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NEL
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Forces around us
affect the movement
of objects.
Machines use forces
to do work.
We use simple and
compound machines
to do work for us.
A roller coaster takes you on a thrilling ride as it rushes
down the track. You feel your body being pushed and pulled
as the car moves through fast turns. You feel yourself being
lifted into the air on steep drops. You find yourself turned
upside down on loops. Then, as you speed down the track,
youre pushed back, flat against your seat. What is pushing
and pulling you? What is holding you in your seat when
youre upside down?
In this unit, you will learn about the forces that push and
pull on you. You will learn how these forces affect the way
everything moves. You will discover how machines use these
forces to do amazing things. You will also discover how we
use machines to make our daily life in British Columbia
easier and more comfortable.
NEL
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Make a Roller Coaster
Skills Focus: creating models, predicting, observing
1. Use strips of heavy paper or cardboard to build a flexible track
that is about 3 m long. Tape the end of the track to the back
of your chair to create your first hill.
2. Build a second hill using the seat of another chair, books, or
other objects in the classroom. Place the track over the hill.
3. Release a marble from the top of the first hill to test your
roller coaster. Does the marble travel to the end of the track?
4. Experiment with the
height of the second hill.
How high can you make
this hill and still have the
marble travel to the end
of the track?
Start
End
Machines, like roller coasters, use forces to keep the coaster on the
track in the twists and turns.
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A force is a push or pull
that moves an object
or holds it in place.
Forces can be measured
with a spring scale.
Friction is a force that
slows or stops
movement.
Surface texture, slope,
and load affect the
amount of force
needed to make an
object move.
Forces can be
combined to affect the
way things move.
Skateboarders can really move! Some skateboarders look
like theyre flying through the air as they twist and turn.
Then they land on the ground and come to a sudden stop.
How can they change direction in a split second? How can
they start and stop moving so quickly? Forces help
skateboarders move, change direction, and stop.
In this chapter, you will learn about the ways that forces
affect how things move. You will learn that forces can be
used to start and stop motion and to change an objects
speed and direction. You will also learn that other things
affect the amount of force needed to make an object move.
Have you ever played soccer? If you have, then you know
that you have to use force to make the soccer ball go where
you want it to go. A is a push or a pull on an object.
When you kick a soccer ball, you are pushing the ball in the
direction you want it to go. When a goalie stops the ball, the
goalie is pulling the ball in a different direction to stop it
from going into the net.
force
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What Makes Things Move?
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When you pull an object in the direction you want it to go, you are
using force.
You use a pushing
force when you kick a
soccer ball.
Important vocabulary
words are highlighted.
Make sure you
understand what
these words mean.
Forces are all around you. They affect everyone and
everything in different ways. You can see the effects of some
forces, like the wind, the force of your foot kicking a soccer
ball, or the pull or push of a magnet. There are also forces
that are invisible, like the force of gravity [GRAV-uh-tee]
pulling you to the ground.
NEL
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In the Try This activity, forces made the ball move.
When you dropped the ball, the force of gravity pulled it to
the ground. When you changed the force you used on the
ball, the motion changed. For instance, when you increased
the force you used on the ball, the ball bounced higher.
The force you use affects how an object moves.
Observe a Bouncing Ball
Skills Focus: observing, measuring
1. Drop a ball from a height of 1 m. Record how high
the ball bounces.
2. How can you change the force you use on the ball to make
the ball bounce higher or lower? Try it and see.
3. How did changing the force change the height that
the ball bounced?
NEL
7
1. What is a force?
2. Think about riding a bike or going skateboarding. Choose one
of these activities and describe, in words or pictures, how force
is used to
start and stop moving
change speed
change direction
You were able to control the speed and direction that the
ball moved by controlling how you used force. When the
amount of force used on an object changes, the motion of the
object changes. For instance, when you changed the amount
of force you used, the speed of the ball changed. When you
changed the direction of the force, the direction of the ball
changed. You were able to stop the ball by using force.
Forces affect the motion of objects around us every day.
Some forces make things move. Other forces slow things
down, stop them, or hold them in place.
Observe How a Ball Moves
Skills Focus: predicting, observing, measuring
1. Roll the ball toward another student in your
group. Change the force you use on the ball
to make the ball roll faster. Now, change the
force you use on the ball to make it roll slower.
2. Roll the ball around in the circle formed by
your legs. Use force to make the ball change
direction.
3. How can you use force to change the speed
and direction of the ball?
You can measure forces using a spring scale. A spring scale
measures force in a unit called newtons [NOO-tuhnz]. The
symbol for newtons is N.
[WAYT] is a measure of the force of gravity on
an object. When you hang an object from the hook on a
spring scale, the downward force of gravity stretches the
spring. The scale shows the strength of the force of gravity
in newtons.
Weight
NEL
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Measuring Forces
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The force of gravity is different depending on where you
are. The force of gravity on Earth is about six times as great
as the force of gravity on the Moon. There are even
differences in the force of gravity at different places on
Earth. The farther you are away from the centre of Earth,
the less gravity is pulling on you.
The weight of the marbles is 3.0 N on Earth, but only 0.5 N on
the Moon.
1. What tool can you use to measure force?
2. Would you expect to get the same results in the Try This activity
if you did it on the Moon? Explain your answer.
NEL
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To read the
measurement on a
spring scale correctly,
make sure that you look
at the scale at eye level.
Measure Force
Skills Focus: predicting, observing, measuring
1. Using string, tie a 500 mL
bottle with 400 mL of
water in it to a spring
scale. Pull the bottle up
so that it is hanging from
the spring scale. Hold it
still to measure the force
of gravity.
2. Predict how the amount of force would change if you
measured the force acting on two identical bottles. Tie
another bottle to the spring scale, and pull up both bottles.
Read the measurement on the spring scale.
3. Work with a partner.
Attach two spring scales
to one bottle. Pull equally
to raise the bottle. Read
the spring scales when
the bottle is still. How
does the amount of
force change when two
people lift the bottle?
4. Predict how the amount of force would change if three or four
people lifted the bottle. Try this to check your prediction.
[FRIK-shun] is a force that resists movement.
Friction slows down moving objects and makes objects that
are not moving hard to move. Friction can create noise and
heat. When you did the Try This activity, you experienced
friction. When you rubbed your hands together, you heard
the friction and felt your hands get warm. Friction can also
cause surfaces to wear away, as you saw when you rubbed
together two pieces of sandpaper.
The way your running shoes keep you from sliding across
a wood or tiled floor is an example of friction. Basketball
players need friction between their shoes and the floor,
so they can control how they move.
Friction
NEL
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Friction
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The friction between a
basketball players shoes
and the floor stops the
basketball player from
sliding forward.
Observe Friction
Skills Focus: observing, inferring
1. Rub your hands together for one minute. What do you feel?
What do you hear?
2. Put some liquid soap on your hands, and rub them again.
What differences do you notice from step 1?
3. Cover your desk with a piece of newspaper. Rub two small
pieces of sandpaper together. What do you feel? What do you
hear? Is there anything on the newspaper?
Check your
understanding of
friction by finding
examples from your
own life. When have
you noticed friction
slow something down
or make something
hard to move?
When two things come in contact with each other, there is
friction. Imagine pushing a box along a floor. The force of
friction acting on the box occurs between the surface of the
floor and the side of the box sliding along the floor.
NEL
11
The amount of friction between two objects depends on
what the objects are made from. Different objects feel
different when you touch them. The way that an object feels
is called its Surfaces can be rough, smooth,
or slippery. How would you describe the surface texture of
sandpaper, a mirror, and liquid soap?
surface texture.
Force of friction Pushing force
Friction and Surface Texture
Friction occurs because surfaces are not perfectly smooth.
Even ice, which looks perfectly smooth, actually has a
bumpy, uneven surface.
Friction occurs between the bottom of the box and the floor.
Ice may look smooth, but, when it is magnified 20 times, you can
see its rough surface.
Read the first paragraph
on this page and
examine the diagram
and the caption below
it. Then use your own
words to explain the
diagram to a partner.
Surface texture affects the amount of friction between two
surfaces. The rougher the surfaces, the more friction there
is between the objects. If you move an object over a rough
surface, such as a bumpy sidewalk, you will have to use more
force than if you move the same object over a smoother
surface, such as ice.
NEL
12
The Advantages and
Disadvantages of Friction
Friction is helpful to us in many ways. Without friction,
you would not be able to walk. Your feet would slip out from
under you! It is the friction between the surface of your shoes
and the ground that allows you to walk. Friction also lets you
slow down or stop moving. Bicycles need the friction between
their brakes and their wheels, and between their wheels and
the road, to slow them down.
Movement is easy on a
smooth surface, like ice,
because there is less friction
to slow things down.
The friction between
two surfaces slows
movement. It makes it
possible for us to slow
down and stop.
Sometimes friction can be a disadvantage. Friction slows
down objects and makes them harder to move. When you
are skating or going down a waterslide, you want to go fast.
It is friction that slows you down.
If you are snowboarding, friction slows you down as you
travel over the snow. To go faster, you have to spread wax
over the bottom surface of the snowboard to reduce friction.
However, you also need friction when you are snowboarding.
The edges of the snowboard are shaped to make use of
friction. The edges are sharp so that you can control your
movement when turning and stop when you need to.
NEL
13
1. What is friction? How does friction change the way things move?
2. Name three things that can happen when two surfaces
rub together.
3. How does surface texture affect the amount of friction
between objects?
4. Draw two pictures. In one picture, show an activity where
friction is an advantage. In the other picture, show an activity
where friction is a disadvantage. Write one sentence for each
picture to explain your ideas.
The water on a
waterslide reduces friction
so you can go faster.
Snowboarders want
less friction so they can
go fast, but they also
need friction to control
their speed and direction.
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SKILLS MENU
Questioning Measuring
Predicting Classifying
Designing
Inferring
Experiments
Interpreting
Fair Testing
Data
Observing Communicating
NEL
14
Design Your Own Experiment Design Your Own Experiment
Before you begin this
experiment, review
Design Your Own
Experiment in the Skills
Handbook.

