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GENERAL SCIENCE STUDY NOTES

7TH STANDARD – TERM – III


CHAPTER 1 – ECOSYSTEM

• A community of living organisms with the physical environment of a definite


geographical region form an eco system.
• Eco-systems may be natural or artificial. A pond, a grassland, a forest, a lake,
a desert etc. are examples of natural eco-systems. An aquarium, a park, a
paddy field, etc. are examples of artificial eco-systems.
• An eco-system consists of two main Components. They are biotic (living) and
abiotic (non-living) components.
• Biotic Components – divided into 3 categories
o Producers: Green plants that prepare their own food by the process of
photosynthesis.
o Consumers: Animals which consumes the food produced by producers
either directly or indirectly are called consumers. E.g. Goat.
o Decomposers: organisms which feed upon dead matter to get energy
and give back the nutrients to the soil. eg. bacteria and fungi.
• Abiotic Components
These include the soil, water, air and climatic factors such as temperature,
sunlight, humidity etc.

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FOOD CHAIN
The flow of energy transfer from one organism to another in a single direction is
called Food Chain.

In a food chain, each group of organisms occupies a particular position. The


position of organisms in a food chain is called trophic level.

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If one link in a food chain is broken it would result in the extinction of a species.

Food Web:
In a given ecosystem, a single food chain may not exist separately. An animal
can eat more than one kind of food. For eg. an eagle can eat a rabbit, a mouse
or a snake and a snake can feed on a mouse or a frog. So, many food chains
get interlinked.

A network of interlinked food chains is called a food web.

FLOW OF ENERGY
• The sun is the ultimate source of energy for all living things. At first, the
solar energy flows from the sun to the surface of the earth. Green plants
trap the solar energy and convert it into chemical energy (food).
• The amount of energy decreases from one trophic level to another. The
flow of energy is always in one direction only.

BIOME
When small ecosystems are put together, they form a vast geographical area
which supports a wide variety of flora and fauna, with different type of climate.
Such a vast geographical area is called biome.

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TYPES OF FORESTS
• Tropical Rain Forest
o weather is warm (20oC-25oC).
o Rainfall is plentiful, 190 cm per year.
o They are found in South America, Africa and Indo Malaysia region
near the equator.
o In India, they are found in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Western
ghats, Assam and West Bengal.
• Savannah:
o They are found South Africa, Western Australia, North West India
and Eastern Pakistan.
o dry weather alternating with wet weather.
o The rainfall is about 25cm per year.
o Frequent fires occur during the dry season.
o In India, grassy plains are found in the Nilgiris, Khasi hills and Naga
hills
• Deserts:
o They are found Africa, Arizona in America and Mexican desert in
Mexico.
o The days are hot and nights are cold.

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o The annual rainfall is less than 25 cm.


o In India, it is found in Rajasthan (The Thar Desert).
• Temperate Grassland
o It is found in North and South America and parts of Europe.
o The annual rainfall is 25cm to 100 cm.
o They have two very severe dry seasons. They have windy hot
summers and cold winters.
o In India, It is found in Uttar Pradesh.
• Deciduous Forests
o They are found in North America, Eastern Asia and Europe.
o They receive 75 to 100 cm of rainfall.
o The climate is moderate with mild winters.
o In India, it is found in Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.
• Taiga:
o It is found Canada, Europe and Russia.
o They are also called Boreal Forests.
o The climate is of a short cool summer and a long winter with
abundant snowfall.
o The annual rainfall is 20cm to 60 cm.
o Most of it is covered with snow and ice.
o In india It is found in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Kashmir in India.
• Tundra:
o It is found south of the ice covered poles in the Northern
hemisphere.
o Though it receives 25 cm of rainfall, it has permanently frozen soil.
o The climate is extremely cold and windy.
o The temperature is less than 10oC.
o In India, it is found in the Himalayas.

IMPORTANCE OF FORESTS
• Forests are the sources for the formation of rivers.
• They increase the rainfall.
• They prevent soil erosion and floods.

