NCERT Solutions for Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 1 Water the Essence of Life (PDF) – 2027

The rain comes from the clouds, and the clouds are made from water that rose up from the oceans, rivers and lakes. After the rain falls, the water flows back into the ground, into rivers and into the sea. Water keeps going round and round like this.

No, we cannot drink ocean water. Ocean water is salty — it has a large amount of salt mixed in it.

Ocean water is used to make salt — sea water is dried in salt pans, as in Gujarat. The ocean is also home to fish, prawns and crabs, which give people food and work, and ships carry goods across it. Most of the water vapour that forms rain clouds also rises from the ocean.

Freshwater sources in the pictures: pond, glacier (ice), lake, groundwater, river, well and rain. The picture of the sea (top row, middle) is not a freshwater source, because sea water is salty.

Yes to both. There is water in the air, and snow is one of the forms of water.

The water in the air is invisible water vapour; we see it when tiny drops form on the outside of a glass of ice. Snow is water in its solid form, like ice.

They come from the air around the glass. The air holds water vapour that we cannot see. The cold glass cools that vapour, and it turns back into tiny drops of water on the outside of the glass.

The ice cubes melt. They slowly change into liquid water, and after some time the glass has water in it instead of ice.

The water becomes hot, then it starts to boil, and it changes into steam — that is, into water vapour. The water in the pan slowly gets less and less.

All three forms of water — solid, liquid and vapour.

I observe: The ice slowly loses its shape and turns into liquid water. The pieces become smaller and rounder, water collects below them, and in the end there is no ice left — only cool water. The outside of the vessel becomes wet with tiny drops.

I observe: Bubbles form at the bottom of the pan and rise to the top. The water moves about and makes a sound. White steam rises above the pan. If the pan is left on the flame, the water level slowly drops.

I observe: The water level in the glass goes down a little every day. By the third day a clear part of the glass is empty. Nothing has spilled and nothing has leaked — the water has gone into the air.

What I observe: The coloured water becomes warm. Tiny drops form on the inside of the empty upper part of the bag. The drops grow bigger, slide down and fall back into the water. The bag is sealed, so no water is lost — the same water goes round and round, just like in the water cycle.

The book gives the first row. Fill the second row as shown, and use any one of the other rows for the empty third row.

What I observe: The water sinks into the soil and disappears from the top. The soil turns dark and wet, from the top downwards. After more spoons, water collects at the bottom of the glass. In the same way, rainwater soaks into the ground and is stored deep below as groundwater.

Tick the middle picture — the Green lawn ✓. Rain soaks into the soft soil of the lawn and becomes groundwater. On the concrete road and the paved area the rain cannot go in; it runs off into drains.

A river flows downhill. It begins high up in the mountains, usually from melting snow, a glacier or a spring, and then runs down across the land towards lower and lower ground, until it reaches the sea.

The seeds rolled down from the highest point towards the lower parts of the paper. They did not stay where they were poured. They followed the dips and folds of the crumpled paper and gathered in the low hollows.

They spread out in different directions. They do not travel in one straight line.

The stream of seeds splits into several smaller streams. Some go left, some go right, some run down the middle. Each little stream follows the groove it happens to fall into.

Yes. The seeds collect in the low hollows of the paper — exactly the way water collects in ponds and lakes.

Rivers, like the mustard seeds, flow down the slope of the land. India’s land is not flat. The high Western Ghats lie near the west coast and most of the land slopes east, so most rivers — Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, Ganga — flow to the Bay of Bengal. The Narmada and the Tapti flow in valleys that slope west, so they reach the Arabian Sea.

Six of the eight rivers on the map flow to the Bay of Bengal; only the Narmada and the Tapti flow to the Arabian Sea. The book’s table has three empty rows — fill them with any three of the other five rivers.

They are different because their bodies are built for water instead of for land. An animal in water must swim, must breathe under water, and must not be pushed about by the flowing water. So it has fins, gills and a smooth pointed body. A land animal must walk and breathe air, so it has legs and lungs.

Here is the completed table. The first row is the book’s example.

Examples you can add: on land — cow, dog, hen, deer, elephant. In water — fish, freshwater turtle, water snake, water scorpion.

(rows 1–2 are the book’s; rows 3–5 use animals from the pond picture on pages 14–15):

Sample answer. The local names given are Hindi names used in many places — write the names used in your area. Draw each plant next to its name.

What you will see: the drop does not stay round. It spreads out at once into a flat wet patch, sinks into the paper, and makes that spot dark, soft and see-through. If you lift the paper, the wet part sags. If you rub it, it tears easily.

Yes — a big change. The drop stays as a round shiny bead on the surface. It does not spread and it does not soak in. If you tilt the paper, the drop rolls off, and the paper underneath is still dry.

My observation: On plain paper the water drop spread out and soaked in, and the paper became wet and weak. On the paper coloured with a wax crayon the drop stayed round, did not soak in at all, and rolled off when I tilted the paper. The wax made the paper waterproof.

Each child is one living thing. Join with string the children who eat, or are eaten by, each other. Some river food chains to use:

If all the fish were gone, the animals that eat fish — herons, kingfishers, otters, crocodiles, water snakes — would go hungry and would leave the river or die. The insects and mosquito larvae that fish eat would increase a lot. Fishing families would lose their food and work. One missing animal upsets the whole food chain.

Because most of the water on Earth is salty sea water, and salty water is of no use for drinking or for growing crops.

If all the water on Earth filled a 200 ml glass, the freshwater would be only 5 ml — one teaspoon.

Because water gives them everything they need to stay alive — a drink, food, a home and a safe place to raise their young. No living thing can survive without water, so life gathers wherever water is.

There would be a severe water shortage — a drought. Wells and ponds would dry up, crops would fail, and people and animals would suffer.

Groundwater would not be recharged, so handpumps would dry up. Animals would get no grass or water, food would become costly, and people would have to fetch water from far away.

In a forest most of the rainwater soaks into the ground. In a city most of it runs off the hard surfaces and rushes into drains.

So in a forest the groundwater is recharged well. In a city little water reaches the ground, and the streets get waterlogged and the drains overflow.

Yes. Sample answer — my water-wise school would have:

• roof gutters that carry rainwater into a storage tank
• a recharge pit for the extra rainwater
• taps that close by themselves, and a weekly check for leaks
• left-over drinking water poured on plants
• grass, soil and trees instead of cement, so that rain can soak in

Take a square sheet of paper and follow the six pictures in order, pressing each fold firmly with your thumbnail. In the last step, draw an eye and a smiling mouth on the front of the fish.