Design a procedure to test your prediction. Your

procedure is a step-by-step description of how you
will conduct your experiment. It must be clear
enough for someone else to follow and do the
same experiment. You will need to conduct more
than one trial for each surface you test.
Hand in your procedure, including any safety
precautions, to your teacher for approval.
How Does Surface Texture
Affect Force?
Design an experiment to find out how much force is needed
to move a block across a surface covered with three different
textures.
Question
Write a question about how surface texture affects the
force that is required to move an object. For example, your
question could be Which surface will require the most force
to move a block 1 m: sandpaper, carpet, or cardboard?
Prediction
Look carefully at each surface. Rub your hand over each
surface. Use your observations to predict which surface will
need the greatest amount of force to move the block.
Materials
Decide what materials you will need to conduct your
experiment. Check with your teacher to make sure that
these materials are safe for you to use.
Data and Observations
Create a data table to record your observations. Record your
observations as you carry out your experiment.
Interpret Data and Observations
1. Which surface required the greatest amount of force to
move the block?
2. Which surface required the least amount of force to
move the block?
3. How did the surface texture affect the amount of force
needed to move the block?
4. Look back at your prediction. Did your results fully
support, partly support, or not support your prediction?
Write a conclusion for your experiment.
Apply and Extend
1. Think about the surface textures you tested. Which
surface would be best for inline skating? Which surface
would be best to make sure you dont slip?
2. Repeat this experiment, but move the block up a ramp
and keep the surface texture the same. Try a few
different ramp heights. What effect does changing the
height of the ramp have on the force needed to move
the block up the ramp?
NEL
15
1. What variable did you change in your experiment?
2. What variable did you measure?
3. What variables did you keep the same?
4. Was your experiment a fair test? How do you know?
Forces affect the way things move. You need forces to start
and stop the motion of an object. There are things that affect
the amount of force you need to make an object move.
For example, surface texture, slope [SLOHP], and load all
affect the amount of force you need to make an object move.
NEL
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What Affects the
Amount of Force Needed
to Move an Object?
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Predict What Affects Force
Skills Focus: predicting, observing, measuring, inferring
What Affects Force
Prediction Was your prediction
correct?
I would need
to use more
force if
I would need
to use less
force if
1. Place an object in the box. Use a spring
scale to measure the amount of force
needed to pull the box across the floor
or a table.
2. What could you do that would increase
the amount of force needed to move
the box? What could you do that would
decrease the amount of force needed to
move the box? Copy the table on the
right into your notebook. Write your
predictions in your table.
3. Test the predictions you wrote in your table.
Use a spring scale to measure the force.
Surface Texture
You have learned that surface texture affects the amount
of friction between two surfaces. The more friction there is
between two surfaces, the more force you need to make an
object move.
Slope
Slope affects the amount of force needed to make an
object move. Slope is a change in height between two
points. When a surface is sloped, it is on an angle. For
example, the roofs of many houses are sloped. A sloped
surface is also called a
When slope changes, the amount of force needed to move
an object also changes. Moving an object up a ramp requires
more force than moving an object across a flat surface. If you
increase the slope of a ramp, the amount of force you need
to move an object up the ramp also increases.
ramp.
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The rough surface
texture of the sandpaper
creates a lot of friction
between the sandpaper
and the wood.
If you ride a bike up the slope of a hill, you need to use a lot of force.
Look at the section
title and the headings
on this page and the
next page. When you
have finished reading
this section, check your
understanding by
answering the question
in the section title.
Moving an object down a ramp requires less force than
moving an object across a flat surface. If you increase the
slope of a ramp, the amount of force you need to move an
object down the ramp decreases.
NEL
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You need more force to lift a backpack when you increase the load
of the backpack.
Load
Load affects the amount of force needed to make an object
move. is the weight of the object you are trying to
move. The larger the load is, the more force you need to move
it. For example, you need more force to lift a backpack with
four textbooks in it than a backpack with one textbook in it.
Load
If you ride down a hill, you need to use less force.
NEL
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1. Look at each pair of pictures. What is affecting the amount of
force needed to move? Which student in each pair of pictures
would be able to use the least amount of force?
A B
A B
A B
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SKILLS MENU
Questioning Measuring
Predicting Classifying
Designing
Inferring
Experiments
Interpreting
Fair Testing
Data
Observing Communicating
NEL
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How Do Slope and Load Affect
How Far a Can Rolls?
You have learned that many things affect how an object
moves. In this investigation, you will conduct a fair test to
find out how load and the slope of a ramp affect how far an
object travels when it is rolled down the ramp.
Conduct an Investigation Conduct an Investigation
full can
board
textbooks
masking
tape
measuring
tape
empty can
To make sure that your
test is fair, you must use
the same materials and
release the cans in the
same way in all the
trials. You must follow
exactly the same steps in
all the trials. These steps
are your procedure.
Before you begin this
investigation, review
Conduct an Investigation
in the Skills Handbook.
Questions
How does increasing the load affect how far a can rolls?
How does increasing the slope affect how far a can rolls?
Prediction
Write your predictions before you begin your investigation.
Which do you think will travel farther, an empty can or a
full can? Explain why.
Which do you think will travel farther, a full can rolled
down a two-book slope or a full can rolled down a four-
book slope? Explain why.
Materials
4 textbooks masking tape
board, 150 cm 30 cm measuring tape
empty can full can
NEL
21
Testing the Load
Step 1 Build a ramp by placing two
books under one end of the board.
Be sure to leave a lot of space for the
cans to roll.
Step 2 Release the empty can from
the top of the ramp. Use a piece of
masking tape to mark the place where
the can stops rolling.
In your notebook, make a table like the one below.
Data Table for Investigation 1.6
Distance Travelled
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3
Testing two-book slope
the load with empty can
two-book slope
with full can
Testing two-book slope
the slope with full can
four-book slope
with full can
NEL
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Step 3 Measure the distance the
empty can travelled, from the end of
the ramp to where it stopped rolling.
Record the distance in your table
under Trial 1.
Step 6 Measure the distance the full
can travelled, from the end of the
ramp to where it stopped rolling.
Record the distance in your table
under Trial 1.
Step 7 Repeat steps 5 and 6 two more
times, and record the distances in
your table under Trial 2 and Trial 3.
Testing the Slope
Step 1 In steps 5 to 7 in Testing the
Load, you tested how far a full can
travels on a two-book slope. Copy your
results for these trials into the next
row of your table.
Step 2 Increase the slope of the ramp
by adding two more books to it.
Step 3 Release the full can from the
top of the ramp. Use a piece of
masking tape to mark the place where
the can stops rolling.
Step 4 Measure the distance the can
travelled, from the end of the ramp to
where it stopped rolling. Record the
distance in your table under Trial 1.
Step 5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 two more
times. Record the distances in your
table under Trial 2 and Trial 3.
Step 4 Repeat steps 2 and 3 two more
times. Record the distances in your
table under Trial 2 and Trial 3.
Step 5 Release the full can from the
top of the ramp. Use a piece of
masking tape to mark the place where
the can stops rolling.
Interpret Data and Observations
1. In the Testing the Load section, which can travelled
farther, the empty can or the full can? How does load
affect the distance that an object moves?
2. Which slope made the can travel farther, the two-book
slope or the four-book slope? How does the slope of a
ramp affect the distance that an object moves?
3. Were your predictions correct?
Apply and Extend
1. How could roller-coaster
designers use the information
from this investigation?
2. Do you think you would get
the same results if you used
different surfaces for the
ramp when testing the full
can and the empty can on
the two-book slope? Conduct
an investigation to test your
prediction.
NEL
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1. What variables were the same in all trials in the load test? What
variables were the same in all trials in the slope test?
2. What other variables could have affected your results?
3. Why were you asked to do more than one trial for each test?
4. Do you think your tests were fair? Explain your thinking.
Most objects have more than one force acting on them at
the same time. When forces combine, they affect the way
that an object moves.
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Combining Forces
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Balanced Forces
Consider a pencil sitting on your desk. What forces are acting
on it? There is the downward pull of gravity and the upward
push of your desk. When two forces of equal strength act in
opposite directions, they are called As long
as the two forces acting on the pencil remain balanced, the
pencil will not move.
When the forces on an object are balanced, the object is
said to be in [EE-kwuh-LIHB-ree-um]. When
an object is in equilibrium, there is no change in the motion
of the object.
equilibrium
balanced forces.
When you fly a kite, gravity, the wind, and the pull of the string
affect how high and in what direction the kite flies.
Pulling force of
gravity downward
Pushing force
of desk upward
When the forces are
equal, the pencil will not
move.
Unbalanced Forces
Think back to the pencil on your desk. To change the
motion of the pencil, one of the forces has to be greater
than the other, or a new force has to be added. For example,
if you add a force by gently pushing the pencil with your
finger, the pencil will move in the direction of the new force
you added.
NEL
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Pushing force of
desk upward
Pushing force
from finger
Pencil moves in direction
of new force
Pulling force of
gravity downward
When a new force is added, the combined forces are unbalanced
and there is a change in the motion of the pencil.
Observe Balanced Forces
Skills Focus: observing, inferring
1. Work with a partner. Stand back to back,
leaning against each other. Slowly move your
feet away from your partner until they are about
1 m apart. Continue pushing against each other,
trying to remain balanced and motionless. Think
about the way that you and your partner are
using force to remain balanced.
2. Slowly bend your knees. How have you adjusted
the amount of force you are using to remain
balanced and motionless?
3. How would your movement change if one
person used more force than the other?
To check your
understanding of
balanced and
unbalanced forces,
explain them to a
partner. Use a different
example than the pencil
on a desk.
happen when one of the forces
acting on an object is greater than another force acting
in the opposite direction. When you pushed the pencil
with your finger, the forces acting on the pencil became
unbalanced. The pencil moved because there was no other
force to balance the force you applied with your finger.
The pencil moved in the direction of the greater force.
When the forces acting on an object are unbalanced, the
motion of the object usually changes. The pencil moved
because the forces acting on it were unbalanced. If you
know the size and direction of all the forces acting on an
object, you can predict how an object may move.
Unbalanced forces
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What forces are acting on this toboggan to keep it sitting at the
top of the hill? How could the forces change? What would happen if
they did?
Think about the forces acting on a toboggan when it is
sitting at the top of a hill. There is the downward force of
gravity and the upward force of the ground. As long as
these forces are equal, the movement of the toboggan will
not change. The toboggan is in equilibrium. If you add
another force, such as the force of using your arms to push
you forward, the toboggan will move forward because the
forces are no longer balanced.
Check your
understanding of what
you have just read by
trying to answer the
questions under the
photo. Then read the last
paragraph to see if your
answers were correct.
NEL
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1. Write two or three sentences to explain what will happen when
one student joins one of the sides. Use the words equilibrium,
balanced, and unbalanced in your sentences.
2. Tugboats are used to push or pull barges that are loaded with
heavy containers. Draw a sketch with arrows to show how
tugboats and a barge will move in each of the following situations:
Two identical tugboats are pulling a barge upstream together.
Two identical tugboats are pulling a barge in opposite
directions.
One tugboat is more powerful than the other tugboat, and
they are pulling in opposite directions.
Barge
Tugboat
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Key Idea: A force is a
push or pull that
moves an object or
holds it in place.
Vocabulary
force p. 5
Key Idea: Friction is a force that
slows or stops movement.
Vocabulary
friction p. 10
surface texture
p. 11
Key Idea: Surface texture, slope, and load affect the amount
of force needed to make an object move.
Vocabulary
ramp p. 17
load p. 18
Key Idea: Forces can be
measured with a spring scale.
Vocabulary
weight p. 8
surface texture slope load
Review Key Ideas and Vocabulary
Use the vocabulary words in your answers to the questions.
1. What are forces? How do forces affect the way that things move?
2. How can you measure the amount of force that is needed to
pull a toy car toward you?
3. Explain how putting sand on an icy road can help prevent
cars from sliding.
4. Use drawings and words to explain how load, slope, and
surface texture can affect the way the bobsled moves.
NEL
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Vocabulary
balanced forces
p. 24
equilibrium p. 24
unbalanced
forces p. 26
Visit the Quiz Centre at: [Link]
Key Idea: Forces can be combined
to affect the way things move.
5. Use the words balanced forces
and unbalanced forces to
explain why the ball is not
moving. What could change
the motion of the ball?
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NEL 30
Design and Build a Car
Looking Back
You have learned
that forces can be measured using a spring scale