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• They become habitats to animals.


• They maintain the oxygen and carbon dioxide balance in nature.
• Forests are considered as God’s first temples.

Vanamahotsav is an annual Indian tree planting festival celebrated in the month


of July. It is to create an enthusiasm in the minds of people to conserve forests.

DIFFERENT FLORA AND FAUNA


• The flora and fauna found in one biome is completely different from that
in the other biome due to the different climatic conditions.
• India is one of the 12 mega biodiversity centers in the world with immense
flora and fauna.
• The kind of flora and fauna found in different biomes are given below.

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CHAPTER 2 - WATER - A PRECIOUS RESOURCE

AVAILABILITY OF WATER
The United Nations states that “the amount of water for drinking, washing,
cooking and maintaining proper hygiene is a minimum of 50 litres per person
per day”. This amount is about two and a half buckets of water for a person for
a day.

IMPORTANT DAYS
World Wetland Day - Feb 2
World Forest Day - March 21
Earth Day - April 22
World Environment Day- June 5
Natural Resources Day - October 5
Nature Conservation Day - Nov 25

SOURCES OF WATER
• Rain water
o Rain water is the purest form of water.
o Pure water evaporates under sunlight from the seas and rivers
leaving behind the impurities.

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o It rains due to the precipitation (condensation) of tiny water droplets


present in the clouds.
o The first showers dissolve certain gases present in air and bring down
them along with the suspended impurities. Subsequent showers
contain only pure water.
• Glaciers, ice and snow
o Of the 3 percent of fresh water that is fresh, about three – fourths
are tied up in glaciers, ice caps and snowfields.
o They occur only at high altitudes or high latitudes.
• River water
o The water in the rivers is obtained either from rainfall or melting of
snow (glaciers) on the mountains.
• Sea and Ocean water
o Million litres of water is present in Ocean, but the water is salty and
is not fit for any domestic or agricultural use.
• Lake and Pond water
o Lakes are inland depressions that hold standing fresh water almost
all the year round.
o Ponds are small, temporary or permanent bodies of shallow water.
They are still a minor component of the total world water supply.

FORMS OF WATER
• Water exists in three states i.e. solid, liquid and gas.
• All the three states are reversible or interchangeable.
• All the three states of water are also present in our natural environment.

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GROUND WATER

• Precipitation in the form of rain or snow provides fresh water to our earth
• Underground water is also called an aquifer.
• The top level of this underground water is called the water table. If we dig
a hole in the ground near a water body we find that the soil is moist there.

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• If we dig deeper and deeper, we would reach a level where all the space
between the particles of soil and the gaps between rocks are filled with
water. The upper limit of this layer is called the water table.
• Water in the aquifers can usually be pumped out with the help of tube
wells or hand pumps
• A World Bank report says, “India is the largest user of groundwater in the
world and its underground aquifers are being depleted at an alarming
rate”.

DEPLETION OF WATER
• Natural forces – e.g. Scanty rainfall and hot winds
• Human causes - Deforestation, increased population, rapid urbanization,
overgrazing by cattle, excess tapping of ground water
• Salt water intrusion - Over use of underground freshwater reservoirs
often allows salt water to intrude into aquifers and affect the water table.
• Commercialization of water resources - suck a large quantity of water
from rivers and underground aquifers.
• Sand grabbing from rivers – extracting sand from rivers e.g. Palar river.

DISTRIBUTION OF WATER
• The monsoons bring heavy rains over most of the country between June
and September, except Tamil Nadu, which receives over half of its rain in
October and November.
• India has places of dry condition of deserts (Thar desert) and places with
rainforest climate (North Eastern States) too.
• The three major rivers the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra
originate in the Himalayas and drain nearly two thirds of the land area.
• India receives nearly 4 per cent of the global precipitation and ranks 133
in the world in terms of water availability per person per annum.
• The total renewable water resources of India is estimated at 1,897 sq km
per annum.
• By 2025, it is predicted that large parts of India will join countries or
regions having absolute water scarcity.

