Test: Resources - Software Development MCQ

The correct answer is Sun.

Key Points

• Renewable source of energy:
  • Renewable energy is useful energy that is collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, including carbon-neutral sources like sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat.
  • This type of energy source stands in contrast to fossil fuels, which are being used far more quickly than they are being replenished.
  • Although most renewable energy is sustainable energy, some are not, for example, some biomass is unsustainable.
  • Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas: electricity generation, air, and water heating/cooling, transportation, and rural (off-grid) energy services.
• Renewable energy flows involve natural phenomena such as sunlight, wind, tides, plant growth, and geothermal heat, as the International Energy Agency explains.
• Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly.
• In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth.
• Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels, and hydrogen derived from renewable resources.
• Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and technological diversification of energy sources, would result in significant energy security and economic benefits.
• It would also reduce environmental pollution such as air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels and improve public health, reduce premature mortalities due to pollution and save associated health costs that amount to several hundred billion dollars annually only in the United States.
• Renewable energy sources, that derive their energy from the sun, either directly or indirectly, such as hydro and wind, are expected to be capable of supplying humanity energy for almost another 1 billion years, at which point the predicted increase in heat from the Sun is expected to make the surface of the Earth too hot for liquid water to exist.

Conventional or traditionally used sources of energy are usually Non-renewable sources of energy that have been used extensively for a long time and are now their sources of energy are depleting because of unsustainable uses. 

Important Points

Hydro energy has been used by people for a long time and is generally known as a renewable resource.

• However, with rising global temperature owing to the Greenhouse effect and Global Warming there have been uneven effects across the globe on Water bodies including polar caps.
• Water levels are rising but the availability of it in usable forms is becoming difficult to sustain.

Hence, it is sometimes categorized as a Conventional Source of energy.

Key Points

The following are unconventional sources of energy in the sense that they are less extensively used by people and are renewable sources of energy-

• Solar Energy- use of insolation received from the Sun on the Earth by using solar panels to convert the energy to the desired form 
• Wind Energy-use of wind speed moving the blades of Windmill. The wind is required to blow at a minimum of 14.3 meters per hour. 
• Tidal Energy- uses the high and low tides to produce energy in usable forms. 

Manganese is one of the important raw materials used for smelting iron ore.

Important Points

• Manganese is used for making alloys.
• It is used in manufacturing of enamel, dry cell batteries, plastics, chemicals and glasses.
• It requires almost 10 kg of manganese to manufacture one tonne of steel.
• Odisha is the largest producer of manganese in India with multiple mines located over the iron ore belt of India.
• Some of the major mines are Bonai, Kendujhar, Sundergarh, Gangpur, Koraput, Kalahandi, and Bolanger.
• After Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Goa, and Jharkhand lies in the list of manganese producer in India.
• In 2000-2001, Odisha produced one-third of the country's total production.

Thus, we can conclude that Odisha is the largest producer of manganese.

The correct answer is Odisha.

Key Points

• India is the world's fifth-largest producer of manganese after China, Gabon, South Africa, and Australia.
• Manganese is not found as a free element in nature. It is usually found in combination with iron.
• The most important manganese ore is pyrolusite.
• Manganese is primarily used in the iron and steel industry.
• It is the essential raw material for manufacturing steel alloys.
• 6 kilograms of manganese ore is required for manufacturing one tonne of steel.
• State-wise reserves of Manganese:
  • Odisha (44%),
  • Karnataka (22%),
  • Madhya Pradesh (13%), etc.

The correct answer is Uttarakhand.

Key Points

• Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve is located in the northern part of India in Uttarakhand. 
• It comprises Nanda Devi National Park and the Valley of Flowers National Park.
• Declared as Biosphere Reserve under the UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere (MAB) programme.
• It has been included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
• The biosphere reserve is spread in Chamoli, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand.
• It comprises the catchment area of Alaknanda River and its tributaries, including Rishi Ganga, Dhauli Ganga, Pushwapati, and Khir Ganga.
• Fauna:- Snow leopard, the Himalayan musk deer, Asiatic black bear, Himalayan brown bear, bharal and Himalayan tahr etc.
• Flora: Birch, Rhododendron, Fir, Juniper, Lichens etc are found in the reserve.

The correct answer is ​Nilgiri.

