KSEEB Class 8 Geography Important Questions Chapter 1 The Earth – Our Living Planet

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Karnataka State Syllabus Class 8 Social Science Geography Important Questions Chapter 1 The Earth – Our Living Planet

Question 1.
What factors have made earth suitable for all forms of life?
Answer:
The earth is home to all forms of life like plants, animals because of its suitable distance from the sun, range of temperature, life-supporting gases, atmosphere, water cycle, etc.

Question 2.
By what different names is earth known?
Answer:
Earth is known by different names. They are: living planet, unique planet, watery planet, blue planet, etc.

Question 3.
Why is the earth called living planet?
Answer:
Earth is the only planet on which life exists. It is home to all forms of life like plants and animals. Hence, earth is called the living planet.

Question 4.
Why is the earth called a unique planet?
Answer:

1. Earth is the only planet which supports life.
2. About 70.78% of the earth is covered by water which is essential for the survival of all living beings.
3. Earth is located at a suitable distance from the sun. Hence it is neither too hot nor too cold
4. It is the only planet that has oxygen necessary for survival.

Hence, earth is called a unique planet.

Question 5.
Why is the earth called a ‘blue planet’?
Answer:
About 70.78% of the earth is covered with water. Hence, the earth is called a blue planet.

Question 6.
escribe the size of the earth.
Answer:
The earth is the fifth largest planet in the sun’s family. The diameter of the earth is approximately four times greater than that of the moon and it is around 107 times smaller than that of the sun. The total geographical area of the earth is 510 million sq. kms. of which 361 million sq. kms. is covered by water and 149 million sq. kms. by land.

Question 7.
What is ‘Geoid’?
Answer:
The earth’s shape is often described as ‘geoid’, which literary means ‘earth shaped’, or ‘oblate spheroid’. The earth is flat at the poles and bulges at the equator. This shape of the earth is called Geoid.

Question 8.
What is a continent? Name the different continents.
Answer:
The land bodies of the earth are known as continents. They are large land masses. There are seven continents namely – Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Australia. Asia is the largest continent and Australia is the smallest continent.

Question 9.
What are oceans? Name the oceans.
Answer:
The large water bodies on the earth are called oceans. There are four major oceans. They are the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. The Pacific is the largest and deepest ocean and the Arctic is the smallest and the shallowest ocean.

Question 10.
Why is the northern hemisphere called the ‘Land Hemisphere’?
Answer:
The northern hemisphere is 60% land and 40% water. Therefore, it is called the ‘Land Hemisphere’.

Question 11.
Why is the southern hemisphere called the “Water Hemisphere’?
Answer:
The southern hemisphere is 81% water and 19% land. Therefore, it is called the ‘Water Hemisphere’.

Question 12.
What is grid or graticule?
Answer:
The earth is spherical in shape. Therefore, it is difficult to locate the places, direction and calculate the distance between places. In order to understand relations between different places on the earth and their exact location, we have to understand their position, their distance from any fixed point and also their exact direction.

To know the position, direction and distance east and west or north and south, a network of lines is drawn on the globe. These are known as lines of latitudes and longitudes. These lines intersect each other at right angles and create a network called grid or graticule.

Question 13.
What are latitudes and longitudes?
Answer:
Latitudes:
Latitude is an imaginary line which joins the places that have the same angular distance north or south of the equator. The equator is the longest line of latitude. All lines of latitude are circles and are parallel to the equator. These lines are also called parallels of latitude.

Longitudes:
The imaginary lines that intersect the equator at right angles joining the north and south are called longitudes. On the globe, longitudes are shown as a series of semi-circles that run from pole to pole passing through the equator. All lines of longitude are equal in length. Lines of longitude are called Meridians.

Question 14.
What is the ground distance between two consecutive degrees of latitudes?
Answer:
The ground distance between two consecutive degrees of latitudes is 110.4 kms.

Question 15.
Why are longitudes called meridians or mid-day lines?
Answer:
The lines of longitude are called meridians or mid-day lines because all places along the same longitude experience noon or mid-day at the same time.

Question 16.
Distinguish between latitudes and longitudes.
Answer:
The differences between latitudes and longitudes are:

1. The latitudes are in the east-west direction, whereas the longitudes are in the north-south direction.
2. The latitudes are circles, whereas the longitudes are semi-circles.
3. All lines of latitudes are parallel to the equator, whereas all lines of longitudes pass through the equator.
4. The latitudes are 181 in number whereas there are 360 longitudes.