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SCARCITY OF WATER
Scarcity of water is defined as a situation where there is insufficient water to
satisfy normal requirements.

Factors contributing to the depletion of water table


• Growing population has resulted in a growing demand for space which
result in construction of buildings. This reduces the seepage of water into
ground.
• Industries
• In failure of monsoon, agricultural country and farmers using
groundwater thereby decreasing the underground water.
• Uncontrolled use of bore well technology for extracting groundwater.
• flow of untreated sewage from homes, toxic chemicals from industries and
of pesticides and insecticides used by farmers into water bodies.
• No effective measures for water conservation.

A design of a toilet in which human excreta are treated by earthworms has


been tested in India. It has been found to be a novel technique. Toilets that
required little water is safe for processing of human waste. The conversion of

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toilet waste is very simple and hygienic. The human excreta are completely
converted to vermicakes – a resource much needed for soil.

WATER MANAGEMENT – RAIN WATER HARVESTING

The activity of collecting rainwater directly or recharging it into the ground to


improve ground water storage in the aquifer is called rain water harvesting.

Rain water harvesting techniques


There are two main techniques of rain water harvesting
• Storage of rainwater on the surface for future use.
• Recharging the ground water.

Advantages of rainwater harvesting


• Rainwater harvesting can reduce flooding in city streets.
• Sea water intrusion in coastal areas can be arrested.
• The ground water can be conserved.
• Rainwater Harvesting can reduce top soil loss.
• It can improve plant growth.

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SCIENCE TODAY
DRINKING ICE BERG WATER
• Icebergs are pieces of glaciers and are mostly white because the ice is full
of tiny air bubbles.
• The bubble surfaces reflect white light giving the iceberg an overall white
appearance and has a blue tint which is due to the same light
phenomenon that tints the sky.
• It is a noteworthy fact that all the North Indian Rivers originate in the
glaciers of Himalayas.
• There are two very positive environmental impacts from the use of
drinking water from icebergs
o It decreases human dependency on traditional watersheds such as
rivers and lakes, and therefore decreases human impact on these
delicate and overstressed ecosystems.
o It helps to reduce rising sea levels, which have been caused by polar
icecap melting. Icebergs are comprised of pure fresh water.

DESALINATION OF SEA WATER


• Desalination is an artificial process by which saline water ( sea water) is
converted into fresh water.
• The most common desalination processes are : 1. Distillation 2. Reverse
Osmosis
o Distillation
 The process in which both evaporation and condensation go
side by side is called distillation
o Reverse Osmosis
 The process of forcing water under pressure through a semi
permeable membrane whose tiny pores allow water to pass
but exclude most salts and minerals is called reverse osmosis.
• The Minjur Desalination Plant
o It is the largest desalination plant in India. It is located in Kattupalli
village near Minjur, about 35km north of Chennai.
o The plant is established on a 60 acre site at a cost of Rs.600 crore.
o It consists of 8,600 Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (RO) membranes to

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convert sea water into potable water.


o The RO technology of the plant produces 100 mld (million-litres-a-
day) of freshwater from 273 million litres of sea water.
o The Minjur Desalination Plant supplies 100 mld of fresh water to the
Chennai Metro Water Corporation at the rate of Rs.48.66 per 1,000
litres.
o The Desalination Plant serves potable water to an estimated
population of 5 lakh in Chennai.
• The Nemmeli desalination plant
o Besides the Minjur plant, the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply
and Sewage Board (CMWSSB) is also constructing a Desalination
Plant at Nemmeli at a total cost of Rs.908.28 crore.
o The plant has a capacity to convert 100 million litres per day as
potable water from sea water.
o Water from the Nemmeli plant would be carried over 40 km to the
city, to be supplied to its residents.
• SWEET WATER ON EARTH
o In 2006 Mumbai “sweet” seawater incident, the residents of Mumbai
claimed that the water at Mahim Creek had suddenly turned
“sweet”. Mahim Creek is one of the most polluted creeks in India
that receives thousands of tonnes of raw sewage and industrial
waste every day.
o Within few hours of the Mumbai “sweet” seawater incident,
residents of Gujarat claimed that seawater at Teethal beach had
turned sweet as well.
o Geologists at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai offered
the explanation that water turning sweet is a natural phenomenon.
Continuous rainfall over the preceding few days had caused a large
pool of fresh water to accrue in an underground rock formation near
to the coast. Then this water discharged into the sea as a large
“plume”, as fractures in the rocks widened. Because of the
differences in density, the discharged fresh water floated on top of
the salt water of the sea and spread along the coast. In course of
time, the two would mix to become normal sea water once more.