Key Points

• Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
  • The name ’Nilgiris’ with literary meaning ‘blue mountains’ has originated from the blue flower-clad mountains of the Nilgiris plateau within the State of Tamil Nadu.
  • It was the first biosphere reserve in India established in the year 1986. Hence, Option 2 is correct.
  • The total area of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is 5,520 sq. km.
  • It is located in the Western Ghats and encompasses parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.
  • The confluence of Biotic zones: It exemplifies the tropical forest biome which portrays the confluence of Afro-tropical and Indo-Malayan biotic zones of the world.
  • Many of the major tributaries of the river Cauvery like the Bhavani, Moyar, Kabini, and other rivers like Chaliyar, Punampuzha, etc., have their source and catchment areas within the reserve boundary.
  • Tribal groups like the Todas, Kotas, Irullas, Kurumbas, Paniyas, Adiyans, Edanadan Chettis, Cholanaickens, Allar, Malayan, etc., are native to the reserve.
  • The Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Bandipur National Park, Nagarhole National Park, Mukurthi National Park, and Silent Valley are the protected areas present within this reserve.

Additional Information

• Sundarbans
  • It is a mangrove area in the delta formed by the confluence of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal.
  • It spans from the Hooghly River in India's state of West Bengal to the Baleswar River in Bangladesh's division of Khulna.
• The Nanda Devi National Park or Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve
  • It was established in 1982.
  • In the year 1988, Nanda Devi National Park and its surrounding area were declared as Biosphere Reserve under the MAB programme of UNESCO.
  • It is a national park situated around the peak of Nanda Devi in Chamoli Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, in northern India.
  • The entire park lies at an elevation of more than 3,500 m above mean sea level.
• The Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve
  • It is a non-use conservation area and biosphere reserve in the Satpura Range of Madhya Pradesh state in central India.
  • The conservation area was created in 1999 by the Indian government. It also contains animals from the Himalayan peaks and the lower western ghats.

The correct answer is West Bengal.

Key Points

• Mangrove vegetation is most abundant in West Bengal (Sundarbans).
• Most of the country's mangrove vegetation is found along the eastern and western coasts.
• The Indian Sundarbans forest region is the third-largest enclosed mangrove ecological zone in the world.
• Mangrove forest is found mainly in the warm and subtropical regions between 25° north and 25° south latitudes.
• According to the India Forest Status Report 2021-
  • Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, released the ‘India State of Forest Report 2021’ on 13 January 2022.
  • It has been prepared by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) which has been mandated to assess the forest and tree resources of the country.
  • Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover.
  • The total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.9 mn hectares.

Additional Information

• Mangroves are halophytes.
• Mangrove plants grow in swampy places around the seashore.
• Halophyte plants can survive in highly salinized soils or water.
• They show Vivipary germinations.
• In this particular type of germination, the seed germinates inside the fruit while it is still attached to the parent plant.
• The embryo comes out of the fruit with a massive radicle pointing downwards.
• Due to increased weight, the seedling separates from the parent plant and establishes itself in the muddy soil.
• They also possess Pneumatophores.
• Pneumatophores, also called air root are mainly specialized root that grows upwards out of the water or mud to reach the air and from there it obtain oxygen for the root systems of trees that live in swampy or tidal habitats
  

 The correct answer is Humus.​

Key Points

• Humus is a dark, organic matter that forms in soil when a plant or living matter decays. 
• Humus is formed by the decomposing action of soil microorganisms (e.g., bacteria and fungi), which break down animal and vegetable material into elements that can be used by growing plants. 
• Humus is an important biological constituent of fertile soil.
• It contains many useful nutrients for healthy soil. One of the most important is nitrogen. Nitrogen is a key nutrient for most plants. 
• Agriculture depends on nitrogen and other nutrients found in humus.
• When humus is in soil, the soil will crumble, and water moves easily through the loose soil so that oxygen can reach the roots of plants.
• When people compost, they collect decaying organic material, such as food and garden scraps, that turned into soil, It produces Humus in soil.

The correct answer is All of the above. 

Key Points

• Everything available in our environment which can be used to satisfy our needs provided it is technologically accessible, economically feasible, and culturally acceptable is termed as a resource.
• Resources are classified into two broad types - renewable and nonrenewable resources. 
• Resources that can be renewed or replenished are termed as renewable resources like solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, etc. 
• Resources that cannot be renewed or replenished are termed as non-renewable resources like oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy. 

Important Points

• Resources can also be classified as natural resources and human resources. 
• Natural resources are the resources that exist without any human efforts such as sunlight, atmosphere, water, mineral, plants, etc.