that friction, load, surface texture, and slope affect the

way that things move
that forces can combine to affect the way that things move
In this activity, you will work in a group to design and build
a car that travels the greatest distance off the end of a ramp.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Design and Build a Car
1. Work with a group to design a car that you think will
travel as far as possible off the end of a ramp. Think
back to what you have learned about load. How can you
use load to your advantage? Think back to what you have
learned about friction and surface texture.
2. Draw and label a design for a car. Show your design to
your teacher. Once you have your teachers approval,
build your car.
3. In your notebook, make a table like the one below.
NEL 31
Weight Distance Changes
of Car (N) Travelled to Car
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
4. Use a spring scale to weigh your car. Record the weight.
Test and Evaluate
1. Your teacher will provide you with a ramp.
2. Release your car from the top of the ramp. Use a piece of
masking tape to mark the place where the car stops rolling.
3. Measure the distance your car travelled, from the end of
the ramp to where it stopped rolling. Record the distance.
4. Modify the design of your car. In your table, describe the
change(s) you made. Measure the weight of your car,
and repeat steps 2 and 3.
5. Complete step 4 at least one more time.
Communicate
1. Demonstrate your best design to the class. Explain how
you increased the distance your car travelled.
DESIGN AND BUILD A CAR
As you build and test your car, make sure that you show you
are able to
use a spring scale correctly
recognize the effects of friction and load
accurately record your observations
use appropriate scientific words
communicate clearly
work cooperatively with other students
Can you imagine trying to chop wood without an axe? How
would you do it? What if you had to move a load of rocks or
soil without a wheelbarrow? What if you had to lift a car to
change a tire without a jack? How would you open a door
without a doorknob? All of these jobs would be much more
difficult to do without machines [muh-SHEENZ].
In this chapter, you will discover how machines make use
of forces to do work. You will learn about six simple machines:
the lever, the wheel and axle [AK-suhl], the pulley, the inclined
plane, the wedge [WEJ], and the screw. You will discover the
many ways we use simple machines to make our work easier.
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Work is done when
a force makes an
object move.
A machine is anything
that makes work easier
for us.
Machines give us a
mechanical advantage
by changing the amount
or direction of force
needed to do work.
There are six simple
machines: the lever, the
wheel and axle, the pulley,
the inclined plane, the
wedge, and the screw.
Has your teacher ever asked you to get to work? Does it seem
like work when you ride a bicycle up a hill? We use the word
work to mean different things. When scientists use the
word work, they mean something very specific.
In science, you are doing when you use force to
make something move. For example, you are doing work
when you roll a large ball of snow to make a snow person.
You are applying force to an object that causes that object to
move. The amount of work you do depends on the amount
of force you use and the distance the object moves.
work
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Machines Make Work Easier
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When you roll a ball of snow to make a snow person, you are doing work.
Force
applied
Distance moved
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The stairs to the tree house gives this student a mechanical
advantage. She uses less effort force than the student climbing the
rope to the tree house.
Machines
A machine makes work easier to do. A pencil sharpener is a
machine that helps you sharpen a pencil more easily than
you could without using it. Using a machine does not usually
mean that you do less work. It usually means that you do the
work using less effort.
The force that is needed to push, pull, or lift an object is
called the The force that is holding the object
in place is called the load force. To make an object move, a
machine must work harder than the load force.
When a machine makes work easier, we say that it gives
us a mechanical advantage [muh-KAN-uh-kuhl ad-VAN-tij].
The machine gives us a mechanical advantage because it
allows us to use less force or to change the direction of the
force that is needed to do work.
effort force.
If you find a topic
difficult, read more
slowly. Go back and
reread as many times
as you need to until
you are sure that you
understand.
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1. Is any work being done in this picture? Explain your answer.
2. What is a machine? How does a machine make work easier?
3. What is mechanical advantage?
Identify Work
Skills Focus: observing, inferring, communicating
1. Push against the wall of your classroom. Lift your textbook off
your desk. Pull your chair along the floor.
2. Draw a sketch to show each situation in step 1. Add an
arrow to show the direction of your effort force in each
situation. Add another arrow to show the direction that
each object moved.
3. Tell a partner whether any work was done in each situation,
according to the scientific definition of work.
Do not guess. Look back
through the section to
find the answers. Even
if you remember the
answer, it is good to go
back and check it.
When you apply an effort force to a machine, the machine
uses this force to do the work more quickly or more easily
than you could have done it without the machine. Think of
the weight that this giant crane can lift. An effort force is
applied to the crane to help it lift the container.
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Machines and
the Work They Do
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Machines dont have to be big or complicated to do work
for us. If youve used a wheelbarrow, you know it allows you
to move heavy objects more easily than you could move
them with your arms alone. In fact, all machinesno matter
how complicated they areare combinations of six simple
machines. The six that are used to make
all other machines are
the lever the wheel and axle
the pulley the inclined plane
the wedge the screw
simple machines
Machines can easily
do work that humans
would find difficult or
impossible.
Before you read this
section, make sure you
understand the meaning
of the words "work,"
"machine," and "effort
force." If you aren't sure
of the meaning of any of
these words, check back
in the previous section.
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We use simple machines to move things, to lift things, to hold
things together, or to push things apart. Which machines on this
page are used to move things? Which machines are used to lift
things, to hold things together, or to push things apart?
Wedge Screw
Lever Wheel and axle
Pulley Inclined plane
Simple machines can provide a mechanical advantage by
changing the effect of the effort force you use. Some simple
machines make work easier by allowing you to use less effort
force to move an object. For example, you use less effort force
to lift a car using a jack than you would if you tried to lift the
car on your own. Some simple machines make work easier by
changing the direction of a force. If you use a rope thrown over
a tree branch to lift an object, you pull down on the rope but
the object moves up. Simple machines can also move forces
from one place to another. The chain on a bicycle moves the
effort force from the pedals to the wheels of the bicycle.
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1. Name the six simple machines. Give two examples of each
simple machine. Try to think of at least one example of each
simple machine that was not mentioned in this section.
2. What simple machines can you identify in this tool?
Direction of the
effort force is
changed
Effort force
Effort force
Jack increases
the effort force
Effort force
Effort force is
moved to wheel
by the chain
Simple machines change the effect of the effort force you use.
It would be very difficult to lift a gigantic boulder or open
a can of paint with only your fingers. To make these jobs
easier, we use a simple machine called a lever. A is a
straight rod or board that turns around a fixed point. A lever
makes work easier by making a load easier to lift.
Levers require three things to do work:
effort force: the force you apply to the lever
load: the object you want to move
[FUL-kruhm]: the fixed point on which the
lever turns
fulcrum
lever
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Levers
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As you read about
each class of lever, ask
yourself how it makes
work easier and how it is
different from the other
two classes of levers.
There are three different classes of levers. Each class of
lever is used to do a different type of work and provides a
different mechanical advantage.
Effort force
Fulcrum
Load
A lever
Lifting a load without a lever is much harder work than lifting a
load with a lever.
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Class of lever Mechanical advantage Example
first-class lever seesaw A first-class lever gives you
a mechanical advantage by
changing the direction of the
force you use.
When you use effort force to
push or pull in one direction, the
load travels in the other
direction.
second-class lever bottle opener A second-class lever gives you
a mechanical advantage by
allowing you to use less effort
force to lift an object. With a
second-class lever, the direction
of the effort force and the load
remains the same.
When you use effort force in
one direction, the load travels in
the same direction.
Load between effort
and fulcrum
third-class lever fishing rod A third-class lever gives you
a mechanical advantage by
increasing the speed and
distance you are able to move
the load. The direction of the
effort force and the load remains
the same.
When you use effort force in
one direction, the load travels in
the same direction.
Effort between load
and fulcrum
Load
Effort force
Fulcrum
Load
Effort
force
Fulcrum
Load
Effort force
Fulcrum
Fulcrum between load
and effort
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1. What class of lever is shown in each picture?
2. Describe the mechanical advantages that levers can give you.
Sometimes two levers work together. A nutcracker is an
example of two second-class levers. Scissors are an example
of two first-class levers. Can you think of two other examples
of levers working together?
Build and Use Levers
Skills Focus: observing, measuring, inferring, communicating
1. Use a spring scale to measure the force required to lift an
object, such as a small block.
2. Using a ruler and a marker, create a first-class, second-class,
or third-class lever. Use your lever to lift your object.
For the first-class lever, place the fulcrum midway between
the load (the object you are lifting) and the spring scale.
Use the spring scale to pull down on the lever.
For the second-class lever, place the load midway
between the fulcrum and the spring scale.
For the third-class lever, place the spring scale midway
between the load and the fulcrum. You will have to
hold the fulcrum in place.
3. Compare the effort force of lifting the object using your lever with the effort
force of lifting the object not using your lever. How much effort was saved?
4. Experiment with the amount of space between the load, fulcrum, and spring
scale for each lever. How can you use the least effort for each lever?
5. As a class, compare the mechanical advantage of each lever. You must be
able to describe and name the type of lever you built.
Effort
force
Grooved
wheel
Load
A is a rope or chain that is wrapped
around a grooved wheel. When the rope or
chain is pulled, the wheel turns. Pulleys
make it easier to lift objects.
There are three different types
of pulleys: fixed pulleys, movable
pulleys, and combined pulleys.
Fixed Pulleys
A fixed pulley has the wheel attached to the ceiling or to
another object that does not move. Since the pulley does
not move, it is called a fixed pulley.
pulley
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Pulleys
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A fixed pulley gives you a mechanical advantage because
you change the direction of your effort force. When you
pull down on the rope, the load goes up. This is very useful
when you are trying to lift a heavy object. If you are trying
to lift a sofa, pulling down on the rope is easier than lifting
the sofa with your hands. However, with only one pulley,
you still use the same amount of effort force you would
have used without the pulley. You also have to pull the rope
the same distance that the object is lifted. To lift the sofa
1 m, you must pull down 1 m of rope.
Effort force
Load
Sofa moves up
A pulley is a simple
machine that makes
lifting easier.
A fixed pulley
Load
Load moves up
Effort force
Movable Pulleys
When you attach a pulley to a load you are trying to lift, you
create a movable pulley. You attach one end of the rope to the
ceiling and pull the other end. The pulley moves when the load
is lifted. A movable pulley requires less effort force to lift the
load because some of the load is supported by the ceiling.
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There are disadvantages to a movable pulley. When you use
a movable pulley, you pull in the same direction as the load
being lifted. As well, you have to use the effort force for twice
the distance. To lift the load 1 m, you have to pull 2 m of rope.
Combined Pulleys
Fixed and movable pulleys can be combined. A combined
pulley is also called a block and tackle. When you combine
pulleys, you combine their mechanical advantage. A combined
pulley allows you to change the direction and to use less effort
force. The fixed pulley allows the load to move in the opposite
direction of the effort force. The movable pulley reduces the
effort force needed to move the load because half of the load
is supported by the ceiling.
Effort force
Load
Load moves up
A movable pulley
A combined pulley
Look at the three
diagrams of pulley
systems. Ask yourself,
"How are they
different? How are
they the same?"
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2. In your notebook, make a table like the one below. Complete
the table to show what you have learned about pulleys.
Hint: You will leave one box empty!
A B C
1. What kind of pulley is being shown in each picture: fixed,
movable, or combined?
Measure the Effort Force
Skills Focus: measuring
1. Use a spring scale to measure the effort force needed
to lift a can 10 cm.
2. Now measure the effort force required to lift the can
10 cm using a fixed pulley, a movable pulley, and a
combined pulley. For each type of pulley,
sketch the pulley system you built
record the effort force needed to lift the can
record the amount of string needed to lift the can
3. Compare the effort force of lifting the can using
each pulley with the effort force of lifting the can
not using a pulley. How much effort was saved by
using each pulley?
Type Sketch Mechanical Disadvantage
of pulley of pulley advantage of pulley
of pulley
An is a sloped surface, such as a ramp. It lets
you move something to a higher level more easily than you
could lift it. For example, moving a wagon filled with rocks
up an inclined plane is easier than lifting the wagon the same
distance. An inclined plane is different from other simple
machines because it does not move. Instead, an object is
moved on the inclined plane. Inclined planes that you may
have seen include stairs, wheelchair ramps, and ladders.
inclined plane
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Inclined Planes and Wedges
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Find the Easiest Route
Skills Focus: observing, inferring
500 m
A
B
These inclined planes allow you to use less effort force to move to
a higher level.
Inclined Planes
1. Look at the picture. The two
runners are of the same skill level
and travel at the same speed.
Which runner will get to the top
of the mountain first? Which
runner will travel the farthest?
2. Which route would you take?
Explain why.
Use an Ulu
Skills Focus: creating models, inferring, communicating
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An inclined plane gives you a mechanical advantage
because you use less effort force to raise an object. The less
sloped the inclined plane is, the less force you need to raise
the object. The disadvantage is that you must move the object
a greater distance. An inclined plane allows you to raise a
large load with little effort force, but you need to move the
load over a greater distance.
In the Try This activity, runner B would use less effort to
travel up the zigzag trail because the inclined planes are not
as steep. However, the zigzag trail is a greater distance than
the trail that goes straight up the mountain.
Wedges
1. The Inuit [IN-oo-eet] people of the Canadian Arctic have used ulus for more
than 1000 years. An ulu [OO-loo] is a cutting tool that has many uses, such
as removing the fur from animals or taking the skin off fish. Look carefully at
the shape of the ulu in the picture on the right. Notice the shape of the
blade and the way the handle is attached.
2. Use cardboard or Bristol board to create a model of an ulu. Hold your model
in your hand, and move it to see how it might be used to remove the fur
from an animal or the skin from a salmon. Show a partner how you think
this tool is used.
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The wedge was one of the earliest simple machines used.
The first wedges were rocks or sticks shaped into arrows or
spears. They were used to hunt and skin animals, and to dig
in the ground. Early peoples realized that when a rock or
stick was sharper, it worked better. They realized that
sharpening a wedge increased its mechanical advantage
because less effort force was needed to use it.
When you push down on a wedge to cut, the edge of the
wedge splits the object apart. A thin wedge needs less effort
force to cut than a thick wedge does.
The chisel that this carver is using is a wedge. The carver pushes
the wedge to separate the wood.
A is a simple machine with a thick end and a thin
end. Its pointed (thin) end is used to lift, hold, or push
objects apart. A wedge is similar to an inclined plane,
except the wedge usually moves to do work.
A wedge works when you push on its thickest part. This gives
you a mechanical advantage by changing the direction of your
force. Most wedges have a handle to make them easier to use.
An ulu is an example of a wedge with a handle. A chisel
[CHIZ-uhl] is another example of a wedge with a handle.
wedge
1. What is an inclined plane?
2. Is an inclined plane the same as other simple machines? Explain.
3. How does an inclined plane make work easier? What is the
disadvantage of an inclined plane?
4. Think of a wedge you use. Explain how it makes work easier.
5. Draw a picture to show how you would
improve this wedge.
Your front teeth act as
wedges when you bite
into food.
This wedge is used to stop a door from moving.
Types of Wedges
Most wedges are two inclined planes put together. These
wedges are used to split apart objects. The blade of an axe is
one example of this type of wedge. Your front teeth are another
example. They split food into pieces as you bite down.
Other wedges have only one inclined plane. These wedges
are used to lift objects or to stop objects from moving. A
doorstop is an example of this type of wedge. It is used to
keep a door from moving.
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Screws
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An Archimedes screw
Threads
Head
A screw is an inclined
plane that wraps around
a centre core.
Look around your classroom. What holds things, like your
desk or chair, together? Many objects are held together with
a simple machine called a screw. A is an inclined
plane that is wrapped around a central core to form a spiral.
As you turn the head of a screw, the screw moves down
into a block of wood. The screw acts like a wedge, pushing
the wood apart. When the threads of a screw are closer
together, you use less effort force to put the screw in the
wood because the length of the inclined plane is longer.
However, the increased length means that you must turn the
screw more times to drive it into the wood. This is the same
disadvantage that the inclined plane hasto use less effort
force, you need to move a greater distance.
Over 2000 years ago, a mathematician named Archimedes
invented a screw that could be used to lift water. The lower
end of the screw was placed in the water. As the screw was
turned, water was lifted up by the threads until it reached
the top, where it poured out.
screw
There are many examples of how a screw is used. A few
examples are shown below.
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1. Which of these objects is a screw? Explain your answer.
When you close the lid
on a pickle jar, you are
using a screw to attach
the lid to the jar.
If you take the cover off a pencil
sharpener, you will find two screws
that work together to grind away
your dull pencil.
Screws called propellers make
travelling through air easier.
A spiral staircase is a screw
that you can walk on to raise
yourself to a higher level.
2. What is the advantage of a screw? What is the disadvantage?
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Key Idea: Work is done when a
force makes an object move.
Vocabulary
work p. 33
effort force p. 34
Key Idea: Machines give us
a mechanical advantage
by changing the amount
or direction of force
needed to do work.
Key Idea: There are six simple machines: the lever, the
wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined plane, the
wedge, and the screw.
Vocabulary
lever p. 39
fulcrum p. 39
wheel p. 42
axle p. 42
pulley p. 45
inclined plane
p. 48
wedge p. 50
screw p. 52
Key Idea: A machine is anything that
makes work easier for us.
Vocabulary
simple machines
p. 36
Review Key Ideas and Vocabulary
Use the vocabulary words in your answers to the questions.
1. What does work mean in science? Explain whether work is
being done in each of the following situations.
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Visit the Quiz Centre at: [Link]
2. What is a machine? Explain whether each of the following
objects is a machine.
3. Describe three different examples of ways that a simple
machine changes the effect of an effort force.
4. Name each simple machine.
Give another example of each type of simple machine.
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Looking Back
You have learned
that machines give you a mechanical advantage by
changing the amount or direction of force needed to
do work
that there are six simple machines
In this activity, you will work in a group to find out which
simple machine, the lever, pulley, or inclined plane, is best
to help you lift a bag of marbles.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Build and Test a Simple Machine
1. Work in a group. Your teacher will assign your group a
lever, a pulley, or an inclined plane to build and test.
2. Create a table to record your observations.
3. Determine the effort force that is needed to lift a bag of
marbles to a height of 30 cm without a simple machine.
Record this in your notebook.
4. Build your simple machine.
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Choose the Best Machine
for the Job
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SIMPLE MACHINE
As you build and test your simple machine, make sure that you
show you are able to