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o The saltiest of all is the Dead sea. It is called “dead” because the high
salinity prevents any fish or other visible aquatic organisms to live in
its water. More than 300gm/ltr. A person would swim in this sea
even he does not know how to swim.

CHAPTER 3 - COMBUSTION AND FLAME

COMBUSTION AND ITS TYPES


• Combustion is the burning of substances in air or oxygen to release heat
and light. Example - magnesium burns to form magnesium oxide and
produces heat and light / coal burns to give carbon dioxide and produces
heat and light.
• The substance that undergoes combustion is called fuel.
• Cowdung, coal and firewood are solid fuels. Kerosene and petrol are liquid
fuels. LPG, coal gas, natural gas and bio-gas are gaseous fuels.
• The substances that undergoes combustion are called combustible
substances. E.g. paper, straw, wood, matchsticks.
• Substances do not burn on being exposed to flame are called non-
combustible substances. E.g. like stone, glass, iron nails, etc.

• Ignition temperature: The lowest temperature at which a fuel catches fire


is called its ignition temperature.
• When water is poured over a burning substance, it absorbs heat from the
substance. As a result the temperature of the substance falls below the
ignition temperature, and it stops burning.

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• A log of wood has a huge mass. So, when we heat it with a flame, the heat
received by the log is dissipated through its bulk mass. And the log takes a
long time to attain its ignition temperature. On the other hand, wood
shavings, having a smaller mass, attain the ignition temperature more
readily. So, a large piece of wood takes a longer time to start burning than
wood shavings.

Types of combustion:
• Spontaneous combustion: combustion reaction that occurs without the
help of any external heat source is called spontaneous combustion.
E.g. white phosphorus is exposed to air at room temperature, it catches
fire immediately; even without being lit by a match stick
• Rapid combustion: combustion reaction that occurs rapidly is known as
rapid combustion. E.g. Bursting of fire crackers, burning of camphor,
magnesium ribbon in air, gas in a burner and kerosene in a stove
• Slow combustion: Combustion that takes place at a very slow rate is called
slow combustion. During this type of combustion low heat and light are
produced. E.g. Food oxidized in our body to release energy is an example
of slow combustion.
Carbohydrates + Oxygen Carbon dioxide + water + heat energy
• Incomplete combustion: Combustion takes place in the presence of
oxygen. If the supply of oxygen is insufficient, then combustion will be
incomplete. This is called incomplete combustion
Carbon + Oxygen carbon monoxide

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FIRE CONTROL
• removing any combustible substances near the region of fire
• cutting off the supply of air by using sand or blanket
• bringing down the ignition temperature by using water
• Sand reduces the supply of air and cools it.
• Water should not be used for oil fire. Oil being lighter, floats, spreads
• and causes severe damage. So, oil fire should be extinguished by using
substances like foamite.
• Fire that is caused by electrical appliances or installations can be put out
by using solid carbon dioxide or carbon tetrachloride. Water should not be
used as there is a risk of getting an electric shock.

