U5 L1 Natural Resources

Unit 5 Lesson 1 Natural Resources

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company


Indiana Standards


• 8.2.7 Recognize that some of Earth’s resources are finite and describe how recycling, reducing consumption and the development of alternatives can reduce the rate of their depletion.

It’s Only Natural


What are natural resources?

• A natural resource is any natural material that is used by humans, such as air, soil, minerals, water, petroleum, plants, and animals.

• Earth’s natural resources provide everything needed for life, including energy, water, food, and building materials.


How can we categorize natural resources?• Natural resources are used to make products that

make people’s lives more convenient.

• There are many types of natural resources.

• Natural resources can be categorized by how quickly they can be replaced.



How can we categorize natural resources?• A renewable resource is a natural resource that

can be replaced at the same rate at which it is being consumed.

• Some renewable resources, such as trees, can be used up too quickly.

• Some renewable resources, such as the sun, are considered inexhaustible resources.



How can we categorize natural resources?• A nonrenewable resource is a resource that

forms at a rate much slower than the rate at which it is consumed.

• For example, a fossil fuel is a nonrenewable resource formed from buried remains of plants and animals that lived long ago.

• Once a nonrenewable resource is used up, humans will have to find other resources to use instead.



Material World


How do we use natural resources?

• A variety of natural resources are used to make common objects.

• The energy required for many of our activities also comes from natural resources.

• Natural resources can be divided into material resources and energy resources.



• A material resource is a natural resource that humans use to make objects or to consume as food or drink.

• Material resources include oxygen provided by Earth’s atmosphere, minerals and rocks in Earth’s crust, plants such as cotton, and animals that provide food products.




• An energy resource is a natural resource that humans use to generate energy.

• Most of the energy humans use comes from fossil fuels.

• When fossil fuels are burned, they release energy in the form of heat.

• The heat released is used by power plants to generate electrical energy.




• Other energy resources include moving water, solar power, and wind power.






• Trees, when they are burned, supply fuel in the form of heat.

• Horses and other animals are used as transportation in some places.



Identify the types of natural resources in the picture.

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U5 L1 Natural Resources

Science