use a spring scale correctly
experiment with variations of your simple machine
accurately record your observations
use appropriate scientific words
communicate clearly
5. Measure the effort force that is needed to lift the bag of
marbles to a height of 30 cm with your simple machine.
Record this in your notebook.
6. Experiment with variations of your simple machine. For
example, change the placement of the fulcrum when
you build a first-class lever.
7. Repeat step 5. Did the effort force change? If it did,
record the new measurement in your table. If it didnt,
write no change.
Evaluate
1. Compare your results with other groups results. Compare
the advantages and disadvantages of using a lever,
pulley, and inclined plane
the effort force required to lift the bag of marbles
the effort force saved
2. Which simple machine saved the greatest effort
forcethe lever, the pulley, or the inclined plane?
Communicate
1. Create a brochure promoting the best machine for
lifting heavy objects. In your brochure, be sure to
describe the advantages of using this machine to lift
an object
include how much effort force it saves
include how that machine can be used to do work
Simple machines can do amazing things. They can do even
more amazing things when two or more of them work together.
Look at the giant mining machine in this picture. This
machine is one of the largest machines in the world and it
does many kinds of work. The bucket wheel digs the soil. The
soil is moved along the machine on a rolling inclined plane
and then put into waiting trucks. What other simple machine
can you see in it?
In this chapter, you will learn how simple machines can
be combined. You will learn about the important jobs that
machines do in communities throughout British Columbia.
Then you will use your problem-solving skills to design and
build your own machine.
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Simple machines can
be combined to form
compound machines.
Compound machines
combine the mechanical
advantage of two or
more simple machines.
Simple and compound
machines are used in
our daily lives.
Simple machines can be combined to make work easier.
A machine that is made up of two or more simple machines
is called a A compound machine
combines the mechanical advantages of at least two simple
machines.
A shovel is an example of a compound machine. It is a
wedge and a lever combined. The edge of the shovel is the
wedge. It changes the amount of effort force needed to dig
in the snow. The sharper the wedge is, the more easily it can
dig. The shovel handle is a third-class lever. When you use a
shovel, the hand that holds the handle is the fulcrum and the
other hand provides the effort force. With a short movement
of your fulcrum hand, you can lift the load (the snow) a long
way in the direction of the effort force. Most of the machines
you use to do work are really combinations of more than one
simple machine.
compound machine.
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Compound Machines
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Wedge
Fulcrum
Load
Effort force
A shovel combines the mechanical advantage of a wedge and the
mechanical advantage of a lever.
Check your
understanding of
compound machines. In
your own words, explain
to a partner how a
shovel is an example of
a compound machine.
When you use a compound machine, you can change
either the size or the direction of the effort force you apply
to the machine. Some compound machines change both the
size and the direction of the effort force.
Common Compound Machines
Look at two compound machines you know wellscissors
and a can opener. The arms on the scissors are two levers
that cross each other. The blades are two wedges that work
together to cut. A screw is sometimes used to hold the
scissors together.
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The can opener is made of two levers, a wedge, a wheel and
axle system, and a screw. When you apply force to squeeze the
two levers, the wedge cuts into the can. The wheel and axle
system moves the wedge along the rim of the can. The screw
holds the pieces of the can opener together.
Scissors combine the
mechanical advantages of
three simple machines: a lever,
a wedge, and a screw.
A can opener is a compound
machine. Notice the two levers,
the wedge, the wheel and axle
system, and the screw.
Wedges
Levers
Levers
Wedge
Screw Wheel
and axle
Screw
Use the pictures to check
your understanding of
the paragraph above
them. Look at each
picture, then read each
caption until you are
sure you understand
what is described in
the caption.
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2. Why do we use compound machines? Name two compound
machines you use that aren't mentioned in this section.
Lever
Screw
Wheel
and axle
Pulley
Screws hold a bicycle
together. The wheels and
the pedals are both wheels
and axles. The handles and
the gear shift are levers.
Examine Compound Machines
Skills Focus: observing
1. Your teacher will provide several compound machines for you
to examine.
2. Work with a partner to identify the simple machines that
make up these compound machines.
Cars and bicycles are also compound machines, but the
simple machines in them may be hard to identify. If you look
really carefully at a car or bicycle,
you should be able to see
screws, levers, wheels
and axles, and other
simple machines.
1. Identify the simple
machines in this
compound machine.
As you have learned, there are several simple machines, such
as a pulley, an inclined plane, a lever, and a wheel and axle,
that can be used to lift a heavy load. Each of these simple
machines makes lifting easier by allowing you to use less effort
force, by increasing the distance over which the effort force is
used, or by changing the direction of your effort force.
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The Power of
Compound Machines
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When you use an inclined plane, you need less effort force to lift
an object but you have to use this force over a greater distance.
When you use a fixed pulley, you can change the direction of your
effort force by pulling down to lift an object.
Look carefully at the
three pictures in this
section and read the
captions. What are
the advantages and
disadvantages of each
method shown?
When an inclined plane and a fixed pulley are combined
into a compound machine, their mechanical advantages are
combined. You use less effort force pulling in one direction,
while the load moves along the inclined plane in another
direction. When wheels are added to the bottom of the object
being moved, the effort force is reduced even more.
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1. Identify the mechanical advantages you would have if you used
a compound machine that combined
a fixed pulley with a wheel and axle
a first class lever with a wedge
Combine Mechanical Advantages
Skills Focus: classifying
1. Think of a simple machine, such as an inclined plane, that
allows you to use less effort force by increasing the distance
the force moves through.
2. Think of another simple machine, such as a screw, that allows you
to use less effort force by changing the direction of the force.
3. Think of a way to link the two simple machines to form a
compound machine. Draw a picture of your compound
machine. Write a sentence explaining how the mechanical
advantages are combined.
When you use a
compound machine, you
combine the mechanical
advantages of two or
more simple machines.
Robots are very complex compound machines.
They are controlled by computer programs
that tell them how to move. Because robots
can be controlled, they can do work for us.
Robots come in many forms, depending on
the job they do.
NEL
Robots do different jobs. Many robots work in
factories. They have a hand that is a built-in
tool, such as a drill, screwdriver, or grasping
fingers. The hand is used to do a specific job.
Some robots are sent into space. For example,
the Canadarm on the space shuttle and the
Mars Rover are sent into space to help humans
learn about the solar system. Robots are also
sent to places that are too dangerous for
humans, such as inside a volcano. These robots
carry cameras and other instruments to collect
information. Robots are even used in medicine.
For example, robotic arms, with their careful and
accurate movements, are used with cameras to
help doctors perform very delicate operations.
Amazing Robots
64
Robots dont become tired or bored, so they
can do the same job all day.
This robot can walk down stairs and respond
to some human commands.
Robotic Arms
Many robots copy the movements of a human
arm. Your arm works as a third-class lever.
The bone in your lower arm is the lever. The joint
at your elbow is the fulcrum. The bicep muscle,
which is attached to your bone, controls the
effort. Your hand, and anything you might have
in it, is the load. When you want to lift your fork
to eat, your brain sends a message to contract
the bicep muscle on the bone. When the bicep
muscle contracts, it creates a force that pulls up
the bone to raise your fork. A robotic arm works
in a similar way. Instead of a brain, however, the
robots computer controls the arm. A robotic arm
can be made to lift, move, and hold objects.
NEL 65
Many people now have artificial arms that
can be controlled by their nervous system.
An artificial arm has a sensor that sends signals
to the brain. The brain then sends signals to the
muscles. Sensors on the muscles tell the arm
how to move. Understanding how the human
arm works has allowed scientists and doctors to
create artificial arms that give people freedom
and independence.
Both a human arm and a robotic arm work as
third-class levers.
Load
Fulcrum
With an artificial arm, this mountain biker is
able to control the movement of his bike when
riding down the trail.
Effort force
Since early times, people have found new ways to combine
simple machines in order to make work easier and faster.
Over time, compound machines have become much more
complex and powerful. Here are some of these changes to
compound machines.
NEL
66
Compound Machines
over Time
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Early horse-drawn ploughs used a simple
wedge and a lever to dig the ground.
Today, a tractor-pulled plough allows a farmer
in the Fraser Valley to do as much work in one day
as a team of farmers and horse-drawn ploughs
would have taken many days to complete.
An early method of travelling through the
water was the canoe. A cedar canoe moves
quickly through the water. The paddle acts as a
lever and the narrow bow as a wedge.
Today's power boats use a powerful propeller,
which is a screw connected to a wheel and axle.
They combine this with a gas-powered engine to
speed through the water.
NEL
67
1. In what ways have the machines that people use changed
over time?
In the early 1900s people had to work hard
to clear land and build roads with simple
hand tools such as picks, shovels, and rakes.
Today, large machines called graders are used
to help build roads. The large wheels of the
grader move easily over rough ground as the
blade, acting as a wedge, pushes layers of soil.
The operator in the cab of the grader moves a
lever to lift the blade or change its angle.
The earliest hammers were levers made from
rocks tied to wooden or bone handles. Later,
metal hammers were made by blacksmiths.
These hammers had a flat face for driving nails
and two wedges, called a claw, for pulling nails
out of wood.
Today, nail guns are replacing hammers. When
a worker pushes the trigger lever of a modern
nail gun, air within the nail gun drives the nail
into the wood. This is faster and needs a lot less
effort force than using a hammer does.
For more than 150 years, coal has been mined in the
Crowsnest Pass area of southeastern British Columbia.
The machines that are used to remove the coal from the
mountains have changed a lot over time.
Early Mining
Early mining machinery needed the physical strength of
people and animals to do work. Early miners in British
Columbia went deep into tunnels, carrying compound
machines such as shovels and pickaxes. The miners worked
in small, damp tunnels to dig the coal. Once the coal had
been dug, they moved it by hand to larger tunnels and then
shovelled it into wheeled carts. The wheeled carts were
pushed by hand or pulled out of the mine by horses. While
the wheeled carts provided a mechanical advantage over
moving the coal by hand, the work was slow and required a
lot of physical strength.
NEL
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Compound Machines
in Mining
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Machines used in the early days of mining in British Columbia depended on the physical strength
of the miners that worked with them.
Look at the headings on
these two pages. How
is the information about
mining organized? Why
did the writer choose to
present the information
in this way?
Mining Today
Mining coal in British Columbia is very different today.
Many mines are large open pits, rather than tunnels. Powerful
machines have replaced much of the physical effort that was
needed in the past. For example, the operator of a giant
backhoe uses a system of levers in the cab to make the power
shovel move. The arm on the backhoe is a third-class lever.
The attached shovel is used as a wedge to dig and then is
lifted up by a pulley to load the coal into the truck.
NEL
69
Mining at the Gibralter Mine, near Williams Lake, is done with
powerful machines. Coal is moved with less effort and greater speed
because of the mechanical advantages of compound machines such
as backhoes and dump trucks.
Conveyor Belts
Huge conveyor [kuhn-VEY-er] belts at processing plants
are used to move the coal. A conveyor belt moves the coal
through cleaning machines to remove the unwanted rock
from the coal. Once cleaned, the coal is moved by conveyor
belts to a dryer and then moved up into huge silos [SIE-lowz]
to be stored. The coal is transported by train to the coast,
where conveyor belts are used once again to load large ships.
A conveyor belt is a compound machine. It works by
combining the mechanical advantage of wheels and axles
with the mechanical advantage of a moving inclined plane.
NEL
70
At the Port of Vancouver,
gigantic conveyor belts load
the coal into a waiting ship.
Build a Conveyor Belt
Skills Focus: creating models
1. Make a conveyor belt using simple materials.
Think about how a wheel and axle and an
inclined plane can be combined. Can you think
of another simple machine that you could add
to make your conveyor belt operate?
Be very careful when using the hammer
and nails. Wear safety goggles while
building your machine.
NEL
71
Use of compound machines Then Now
to lift coal
to move coal
to load coal
1. Copy the following table into your notebook. Complete the
table to describe how compound machines were used and are
now used in mining.
Locate the information
you need to fill in this
table by rereading the
section and looking at
the photos.
2. Some mining in British Columbia is still done in tunnels.
Today, however, a powerful drill is used instead of a pickaxe.
What simple machines can you identify in this compound
machine?
Compound machines, such as the feller buncher, can cut
down trees faster and with less physical effort than the saws
and axes used by early loggers. Most feller bunchers have a
third-class lever arm, similar to the backhoe used in mining.
A logger in the cab uses hand levers to move the machines
arm into place, to turn on the saw that cuts down the tree,
and then to place the log into a waiting logging truck.
NEL
72
Compound Machines
in Forestry
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Driven on large
tracks, a feller buncher
surrounds a tree with its
massive jaws and then
makes a cut through the
trunk using a saw.
Early loggers in Vancouver created a platform by inserting
springboards into cuts in a tree. Then they used their sharpened
wedges, axes, and saws to cut down the tree.
Some forestry machines run on tracks, and others have
wheels. Tracks allow machines to move more easily over
rough ground. The machines have better grip in wet areas
than machines with wheels, and they move easily up and
down hills. The tracks reduce damage to the ground because
they carry the weight of a machine over a larger surface area.
Machines with wheels are able to move faster than machines
that run on tracks. As well, they are easier to move and able
to make tighter turns.
Once the logs are loaded into a truck, they are sent to
sawmills. There, giant cranes use a pulley system to move the
logs onto conveyor belts. The moving inclined planes move
the logs through machines that saw them into usable wood
called lumber. The lumber is then moved by train or truck
to be sold.
NEL
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1. Describe how machines used to harvest trees have changed
over time.
2. List two advantages of using machines with wheels. List two
advantages of using machines that run on tracks.
Large trucks are used to lift and move logs
around the sawmill.
Large trucks are used to transport the finished
lumber products.
H
ave you ever heard of the
Loch Ness monster? Did you
know that British Columbia has its
own creature, believed to live deep
down in Okanagan Lake?
The people of the Okanagan First
Nation have many stories and legends
about this creature, called Nhaaitk
[nuh-haw-aw-it-ck]. Nhaaitk means
snake of the lake in the Okanagan
language. Students at a school in the
Central Okanagan School District
learned about the legend of Nhaaitk,
or Ogopogo as it is more commonly
known, at the same time that they
learned about the techniques, tools,
and traditions of carving.
John Yeltatzie is a master Haida [HY-duh]
carver from Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte
Islands). He lives in the Okanagan
and works part time for the Central
Okanagan School District as an Artist in
Residence. Mr. Yeltatzie spends his time
teaching students at the school about the
importance of carving in the lives of First
Nations peoples. Carving is a way that
First Nations peoples, especially those on
the west coast of British Columbia, record
their history.
NEL
Carving Using Simple
and Compound Machines
74
Mr. Yeltatzie explains about Haida carving to
a group of students.
The carving of N'ha'a'itk
The students at the school worked
with Mr. Yeltatzie to create a carving of
Nhaaitk. Together, they chipped away
the wood from a yellow cedar pole.
Mr. Yeltatzie had an Okanagan Elder
come in to explain the legend of
Nhaaitk as the carving was being done.
The carving of Nhaaitk is now
on permanent display in the school.
The carving has a very beautiful face
and looks amazing, says Audrey Barr,
an Aboriginal Advocate at the school
where the carving took place. Aboriginal
Advocates provide support to Aboriginal
students and their families in the
school system.
Nhaaitk was carved in the traditional
Haida style. The Haida style is quite
detailed and difficult. The students at
the school worked very hard to learn the
different skills they needed.
Traditionally, Aboriginal carvers used
simple machines:
Stone axes were used to split the logs.
NEL 75
Stone adzes [ADZ-z] were used to
make the rough shape of the carving.
Today, Aboriginal carvers use metal
tools and modern compound machines
to create their artwork. The power saw
can be used to cut wood into pieces.
However, the traditions around carving
are as important now as they were
hundreds of years ago.
Knives were used to carve out the
details. The knives were made of
stone, bone, or shell, and came in
many different shapes and sizes. They
were made to fit the carvers hand.
An early stone axe
An early drill
An early knife
An early stone adze
Drills were used to make holes in the
wood. These holes could be used to
tie or hold different pieces together.
These types of early drills were
considered simple machines.
A fish wheel is an example of a machine that has been
used by Aboriginal peoples of British Columbia for many
generations. This traditional fishing method is still used
today because it is able to do the work quickly and easily.
NEL
76
Nisgaa Fish Wheel
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A fish wheel
uses the force of
moving water to
turn an axle.
Baskets attached
to the axle fill
with fish as the
wheel turns.
A fish wheel is a compound machine that uses the force
of moving water. The wheel sits on a floating structure in a
river where the moving water provides steady power to the
wheel. Four large baskets are attached to the axle, with one of
the baskets under the water. The pushing force of the moving
water makes the basket under the water move. This turns the
axle, which turns the wheel, causing another basket to enter
the water. The wheel continues to turn around and around
because of the pushing force of the water. Fish are caught in
the baskets as they swim with the current. They are lifted from
the water in the rising baskets, and then fall down an inclined
plane into a live pen located outside the floating fish wheel.
The Nass River is in
northern British
Columbia.
Skee
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Prince Rupert
New Aiyansh
Stewart
ALASKA
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
16
37
NEL
77
1. Sketch the Nisgaa fish wheel. Label all the simple machines
you can see.
2. How do you think the fish wheel has changed in the last
100 years?
3. What advantages does the fish wheel have over modern
fishing machines?
The Nisgaa [nis-gaa] fish wheel is a fishing machine that
works better than many modern fishing machines. It is a
gentle machine that prevents damage to fish that is normally
caused by hooks and nets on large fishing boats. The fish are
fresh because they are kept alive in the pens until ready for
processing. The fishers can select the fish they want to keep,
and then release young fish or types of fish they dont want
to keep.
The Nisgaa people also use the fish wheel to help them
understand salmon migration and fish populations in the
Nass River. Some of the fish are captured, measured,
tagged, and then released
back into the river to
continue their migration.
If tagged fish are recaptured
later, the information on the
tags is used to help scientists
understand how many
salmon survive and where
the salmon migrate. In this
way, the fish wheel is much
more than just a method of
collecting fish. It is an
important tool that provides
scientific information about
the number of salmon in
the Nass River.
Nisga'a fishers catching
salmon on the Nass River.
Use questions to check
your understanding of
each paragraph in this
section. Ask yourself,
How does a Nisga'a
fish wheel work? In
what ways is it better
than other fishing
methods? What else
is it used for?
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NEL
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Vocabulary
compound
machine p. 59
Key Idea: Simple and compound machines are used in our
daily lives.
Key Idea: Compound machines combine the mechanical
advantage of two or more simple machines.
Key Idea: Simple machines can be combined to form
compound machines.
Review Key Ideas and Vocabulary
Use the vocabulary words in your answers to the questions.
1. What is a compound machine? Is a pair of pliers a simple
machine or a compound machine? Explain your answer.
2. Use the picture below to explain why people use compound
machines instead of just simple machines.
NEL
79
Visit the Quiz Centre at: [Link]
3. Name two compound machines that you often use. Name at
least two simple machines in each machine you listed.
4. Name the simple machines in each compound
machine shown.
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Looking Back
You have learned
that simple machines can be combined to form
compound machines

