weathering, erosion and deposition change the surface of the Earth.
Prepare a poster on the rock cycle, identifying the important features and processes.

Wind – Group 2

Identify the gases that comprise the majority of the air.
Describe the difference between the Earth’s atmosphere and space
Explain the importance of the main atmospheric gases, including nitrogen, oxygen, ozone and greenhouse gases, to life on Earth.
Prepare a poster on the oxygen cycle, identifying the important features and processes.

Water – Group 3

Identify why water is regarded as the most important resource on the Earth.
Describe the water cycle in terms of the physical processes involved.
Explain the effect of the forces of the sun and the moon on the hydrosphere, particularly the tides.
Prepare a poster on the water cycle, identifying the important features and processes.

Fire – Group 4

Identify the three types of fossil fuels and describe one use of each.
Locate the major fossil fuel deposits in or around Australia.
Explain the process of fractional distillation as it relates to crude oil.
Prepare a poster on the carbon cycle, identifying the important features and processes.

Heart – Group 5

Suggest a reason why living things can be regarded as a renewable resource.
Distinguish between natural and made resources.
Explain 5 different ways in which we can save our valuable resources.
Prepare a poster on recycling, identifying the important features and processes.

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