Fire Extinguishers:

FLAME AND ITS STRUCTURE


Parts of a candle flame
• Zone of non-combustion:
o This is the dark zone that lies around the wick.
o It contains unburnt gas particles.
o No combustion takes place here as no oxygen is available.
• Zone of partial combustion
o In this zone, the hydrocarbons present in the oil gas from wax

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decompose into free carbon and hydrogen.


o The unburnt carbon particles impart a pale yellow colour to the
flame. This is the luminous part of the flame.
• Zone of complete combustion (blue)
o This is the non-luminous thin zone of the flame.
o It is the outermost hottest region in the flame that is invisible.
o Here, carbon and hydrogen are completely oxidized to carbondioxide
and water vapour.
Hydrocarbon + Oxygen Carbondioxide (blue flame) + Water (vapour)

EFFICIENCY OF FUELS
• Any substance that can be burnt or otherwise consumed to produce heat
energy is called a fuel. Wood, natural gas, petrol, kerosene, diesel, coal,
and LPG are commonly used as fuels.
• The nature of the fuel can be determined by the amount of heat energy
evolved. The higher the heat energy evolved, the better is the fuel.
• The characteristics of a good fuel are as
o It should be cheap and readily available.
o It should be easy to store, transport and handle
o It should not produce toxic fumes or smoke or other harmful
products on combustion.
o The amount of soot or ash left behind should be minimum.
o It should have a high calorific value.

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o It should have a low ignition temperature

Calorific Value:
• The main constituents of fuels are hydrocarbons. During combustion,
these hydrocarbons get oxidized to form carbon dioxide and water. Heat is
evolved in this process (exothermic process).
• The amount of heat energy liberated when 1 kg of the fuel is burnt
completely in oxygen is called the calorific value of the fuel.

Hydrocarbon + Oxygen Carbon dioxide + Water + Heat energy

Types of Fuel:
• Solid Fuels
o Coal, wood, charcoal, coke, and paraffin wax are some commonly
used solid fuels.
o The drawbacks of solid fuels are as follows:
 They have a high ignition temperature.
 They produce a large amount of residue (soot, ash) after
combustion.
 Their calorific value is low.

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• Liquid Fuels
o Petrol, kerosene, and diesel are some commonly used liquid fuels
which are obtained from petroleum (an oily mixture of
hydrocarbons in its crude form).
o Ethyl alcohol is also a liquid fuel. Locomotives, buses, and lorries use
diesel as fuel.
• Gaseous Fuels
o Examples are methane, carbon monoxide and hydrogen are
combustible. Natural gas, producer gas, coal gas, water gas, LPG
(Liquefied Petroleum Gas), and biogas (gobar gas).
o Gaseous fuels are preferred over solid and liquid fuels because of the
following advantages
 Low ignition temperature
 They burn completely (complete combustion) and leave no
residue (soot, ash, smoke).
 Easy and safe to handle , transport and store.
 Have high calorific value.
 Cheap.
• Natural gas
o obtained from petroleum wells.
o It contains a mixture of hydrocarbons (methane and ethane).
o It is one of the cheapest available gaseous fuels.
• Producer gas, coal gas and water gas
o Used in industries.
o Obtained from coal or coke.
• LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas)
o Most widely used for cooking.
o LPG is a mixture of propane (15%) and butane (85%) liquefied under
pressure.
o Has high calorific value.
o A small amount of ethyl mercaptan, an inert gas with a characteristic
odour, is added to LPG to detect any leakage.

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• Biogas (Gobar gas)


o contains a mixture of methane and ethane
o very cheap form of gaseous fuel.
o becoming increasingly popular in villages, where cattle can be
maintained in large numbers.
o comparatively less expensive.

FUELS AND ENVIRONMENT:


The increasing fuel consumption has harmful effects on the environment.
• Carbon fuels like wood, coal and petroleum release unburnt carbon
particles. These fine particles are dangerous pollutants causing respiratory
diseases like asthma.
• Incomplete combustion of these fuels gives carbon monoxide gas. When
this gas is produced in a closed room, it can kill persons sleeping in that
room.
• Combustion of most fuels releases carbon dioxide in the environment.
Increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the air causes global
warming.
• Burning of coal and diesel releases sulphur dioxide which is extremely
suffocating and corrosive gas.
• Petrol engines give off gaseous oxides of nitrogen.
• Oxides of sulphur and nitrogen dissolve in rain water and form acids. Such
rain is called Acid Rain.
• The use of diesel and petrol as fuels in automobiles is being replaced by
CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), because CNG produces harmful products
in very small quantities. CNG is a cleaner fuel.