how compound machines are used in our daily lives to

make jobs easier
In this activity, you will research how our use of machines
has changed over time.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Research the Use of Machines
1. Choose an activity in British Columbias history that
required the use of simple or compound machines.
NEL 80
How We Use Machines:
Then and Now
You can choose an activity of Aboriginal peoples or early
settlers in British Columbia. Think of machines that were
used to harvest resources, to transport people or things,
or to make work easier in some way. For example, you
might choose one of the following activities:
carving canoes
cutting down trees
raising totem poles
fishing
mining
transportation
preserving or preparing food
building homes
2. Use books or the Internet, or both, to find information
about the use of machines in the activity you chose.
Ask Aboriginal Elders or talk to local senior citizens
about what they remember from earlier times.
Communicate
1. Make a poster showing how the use of machines in the
activity you chose has changed over time. Use the
headings Then and Now on your poster. Under each
heading, draw or paste pictures that show the machines
being used. Write one paragraph below each picture to
describe how the simple or compound machine was
used in the past or is used now.
NEL 81
RESEARCH AND COMMUNICATE
As you research the use of machines in past and present
British Columbia, make sure that you show you are able to
use information from at least three resources
clearly identify the simple and compound machines used
describe how the machines were used in the activity you chose
use photographs or drawings to illustrate the machines used
communicate clearly with others
U
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NEL 82
Design a Compound Machine
Looking Back
In this unit, you have learned
how forces affect the way that objects move
that there are six simple machines