Question 17.
Which are the major latitudes? Name them.
Answer:
The major latitudes are:

1. 0° latitude – Equator or Great Circle
2. \({23}\ {1 / 2^{\circ}}\) North latitude – Tropic of Cancer
3. \({23}\ {1 / 2^{\circ}}\) South latitude – Tropic of Capricorft
4. \({66}\ {1 / 2^{\circ}}\) North latitude – Arctic Circle
5. \({66}\ {1 / 2^{\circ}}\) South latitude – Antarctic Circle
6. 90° North – North Pole
7. 90° South – South Pole.

Question 18.
What is Greenwich Line?
Answer:
The meridian passing through Greenwich in England has been chosen as the Prime Meridian. It is marked as 0° longitude. This line is also called Greenwich line.

Question 19.
What is the distance between two consecutive meridians at the equator?
Answer:
The distance between two consecutive meridians at the equator is 111 kms.

Question 20.
Explain the relationship between longitudes and time.
Answer:
There is a definite relationship between longitudes and time. The earth is rotating on its axis and completes one rotation in 24 hours. This means 360 longitudes are covered in a period of 24 hours. This gives rise to a time difference of 4 minutes between two consecutive longitudes, or one hour for every 15 degrees of longitude. As we move east the time increases and when we move west time decreases.

Question 21.
What is local time?
Answer:
The time according to the longitude of a place or according to the position of sun at that place is known as the local time. This is based on the local meridian passing through that place. When the sun is shining vertically over the longitude, it is 12 noon at that place. All places situated on the same meridian have the same local time. Every longitude has its own local time.

Question 22.
What is standard time?
Answer:
As the local time varies from place to place, it would create considerable confusion if each place were to follow its own local time. In order to avoid confusion many countries follow uniform time throughout the country. Such uniform time is based on the central meridian of that country. This uniform time which is followed throughout a country is called the standard time of that country.

Question 23.
Mention the difference between local time and standard time.
Answer:
Local time is based on the longitude of a place or on the position of Sun at that place. Standard time is based on the central meridian of the country or the meridian on which the most important city is located. Local time varies from one longitude to another. But the standard time is common for the entire country.

Question 24.
On which longitude is the Indian Standard Time based? How many hours is the Indian Standard Time ahead of Greenwich Mean Time?
Answer:
India’s standard time is based on 82%° E longitude passing through the city of Allahabad. It is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

Question 25.
Why is it not possible to follow one standard time in some countries?
Answer:
In certain countries of the world, where the longitudinal distance is more, there is a time difference of three to four hours between different parts. Hence it is not possible to have one standard time. Such vast countries like Russia, U.S.A., Canada, and Australia have different time zones and no single standard time. For every 15 longitudes there is a single time zone and between two time zones there is a difference of one hour.

Question 26.
What is International Date Line?
Answer:
The International Date Line is an imaginary line of demarcation on the surface of Earth that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole and demarcates the change of one calendar day to the next. It passes through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180° line of longitude but deviating to pass around some land masses. The date on the west side of the line is one day earlier than the date on the east side of the line.

Question 27.
Define the following terms:
Answer:
1. Living planet:
Earth is referred to as living planet as it is the only planet on which life exists.

2. Equator:
It is a Unemotionally drawn on the earth, equidistant from the poles, dividing the earth into northern and southern hemispheres. Equator (0°) is the longest line of latitude known as the Great Circle.

3. Arctic Circle:
It is an imaginary circle round the earth, parallel to the equator, at 66%° North latitude.

4. Antarctic Circle:
It is an imaginary circle round the earth, parallel to the equator, at 66%° South latitude.

5. Time zone:
In certain countries of the world, where .the longitudinal extent is more than 45°, there is often a difference of three to four hours between one part and the other. This is because, the land surface is divided into time zones. The whole globe is divided into 24 such time zones so that the time in each zone differs from the other by only one hour.

6. International date line:
It is an imaginary line of demarcation on the surface of Earth that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole and demarcates the change of one calendar day to the next. It passes through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180° line of longitude but deviating to pass around some land masses. The date on the west side of the line is one day earlier than the date on the east side of the line.

Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1.
Of the earth’s total geographical area, the percent of area covered with water is
(A) 66.6
(B) 29.22
(C) 70.78
(D) 50.5
Answer:
(C) 70.78

Question 2.
The hemisphere of the earth which is called ‘Land hemisphere’ is
(A) southern
(B) northern
(C) eastern
(D) western.
Answer:
(B) northern

Question 3.
The southern hemisphere of the earth is called ________ hemisphere.
(A) water
(B) land
(C) population
(D) wealth.
Answer:
(A) water

Question 4.
The geographical direction indicators are
(A) longitudes
(B) latitudes
(C) longitudes and latitudes
(D) compass and maps.
Answer:
(C) longitudes and latitudes

Question 5.
The largest continent in the world is
(A) Europe
(B) Asia
(C) Antarctica
(D) Africa.
Answer:
(B) Asia

Question 6.
The latitude which is equal to the circumference of the earth is
(A) 66%° North
(B) 66%° South
(C) Tropic of Cancer
(D) Equator.
Answer:
(D) Equator.

Question 7.
The reason for calling longitudes as Meridians is
(A) all places along a longitude experience mid-day at the same time
(B) all places along the longitude have sunrise at the same time
(C) all places along the longitude have night at the same time
(D) day and night are equal at places along the longitude.
Answer:
(A) all places along a longitude experience mid-day at the same time

Question 8.
The local time of a place depends on the __________ of the place.
(A) latitude
(B) longitude
(C) latitude and longitude
(D) sunrise.
Answer:
(B) longitude

Question 9.
Indian Standard Time is based on 82%° E longitude passing through
(A) Allahabad
(B) New Delhi
(C) Bengaluru
(D) Bhuvaneshwar.
Answer:
(A) Allahabad

Question 10.
Which country has the highest number of time zones?
(A) U.S.A.
(B) Canada
(C) Russia
(D) Australia.
Answer:
(C) Russia

Question 11.
A line passing through 180° meridian which is diametrically opposite to the Greenwich line is adopted as
(A) Indian Standard Time
(B) International Date Line
(C) Greenwich Mean Time
(D) Standard time.
Answer:
(B) International Date Line

Question 12.
0° latitude is called
(A) Small Circle
(B) North Pole
(C) South Pole
(D) Great Circle.
Answer:
(D) Great Circle.

Fill In The Blanks

• The total geographical area of the earth is 510 million sq.kms
• The shape of the earth is Geoid.
• The equatorial and polar diameters of the earth are 12756 and 12714 kms
• The \({23}\ {1 / 2^{\circ}}\) North latitude is called Tropic Of cancer
• Indian Standard Time is based on \({82}\ {1 / 2^{\circ}}\) E longitude
• The longest line of latitude is Equator
• The longest line of latitude is also called great circle
• The planet known as ‘blue planet’ is the earth.
• The smallest continent in the world is australia.
• The largest and the deepest ocean in the world is pacific ocean
• Since 81% of the earth’s southern hemisphere is covered with water it is called water hemisphere
• The imaginary lines on the globe parallel to the equator are called latitudes
• The distance between two consecutive latitudes on the earth is 110.4kms.
• The Prime Meridian is also called Greenwich line
• The time difference between two consecutive longitudes is 4 mins.
• The whole globe is divided into 24 time zones.
• 180° meridian is also called international date line.

Match The Following

Question 1.

A	B
1. \({23}\ {1 / 2^{\circ}}\)N latitude	a. Equator
2. \({23}\ {1 / 2^{\circ}}\)S latitude	b. Indian Standard Time
3. 0° longitude	c. Tropic of Cancer
4. 0° latitude	d. Greenwich Line
5. 180° longitude	e. Tropic of Capricorn
6. \({82}\ {1 / 2^{\circ}}\)E longitude	f. International Date Line
	g. Arctic Circle

Answer:
1 – c, 2 – e, 3 – d, 4 – a, 5 – f, 6 – b.

Question 2.

A	B
1. Australia	a. Southern hemisphere
2. \({82}\ {1 / 2^{\circ}}\)E longitude	b. White continent
3. Antarctica	c. Indian Standard Time
4. Water hemisphere	d.90° North latitude
5. North Pole	e. Smallest continent.
	f. International Date Line

Answer:
1 – e, 2 – c, 3 – b, 4 – a, 5 – d.