GLOBAL WARM(N)ING
It is the rise in temperature of the atmosphere of the earth. This results, in the
melting of polar glaciers, which leads to a rise in the sea level, causing floods in
the coastal areas. Low lying coastal areas may even be permanently submerged.

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CHAPTER 4 - HEAT

The energy which can be transferred from a hotter body to a colder body and
which produces a sensation of hotness or coldness is called heat.

SOURCES OF HEAT:
• The Sun:
o The sun gives us 3.8x1026 joule of heat energy per second. This
energy is produced by nuclear fusion.
o The sun is the prime source of heat energy without which life would
be impossible on the earth.
o The enormous amount of heat from the sun can be used as an
alternate source of energy.
o Solar energy is now being used in solar cookers, solar heaters and for
providing electricity in small villages in the rural areas.
o joule is the unit used to measure energy.
• Combustion
o Burning of coal, kerosene etc., produces heat.
o These are called fossil fuels since they are made from the remains of
plants and animals that died millions of years ago and were buried
deep inside the earth.
• Friction
o Rubbing two things together produces heat due to friction.
o The ancient man used friction to produce a spark. Sometimes he
rubbed two flint stones to make a fire.
• Electric current
o When electric current flows through a conductor heat energy is
produced.
o The water heater, iron box, electric kettle etc. work on this principle.

HEAT AND TEMPERATURE


To measure the heat energy we use the physical quantity, namely temperature.
Temperature measures the degree of hotness or coldness of a body.

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Thermometer
• Liquids expand on heating and contract on cooling - This principle is used
in the construction of thermometer.
• Thermometers have two different scales to measure temperature.
o Centigrade or Celsius scale.
o Fahrenheit scale.
• The SI unit of temperature is kelvin(K)
• Kelvin scale is also known as absolute scale of temperature
• On this scale 0 kelvin = - 2730C
• 0 K(kelvin) is also known as absolute zero
• Thermometers have two fixed points based on which graduations are
marked.
• These are called the upper fixed point and the lower fixed point.
• The distance between these two fixed points is divided into an equal
number of degrees.
• The lower fixed point is the melting point of pure ice.
• The upper fixed point is the boiling point of water.
• Most thermometers use mercury because
o it is opaque and shiny.
o does not stick to glass.
o it is a good conductor of heat.
o it shows large expansion for small temperature changes.
o it expands uniformly.
• In some thermometers ALCOHOL is used.

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MEASURING TEMPERATURE
Laboratory Thermometer
• The laboratory thermometer consists of a thick walled glass tube enclosing
a fine uniform bore capillary tube.
• There is a cylindrical bulb at one end.
• The bulb and a part of the stem are filled with mercury.
• The top end is sealed after removing air.
• The graduations are marked from -100 C to 1100 C
• When the bulb is immersed in hot water, the mercury in the bulb expands
and rises up in the capillary tube.

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• The level of mercury in the tube gives the measure of temperature of the
hot water.

Laboratory thermometer clinical thermometer

CLINICAL THERMOMETER
• This kind of thermometer is used in hospitals for measuring human body
temperature.
• It consists of a thick walled glass tube marked in degrees enclosing a
capillary tube of fine bore.
• There is a cylindrical bulb at one end.
• Air is removed from the tube and the other end is sealed.
• The bulb and a part of the stem are filled with mercury.
• There is a constriction just above the bulb which prevents mercury from
flowing back into the bulb.
• The reading of the mercury level gives the body temperature of the
patient.
• The thermometer is marked from 350 C to 420 C.
• The normal body temperature is 36.90C (98.40F). This is indicated by an
arrow mark in the thermometer.
• Clinical thermometers are available with Fahrenheit markings.
• They are also available with both Celsius and Fahrenheit markings.