that simple machines can be combined to form

compound machines
In this activity, you will use your understanding of the
mechanical advantages of simple machines to design a
compound machine that will make an everyday household
task easier.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Plan
1. Choose a task for your compound machine to accomplish.
For example, your compound machine could
make a bed
open a window
lift something out of a drawer or off the floor
move an egg from the refrigerator to a frying pan
NEL 83
COMPOUND MACHINE
Your design should show that you are able to
identify a task that a compound machine can make easier
accurately identify simple machines
describe how each simple machine makes the task easier to
perform
show how compound machines are made up of simple machines
MARKETING BROCHURE
Your brochure should show that you are able to
communicate clearly with others
If you are using woodworking equipment, such as hammers,
nails, and screwdrivers, wear safety goggles and ask an adult
to supervise.
3. Explain your machine to at least one other classmate.
Ask for feedback and make necessary changes and
improvements to your machine based on the feedback.
Communicate
1. Create a marketing brochure for your machine. Include
the task that your machine can perform
a detailed illustration of your machine in action
2. Think about what you have learned. Identify two or
more simple machines that could be combined to do the
task you chose.
Design
1. Draw a full-page sketch of your compound machine. Label
each simple machine you would use. Next to each label,
describe how the simple machine will make the task easier.
2. If possible, build your compound machine or a model of
your compound machine. Then test how it works.
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NEL
84
Your body takes in
nutrients and oxygen
to keep you alive.
Your heart and blood
carry nutrients and
oxygen to your cells.
Your bones, muscles,
and skin support and
protect your body.
Your nervous system
controls all your other
body systems.
The human body is an amazing machine. It may look
simple from the outsidetwo arms, two legs, and a head,
all attached to a body. However, the human body is actually
made of millions of tiny parts that work together to make
everything you do possible, from scratching your nose to
doing a karate side thrust kick. How does it do all these
things?
In this unit, you will discover how the parts of your body
are organized into systems and learn about the important jobs
that each system does. You will discover how your body takes
in food, water, and oxygen and sends them to every part of
your body. You will learn how your bodys bones and muscles
make it possible for you to move. You will also learn how your
brain acts as a control centre, making sure that all the systems
in your body work together to keep you alive and healthy.
NEL
85
Classify Body Parts
Skills Focus: classifying
1. With a partner, make a list of all the parts of your body that
you know about. Think about the parts you can see, as well as
the parts you cannot see.
2. On a large sheet of paper, classify your body parts into groups.
For example, you might group your body parts according to
the jobs they do in your body or their locations in your body.
Give each group a title.
3. Compare your groups of body parts with other students groups
of body parts. How are they the same? How are they different?
Your body is made up of many systems that work together to keep
you healthy and active.
Like all living things, you need energy to stay alive. You need
energy to move, grow, and do all the things you do every
dayfrom sleeping and reading to running and catching.
Where does this energy come from? Where does your body
get the energy it needs to keep working 24 hours a day?
In this chapter, you will learn how your body takes in
the water, food, and oxygen it needs through its digestive
[die-JES-tihv] and respiratory [RES-puhr-uh-TOR-ee] systems.
You will learn why you need these things to grow and be active.
NEL
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Your body is made of
different systems, and
each of these systems
has a job to do.
Your digestive system
breaks down food into
nutrients.
Your respiratory system
takes in oxygen that
your body uses to get
energy from nutrients.
1. How are cells, tissues, organs, and systems related to each other?
Did you know that your body is made of many systems? Each
body system is made of parts that work together to do a job.
The diagram below explains the jobs of the parts of your body.
It also shows how these body parts are organized into systems.
NEL
87
What Is a Body System?
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Stomach
4. Systems
Your organs work together in body systems. Each
body system has one main job to do to help you
stay alive and healthy. Your stomach is one of the
organs in your digestive system.
3. Organs
Different groups of tissues form the organs in your
body. An organ carries out one or more jobs in your
body. Your stomach is an organ. Muscle tissue is one
of the tissues in your stomach.
Digestive system
1. Cells
Cells are the smallest parts of your body. Your body
is made of billions and billions of cells. Many cells
have special jobs. A muscle cell is one type of cell
that has a special job.
Muscle cell
2. Tissues
Most cells form groups. These groups are called
tissues. All the cells in a tissue are similar in shape
and do a similar job in your body. Muscle cells
form muscle tissue. Muscle tissue
Cells, tissues, and organs in each body system work together
so that your body works properly.
Think about how the
information in each
box relates to the
information in the next
box. To check your
understanding, describe
the relationship
between each pair
of boxes to a partner.
Your digestive system has the important job of processing
food so that your body can use it. This processing of food is
called [die-JES-chuhn].
During digestion, the food you eat is broken down into
smaller and smaller pieces. At the end of digestion, the cells
in your body get the nutrients [NOO-tree-uhnts] they need.
are materials that your body needs to stay alive
and grow. The cells in your body also need water. They get
water from the liquids you drink and from some of the food
you eat. Most fruits and vegetables have a lot of water in them.
Your digestive system has organs that work together to
keep digestion going from the time food enters your mouth
until the time nutrients from the food enter your cells.
Nutrients
digestion
NEL
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Your Digestive System
and How It Works
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Your body takes in
food and digests it to
keep you alive.
Digestion changes
the food you eat into
nutrients that your body
cells can use.
Digesting an Apple
How does each organ in your digestive system help your
body get the nutrients it needs from food? Lets follow an
apple on its path through the digestive system to find out.
NEL
89
1. The mouth is the beginning of
the digestive system. Its job is
to break down food so it can be
swallowed. Your teeth bite and
chew food until it is mushy.
Your tongue moves the food
around and mixes it with
saliva [suh-LIE-vuh] to make
it easier to swallow.
5. When the nutrients have
passed into the cells, there
are wastes left over. These go
to your large intestine. The
large intestine is another
tube, but it is much wider
and shorter than the small
intestine. The first part of
the large intestine is called
the colon [KOH-luhn]. The
colon squeezes most of the
water out of the wastes.
This water is put back into
your body. The solid wastes
that are left exit your body
through the lower part of
the large intestine, called
the rectum.
2. As you swallow, the mixture of
food and saliva moves down the
esophagus [ih-SAWF-uh-guhs].
The esophagus is a long tube
that runs from your mouth to
your stomach. The esophagus
uses muscles to squeeze the
food so that it moves down to
the stomach.
3. The stomach is a pear-
shaped organ at the end
of the esophagus. It gets
bigger when it is filled
with food. Strong chemical
juices in the stomach break
down the food even more.
The stomach also mixes
the food. By the time the
food mixture leaves your
stomach, it is a thin,
watery liquid.
4. The liquid food mixture moves from your stomach into
the small intestine [in-TES-tin]. The small intestine is a
long, thin tube that winds back and forth. Chemical juices
flow into the small intestine to help break down food
even more. Some of these chemical juices come from the
pancreas [PAN-kree-uhs], and some come from the liver.
The liver is an organ that helps break down the fats in
food. By the time the liquid reaches the end of the small
intestine, it has been broken down into nutrients. These
nutrients, along with water, are passed into cells in the
wall of the small intestine.
Mouth
Esophagus
Stomach
Pancreas
Small intestine
Liver
Large intestine
Colon
Read the labels to
find the organs of the
digestive system. Then
read about the jobs of
the organs in order
starting with 1.
1. Complete the following table by describing the jobs of each part
of your digestive system when you eat an apple.
2. Food stays in your stomach for 2 to 3 hours and in your small
intestine for about 3 hours. Why do you think food stays in each
organ so long?
Part of digestive system Job
mouth
esophagus
stomach
small intestine
pancreas
liver
large intestine
NEL
90
Your digestive system
uses a chemical called
hydrochloric [HI-druh-
KLOR-ik] acid to help
break down food.
Hydrochloric acid is so
strong that it can
dissolve paint. Besides
helping your body
break down food, it
kills some bacteria that
could make you sick.
Make a Model of the Digestive System
Skills Focus: creating models, measuring, inferring
1. Work with a group. Write the names of the following parts
of the digestive system on index cards: mouth, esophagus,
stomach, small intestine, large intestine.
2. Measure 9 m of string. Tape the string on your classroom floor
or along a wall.
3. Beginning with the mouth, measure and mark the length of
each organ listed below on the string, one after the other.
Tape each index card above the correct section on the string.
mouth: 8 cm small intestine: 7.0 m
esophagus: 26 cm large intestine: 1.5 m
stomach: 16 cm
4. You have just made a model that shows the average length of
the digestive system in an adult. Do you think your digestive
system is the same length? Why or why not?
Birds
Did you know that birds do not have any teeth?
They cant chew to start breaking down food.
Instead, they swallow small stones to help
them digest their food. The stones go into the
gizzard, where they help to break down food.
Snakes
Most snakes have a very long esophagus.
In some snakes, the esophagus can be almost
half the length of the body when stretched
out! The esophagus has many folds on the
inside. These folds allow the esophagus to
expand, which helps a snake swallow its prey
whole. The muscles in the esophagus push the
food down, toward the stomach.
Cows
Grass is very hard to digest, so cows have
four stomachs! Each stomach plays a role in
helping cows digest their food. Cows spit up
food from their first stomach and chew it
again to help them digest it. This is called
ruminating [ROO-muh-NAYT-ing]. Most cows
spend about 6 to 8 hours a day ruminating to
digest and then use their food! Sheep, goats,
and deer also have four stomachs.
NEL 91
Not All Digestive Systems Are the Same!
gizzard
stomachs
esophagus
Your body needs nutrients and water to stay alive and healthy.
You also need one more thingoxygen. Without oxygen, you
could only survive for a few minutes. is a gas that is
found in the air you breathe. Just as a fire cannot burn without
oxygen, your cells cannot burn the fuel from the food you
eat without oxygen. Your body needs oxygen to release the
energy from the nutrients in your cells. Without oxygen, these
nutrients would not release energy, and all the systems in your
body would shut down.
How does your body get oxygen? This is the job of the
respiratory system. The main organs of the respiratory
system are the mouth, nose, trachea [TRAY-kee-uh], and
lungs. Lets see how these organs work to bring oxygen to
your cells.
Oxygen
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Your Respiratory System
and How It Works
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The air you breathe provides you with the oxygen you need.
As you read, connect
what you learn to your
own life. Ask yourself,
"How does oxygen help
keep me healthy?"
You breathe in air through your nose or your mouth.
Breathing in is called inhaling. The air travels down your
throat to a tube called the The trachea is also
called the windpipe. There is a flap over the trachea. This
flap opens when you are breathing in so air can go down to
your lungs. It closes if you are drinking or eating so that
food or liquid does not go down the trachea.
The bottom of the trachea divides into two branches.
Each branch goes into a lung. A is a spongy organ
in your chest that sits inside your ribs. You have two lungs.
The branch in each lung divides into smaller and smaller
branches. At the end of these branches are tiny clusters of
air sacs. It is here that the oxygen in the air is picked up and
carried to all the cells in your body by your blood.
Just below your lungs is a muscle called the diaphragm
[DIE-uh-FRAHM]. This muscle moves up and down to help
you breathe.
lung
trachea.
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Nose
Mouth
Trachea
Rib cage
Diaphragm
Lungs
Your respiratory system brings oxygen to the cells in your body.
As you read, use your
finger to trace the parts
of the respiratory
system on the diagram.
Getting Rid of Wastes
Your respiratory system has another job to do. Oxygen works
with the nutrients in your cells to produce energy. Producing
energy also produces water and carbon dioxide.
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Water is very important to the cells in your body.
Sometimes, however, your cells dont need all the water in
your body. The water that is left over needs to be removed
as waste. Some of the waste water is in the air you breathe
out. This is why your breath is moist.
Cells use oxygen and nutrients to produce energy. Water and carbon dioxide are also produced.
[KAR-buhn die-AWK-side] is a gas. It is
harmful to your body, so your body must remove it quickly.
Your blood picks up the carbon dioxide and takes it to your
lungs. You get rid of it when you breathe out. Breathing out
is called exhaling.
Carbon dioxide
What happens when
you breathe on a mirror?
What does this show you
about your breath?
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Breathing in
Rib cage
expands
Diaphragm contracts and moves down Diaphragm relaxes and moves up
Rib cage
gets smaller
Breathing out
Inhaling Exhaling
1. Why does your body need oxygen? How does your body get
this oxygen?
2. List two ways in which the air you breathe in is different from
the air you breathe out.
3. Describe how air gets into and out of your body.
How You Breathe
The diaphragm helps the air move in and out of your lungs.
When you breathe in, the diaphragm contracts and moves
down. Muscles are attached to the ribs. These muscles lift
your rib cage so it expands. When the rib cage expands,
air enters the lungs. When you breathe out, the diaphragm
relaxes and moves up. The muscles attached to your ribs also
relax. When the rib cage gets smaller, air leaves the lungs.
When you don't
understand a word, you
can often figure it out
by reading the words
around it. Read this
paragraph. What do
you think the word
"contract" means?
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Key Idea: Your body is made of different systems, and each
of these systems has a job to do.
Vocabulary
cells p. 87
organs p. 87
Key Idea: Your digestive system breaks down food into
nutrients.
Vocabulary
digestion p. 88
nutrients p. 88
esophagus p. 89
stomach p. 89
small intestine
p. 89
liver p. 89
large intestine
p. 89
colon p. 89
Cell Tissue Organ System
Digestive system
Review Key Ideas and Vocabulary
Use the vocabulary words in your answers to the questions.
1. What three things make up every body system?
2. How are your respiratory and digestive systems related?
Could you live with only one of these systems? Why or
why not?
3. Explain how digestion happens in your mouth, stomach,
and small intestine. You can use a table or a diagram in
your answer.
4. Use each of the following words in a separate sentence:
oxygen, carbon dioxide, water, lungs. Each sentence
should explain the role of the substance or organ in
your respiratory system.
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Key Idea: Your respiratory system takes in oxygen that your
body uses to get energy from nutrients.
Vocabulary
oxygen p. 92
trachea p. 93
lung p. 93
carbon dioxide
p. 94
Visit the Quiz Centre at: [Link]
Respiratory system
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Looking Back
You have learned