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DIGITAL THERMOMETER:
• The digital thermometer in use now a days is an electronic device
containing no glass or mercury.
• It is unbreakable and safe to use.
• It beeps one minute after it has been kept under the arm or inserted into
the mouth of the patient.
• The temperature can be read from the numerical display.

LIGHT
Light is a form of energy that gives us the sense of vision

REFLECTION:
When light falls on a transparent material like clear glass it passes through it.
However, when it falls on opaque objects like table, chair, etc. some of it
bounces back. This bouncing back of light from a surface is called reflection.
different objects reflect different amounts of light.

MIRROR
• A mirror is a shiny surface which reflects almost all the light falling on it.
• Most mirrors are made of glass. A mirror that is flat is called a plane
mirror.
• The image formed by a plane mirror is always virtual and erect.
• the size of the image formed by a plane mirror is always equal to the size

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GENERAL SCIENCE STUDY NOTES

of the object.
• Mirrors have a thin layer of silver coating at the back with the coating of
red or orange paint. The paint covers the silvering and prevents it from
being rubbed.
• When you look into a mirror, light arriving at your eyes is coming from the
silvered surface. This gives the impression that the image is somewhere
behind the mirror.
• The image formed by a plane mirror is always laterally inverted.
• To see the full size image of an object, the mirror should be at least half
the height of the object.
• AMBULANCE is written inversely so that drivers in vehicles ahead can read
the word properly in their rear view mirrors.
• The image is formed at the same distance as far behind the mirror as the
object is in front of it.

SPHERICAL MIRRORS:
• Some mirrors have a plane reflecting surface, some others have a bulged
reflecting surface and yet some more have a hollow reflecting surface.
• The mirror with the bulged reflecting surface is called a convex mirror.
• The mirror with a hollow reflecting surface is called a concave mirror.
• These are known as curved mirrors.
• Any curved surface is a part of a sphere. Hence convex and concave
mirrors are referred to as spherical mirrors.
• If we cut rubber ball into half with a knife. The inner surface of the cut
portion is concave while the outer surface is convex.
• Concave mirror makes the light meet at a point after reflection
(converges) and convex mirror diverges the light.
• The image formed on the paper or screen is called a real image
• Mirrors are used in light houses. They reflect light a long way to help ships
at sea.
• The image formed by a concave mirror on the screen is a real and
inverted. It may be smaller or larger or of the same size as the object.
• Convex mirrors form only virtual images that are diminished in size.

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GENERAL SCIENCE STUDY NOTES

• When the object is placed very close to the concave mirror, an erect and
enlarged virtual image is formed inside the mirror.

Uses of spherical mirrors:


• CONCAVE MIRROR UES:
o Used as reflectors in car headlamps, torches, searchlights and
telescopes.
o Used as shaving Mirrors
o Used by dentists and ENT doctors to focus light on parts to be
examined.
o Used in solar cookers to converge the sunlight on the food to be

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GENERAL SCIENCE STUDY NOTES

cooked
• CONVEX MIRROR USES:
o Used as rear view mirrors in automobiles since its field of view is
wide.
o Used to watch over a large area.

SUN LIGHT – WHITE OR COLOURED?


• A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused
by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting
in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a
multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in
the section of sky directly opposite the sun.
• The rainbow is a spectacular demonstration of white light as a
combination of many colours.
• The colours are Violet, Indigo,Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red
represented as VIBGYOR.
• Rainbows occur when sunlight from behind the observer falls on water
droplets. So, we infer that sunlight consists of many colours.
• Kavalur Observatory located in Javadu Hills (Vellore Dist) in Tamil Nadu has
one of the largest reflector telescopes in Asia.
• The splitting up of white light into its seven constituent colours is called
dispersion.
• Newton’s disc is a circular disc with segments painted in the seven colours
of the spectrum. The disc is supported on a stand. It is provided with a
handle to rotate the disc. When the disc is rotated fast, the colours
disappear and the disc appears almost white.

-- Newton Disc.

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