that your body needs both nutrients and oxygen to survive

how your digestive system breaks down food into nutrients
how your respiratory system takes in the oxygen your
body needs to get energy from nutrients
In this activity, you will research how you can keep your
digestive and respiratory systems healthy, so they can do
their jobs. You will choose one of the ideas you researched
to make a poster about staying healthy.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Plan and Make a Poster
1. Do research to find out how you can keep your digestive
and respiratory systems healthy. Use different types of
sources, such as books, magazines, videotapes, people,
and the Internet.
NEL 98
Make a Good Health Poster
NEL 99
POSTER
As you plan and make your poster, make sure that you show
you are able to
explain the role of your digestive or respiratory system in
keeping you healthy
use appropriate scientific words
communicate clearly in words and pictures
2. Choose an idea for your poster. Here are three ideas:
Your body needs a variety of nutrients to stay healthy.
The best way to get all these nutrients is to follow
Canadas Food Guide to Healthy Eating. The Food Guide
tells you the amount of food you need every day from
each food group, depending on your age, activity level,
and body size. If you follow the Food Guide, you will
have a balanced diet. How could you convince people
to follow the Food Guide?
Your body needs healthy lungs. Smoking causes lung
cancer and other diseases of the respiratory system.
How could you educate people about the dangers of
smoking?
Exercise is a good way to keep your body healthy.
Exercising on a regular basis allows your body to take
in more oxygen. How could you encourage people to
exercise?
3. When you have decided on an idea for your poster, think
about how you could present the idea in words. Could
you use your scientific knowledge to write a catchy saying
or a short rhyme?
4. Brainstorm pictures you could find or draw for your poster.
Your pictures should add to the message of your poster.
Remember to ask your teachers or parents permission
before cutting out any pictures from magazines.
5. Complete your poster, and display it for others to see.
Put your hand over your heart. Can you feel your heart
beating? If you are sitting quietly in a chair, your heart may
be beating so softly that you feel no heartbeat at all. Now
look at the photo. How hard do you think these runners'
hearts are beating? Why does your heart beat faster and
harder when you are active? Why does your heart beat at all?
In this chapter, you will learn how your heart and blood
keep you healthy. You will discover that your blood carries
everything your cells need to do their special jobs, such as
providing energy for running.
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Your heart is a pump
that pushes blood to
all parts of your body.
Blood carries oxygen
to your cells and takes
away carbon dioxide.
Blood carries nutrients
to your cells and takes
away wastes.
Your excretory system
removes wastes from
your blood.
Your circulatory system
interacts with other
body systems to keep
you healthy.
1. What are the main organs in the circulatory system?
2. How is your circulatory system like a transportation system?
Your body takes in nutrients and oxygen that your cells
need to stay alive and healthy. The job of carrying nutrients
and oxygen to all the cells in your body is done by your
circulatory [SUR-kyuh-luh-TOR-ee] system. Your circulatory
system is made up of your heart, blood vessels, and blood.
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Your Bodys
Transportation System
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Your circulatory system is
like a huge transportation
system. It moves nutrients and
oxygen to your cells and takes
away wastes produced by your
cells. It also defends your body
against diseases.
When you think of a heart, do you think of the heart shape
used on Valentines Day cards? Your heart doesnt look
anything like that.
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The Job of Your Heart
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As a rule, the bigger the animal, the slower its heart beats. A blue
whales heart, for example, beats about 7 times each minute. A
mouses heart, on the other hand, beats about 600 times a minute.
Your heart is about the size
of an adults fist.
Connect this
information to your own
body. Place your hand
over your heart to feel it
beating. Try to picture
your heart contracting
and then relaxing.
Your is a pump. Its job is to push your blood so that
your blood keeps moving through your body all the time.
Your heart pumps about 70 times each minute. It does
this every single minute, for your whole life. The pumping
is actually your heart contracting and then relaxing. When
your heart contracts, it tightens up. Each time it contracts,
it pushes blood. This is called a heartbeat. You can feel your
heartbeat by feeling your Each time your heart
contracts, it produces a pulse. So you can measure the
number of times your heart beats by feeling your pulse.
pulse.
heart
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Work Like Your Heart
Skills Focus: observing, measuring, inferring
1. Work with a partner. Hold a soft ball, such as a rubber ball, in
one of your hands. Imagine that it is your heart.
2. Squeeze the ball tightly, and then relax your hand. This is one
heartbeat. Do this as many times as you can in a minute.
Count the number of times. Your partner will tell you when a
minute is up.
3. Change roles, and have your partner squeeze the ball.
4. How many times were you able to squeeze the ball? How
many times does your heart contract in a minute? Can you
squeeze the ball as quickly as your heart contracts? Try it.
5. Does your heart work hard? How do you know?
How Your Heart Works
Your heart has a right side and a left side. The right side of
your heart receives blood from your body. The blood is
carrying a lot of carbon dioxide. Your heart sends the blood
to your lungs. In your lungs, the blood gives up the carbon
dioxide it is carrying and picks up oxygen. The blood now
goes into the left side of your heart and is pumped out to
the rest of your body. The blood delivers the oxygen to your
cells and picks up carbon dioxide. Then it returns to the
right side of your heart.
Examine this diagram to see the path of blood as it moves
through your body.
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BODY CELLS
HEART
Blood with
carbon dioxide Blood with
oxygen
Left side Right side
Carbon
dioxide
Oxygen
Blood with
carbon dioxide
Blood with
oxygen
LUNGS
6.
5.
2.
1.
4.
3.
1. Blood with carbon dioxide goes into the right side of your heart.
2. Your heart pumps the blood with carbon dioxide to your lungs.
3. Your lungs exhale the carbon dioxide and inhale oxygen.
4. Blood with oxygen goes from your lungs to the left side of
your heart.
5. Your heart pumps the blood with oxygen throughout your body.
6. The cells in your body take the oxygen from the blood and put
carbon dioxide into the blood.
Read the diagram with
a partner. Look at the
arrows to note that the
blue arrows show blood
with carbon dioxide, and
the red arrows show
blood with oxygen.
Point to the numbers
on the diagrams in
order from 1 to 6 as
your partner reads the
matching sentence
aloud. Then check your
understanding by trying
to describe the path
of blood using the
diagram only.
How Your Blood Travels
How does your blood get to where its going? It travels
through blood vessels. are hollow tubes that
contain your blood. Your blood moves through your body in
these blood vessels. Two types of blood vessels are arteries
[AHR-tuh-REEZ] and veins [VAYNZ].
are thick blood vessels that carry blood away
from your heart. Almost all the blood they carry is full of
oxygen. This oxygen is passed into the cells of the body.
are blood vessels that carry blood back to the
heart. Almost all the blood they carry has very little oxygen,
but a lot of carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is passed
into the lungs, where it is exhaled.
Arteries and veins are connected to each other through
tiny blood vessels called capillaries [kuh-PILL-uh-reez].
Oxygen and nutrients are passed from the arteries, through
the capillaries, and into your body cells. Wastes, such as
carbon dioxide, are passed from your body cells, through
the capillaries, and into the veins.
Look at the diagram of the circulatory system on page 101.
The red blood vessels show blood that is carrying oxygen.
The blue blood vessels show blood that has little oxygen,
but a lot of carbon dioxide. Which of these blood vessels
are arteries? Which are veins?
Veins
Arteries
Blood vessels
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Capillaries
Artery
Vein
Blood
flow
Tiny capillaries connect
your veins and arteries.
1. What does your pulse tell you?
2. Where does the blood from the right side of your heart go?
What is this blood carrying?
3. Where does the blood from the left side of your heart go? What
is this blood carrying?
4. How are arteries and veins the same? How are they different?
You probably think of blood as a liquid. But blood is
actually made up of two parts: a liquid part and a solid part.
The liquid part, called plasma [PLAHZ-muh], is mostly
water. The solid part is made up of There are
three kinds of blood cells.
blood cells.
NEL
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Your Blood and What It Does
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White blood cells are
larger than red blood cells.
They protect your body
from harmful substances
that enter your body and
can make you sick.
Platelets are much smaller
than red blood cells. They form
a plug, called a clot, that stops
you from bleeding. White blood
cells and platelets make up a
small number of your blood
cells (1%).
Red blood cells carry oxygen
to all parts of your body. They
give your blood its red colour.
Red blood cells make up nearly
all of your blood cells (99%).
Look at the photos on
this page and read the
captions below each
one. Then try to describe
the three kinds of blood
cells and the job each
kind does.
The Job of Your Blood
Red blood cells pick up oxygen in your lungs. The oxygen
moves into each red blood cell through its cell membrane.
The cell is the outer part of the cell. It lets
needed materials enter the cell. It also lets wastes move out
of the cell. All the cells in your body have a cell membrane.
membrane
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1. What are the three kinds of blood cells that make up the solid part
of your blood? What is the main job of each kind of blood cell?
2. How do oxygen and carbon dioxide move into and out of cells?
3. What does your blood transport, besides oxygen and
carbon dioxide?
Carbon dioxide
Oxygen
Nutrients
Wastes
Red blood cells take oxygen to
your cells. Plasma carries nutrients
to your cells and takes away carbon
dioxide and wastes.
Each red blood cell then travels in the plasma to a cell
in your body, and passes oxygen to this cell. The body cell
passes some carbon dioxide into the red blood cell. Most
of the carbon dioxide is passed into the plasma. Your blood
continues on its way, taking the carbon dioxide back to the
lungs, where you breathe it out.
The plasma in your blood carries nutrients, including water,
from your digestive system to your body cells. The nutrients
pass into your body cells the same way that oxygen does.
As your body cells use the nutrients, they produce wastes.
The plasma carries away these wastes and passes them to
special organs that remove them from your body.
Your blood also carries messenger chemicals, called
hormones. Hormones carry many different kinds of messages
to different body systems. For example, when you see
something scary, a hormone makes your heart beat faster,
causes you to sweat, and makes your muscles contract. These
changes prepare your body to deal with the scary situation.
When the scary situation is over, your body returns to normal.
After you read each
paragraph on this
page, ask yourself
questions to check your
understanding: What
did I just read? What
did it mean? If the ideas
aren't clear to you,
reread the paragraph.
Design a procedure to test your prediction. A procedure
is a step-by-step description of how you will conduct your
experiment. It must be clear enough for someone else
to follow and do the same experiment.
Do not do the
exercising part of
this experiment if
you are not allowed
to participate in
gym class.
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SKILLS MENU
Questioning Measuring
Predicting Classifying
Designing
Inferring
Experiments
Interpreting
Fair Testing
Data
Observing Communicating
NEL
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Does Exercise Affect Your
Heart Rate?
Your heart rate is the number of times your heart beats in
one minute. You can measure your heart rate by counting
your pulse. Place two fingers of your right hand on the
inside of your left wrist. Press and move your fingers about
until you feel your pulse.
Work with a partner to design and carry out an experiment
to find out if your heart rate changes when you exercise.
Question
Does exercise affect your heart rate?
Prediction
Make a prediction about whether exercise will have an effect
on your heart rate. If you think it will have an effect, make a
prediction about the kind of effect it will have.
Materials
Decide what materials you will need for your experiment.
Check with your teacher to make sure that these materials
are safe for you to use.
Design Your Own Experiment Design Your Own Experiment
Before you begin this
experiment, review
Design Your Own
Experiment in the
Skills Handbook.
Data and Observations
Create a data table to record your observations. Record your
observations as you carry out your experiment.
Interpret Data and Observations
1. Did your heart rate change when you exercised?
How did it change?
2. Look back at your predictions. Did your results fully
support, partly support, or not support your predictions?
Write a conclusion for your experiment.
3. What happened to your heart rate after you stopped
exercising? Why do you think this happened?
Apply and Extend
1. What do you think would happen to your heart rate if
you exercised for twice as long? Make a prediction, and
then test your prediction to see if you were correct.
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Think about questions like these:
How will you measure heart rate?
Will you measure heart rate before exercising?
What type of exercise will you do? How long will
you exercise?
Will you measure heart rate after exercising?
How long after?
Will you do more than one trial?
Hand in your procedure, including any safety
precautions, to your teacher for approval.
1. What variable did you change in your experiment?
2. What variable did you measure?
Your body gets rid of wastes in many ways. Your blood takes
carbon dioxide to your lungs, where it is exhaled. Some
water is also exhaled. Your large intestine gets rid of solid
wastes that remain after digestion.
When your cells use oxygen to produce energy, they also
produce wastes. These wastes move from your cells to your
blood. Your body gets rid of these wastes in the following
two ways:
1. As sweat: The water that leaves your body through your
skin contains waste salts. This is why you can sometimes
taste salt on your skin after you have exercised.
2. Through your excretory [EK-skrih-TOR-ee] system: This
system is made up of two kidneys and a bladder.
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Getting Rid of Wastes
Through Your Blood
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Kidneys
Bladder
Read more slowly if you
find the ideas difficult
to understand. Reread
as many times as you
need to until you are
sure that you
understand the ideas.
Your excretory system includes two
kidneys and a bladder. These organs help
your body get rid of wastes.
Kidneys
Nutrients,
water
Urine
(water, wastes)
Filtering Your Blood
are organs that filter blood. About 180 L (litres)
of blood pass through your kidneys every day. Your kidneys
filter out the wastes from the blood. They return the
nutrients that your body needs and most of the water
back to the blood.
Some wastes and water form urine [YOOR-in]. Urine is
sent to the bladder. The is a balloon-like organ that
stretches to hold the urine until it is released from your body.
bladder
Kidneys
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1. How does your body get rid of wastes in your blood?
2. What substances do your kidneys leave in your blood? What
substances do they filter out?
3. How are your kidneys and the amount of water in your body
connected?
4. What would happen to your blood if your kidneys stopped
working?
Your excretory system
removes some substances
from your body and
recycles other substances.
Your kidneys have another important job. They help to
balance the amount of water in your body. You need just the
right amount of watertoo much or too little can be
dangerous. If you have too much water in your body, your
kidneys will put less water back into the blood and more
water in the urine. If you have too little water in your body,
your kidneys will put more water back into the blood and
less water in the urine.
You have now learned about the digestive, respiratory,
circulatory, and excretory systems. You have also learned
how these systems are connected. Here are four examples:

Your digestive system breaks down food into nutrients.

Your circulatory system carries these nutrients to all your
body cells.

Your respiratory system brings in oxygen. Your circulatory

system carries the oxygen to all your body cells.

Your circulatory system picks up carbon dioxide from

your body cells. Your respiratory system gets rid of the
carbon dioxide.

Your circulatory system picks up wastes from your body

cells. Your excretory system gets rid of the wastes.
Look at the diagram on the next page. Follow the arrows
to see how the four systems are connected.
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How Your Circulatory
System Interacts with
Other Body Systems
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Each system in your body has its own important job to do. But each
system also works with all the other systems to keep you healthy.
Wastes
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1. How is the digestive system connected to the circulatory system?
2. How is the respiratory system connected to the circulatory system?
3. How does the excretory system help the circulatory system
do its job?
Air in
Nutrients
Oxygen
Carbon
dioxide
Food
Respiratory System
Circulatory System
The circulatory system brings
oxygen and nutrients to all
the cells in the body and
carries away carbon dioxide
and wastes.
Excretory System
Digestive System
Air out
Wastes Wastes
To read the diagram,
follow the direction of
the arrows. Look at the
arrow at the top on the
left. Read the label.
What does this tell you?
Now look at the arrow
to the right and read the
label. What does this tell
you? Do the same for
the rest of the arrows.
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Vocabulary
heart p. 102
pulse p. 102
Key Idea: Blood carries nutrients to
your cells and takes away wastes.
Key Idea: Blood carries oxygen to your
cells and takes away carbon dioxide.
Vocabulary
blood vessels
p. 105
arteries p. 105
veins p. 105
blood cells p. 106
membrane p. 106
Vocabulary
kidneys p. 111
bladder p. 111
Excretory system
Nutrients
Wastes
Key Idea: Your excretory
system removes wastes
from your blood.
Circulatory system Human heart
Key Idea: Your heart is a
pump that pushes blood
to all parts of your body.
Review Key Ideas and Vocabulary
Use the vocabulary words in your answers to the questions.
1. How is your blood able to bring some materials to your cells
and remove other materials?
2. Explain what happens as your blood travels to and from your
heart. Include a labelled diagram with your explanation.
3. Describe how your kidneys and bladder get rid of wastes.
4. How do the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the
digestive system, and the excretory system work together?
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Visit the Quiz Centre at: [Link]
Air in
Nutrients
Oxygen
Carbon
dioxide
Food
Respiratory System
Circulatory
System
Excretory System
Air out
Wastes Wastes
Wastes
Key Idea: Your circulatory system interacts with other body
systems to keep you healthy.
Digestive System
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NEL 116
Write a Story about the Path of
Blood in the Body
Looking Back
You have learned
how your heart pumps blood throughout your body
how your blood carries oxygen and nutrients to your
cells and takes away carbon dioxide and other wastes
how blood passes through your excretory system, where
wastes are removed from your body
In this activity, you will create a picture book story
describing the path that blood takes as it travels in the body.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Plan a Picture Book
1. Work with a group to review the path that blood takes as
it travels through the lungs, heart, and body, and back to
the lungs. Make a list of the different parts of the body it
visits. Your list should
start with the blood leaving the lungs and heading for
the heart
describe the other parts of the body it visits
describe what it picks up and drops off at each
different part of the body
2. Plan a picture book story that describes the path of
blood to read to younger students. Your plan should
follow the list you made
describe what the blood does in each part of the body
explain what you will write on each page of your picture
book, and describe the pictures you will use
Create a Picture Book
1. Decide who will do the different tasks to create your
picture book. For example, will each person in the group
do one page of the book, or will some people do all the
writing and others do all the pictures?
2. Complete your picture book, and read it to students in
a lower grade.
NEL 117
PLAN
As you plan your picture book, make sure that you show you
are able to
accurately describe, in words and pictures, the path that blood
takes and what it does in each part of the body
use appropriate scientific words
communicate clearly and make decisions that everyone in the
group agrees with
CREATE
As you create your picture book, make sure that you show you
are able to
work cooperatively with other students by sharing tasks
Think of all the ways you move in a day. You lift your arm to
reach for something, you chew and swallow your food, you
bend over to tie your shoe. Maybe you run, swim, or throw a
ball. What makes it possible for you to move in so many
different ways?
In this chapter, you will discover how your bones and
muscles allow you to move. You will learn how your bones,
muscles, and skin protect and support all the other systems
in your body. You will also learn how your bones, muscles,
and skin help to keep you healthy.
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Your bones give your
body support and
shape, and protect
your organs.
Your bones and muscles
make it possible for
you to move.
Your skin covers and
protects your body.
Your bones, muscles,
and skin interact with
other body systems to
keep you healthy.
1. What makes your bones so important?
2. Why do we know bones are alive?
What would you look like if you didnt have any bones?
You would look like a blob on the floor! Your form
a skeleton [SKEL-uh-tuhn] that gives shape to your body and
supports it. Your skeleton also protects your internal organs,
such as your heart and your lungs.
Each bone is made of different groups of living cells.
Each cell takes in nutrients and sends out wastes, just like
every other cell in your body. Bones store minerals, such as
calcium [KAL-see-uhm], which help to keep them hard
and strong. This is why bones do not easily break. If they
do break, they can heal.
bones
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Your Bodys Framework
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Your skeleton is made of
bones, which give your body
its shape.
Skull
Spinal
column
Bones of
the leg
Bones of
the arm
Ribs
Each bone in your body does a different job for you. Your
skull, spinal column, and ribs, and the bones of your arms
and legs are different shapes because they do different jobs.
Your Skull
Your skull is important because it protects your brain, which
is very soft. It also gives your face its shape.
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Your Bones
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Your Spinal Column
Attached to the base of your skull is your spinal column.
Your spinal column is sometimes called your backbone. It is
made of bones that are stacked, one on top of each other.
Your spinal column supports your head and body. Muscles
are attached to the bones in your spinal column. Your spinal
column works with your muscles to let you move your head
and bend and twist your body.
Your spinal column lets
you bend over to do things
like touch your toes.
Your skull is made up of 28 bones. The largest bone is the bone
that surrounds your brain. Other bones form your face.
Preview the section
and read the headings.
What types of bones
will you be learning
about in this section?
Your Ribs
Your ribs are 12 pairs of flat bones that are shaped like a cage.
Your rib cage protects your heart and lungs. Your rib cage is
involved in breathing, as well. Muscles are attached to your
ribs. When you inhale, these muscles contract to lift your rib
cage so that your lungs can expand. When you exhale, your
rib cage muscles relax. Your rib cage gets smaller and the air
leaves your lungs.
The Bones in Your Arms and Legs
Each of your arms has one long bone that runs from the
shoulder to the elbow and two long bones that run from the
elbow to the wrist bones. Your hand bones are attached to
the wrist bones.
Each of your legs has one long bone that attaches to the hip
and goes to the knee. Two bones run from the knee to the
anklebones. Attached to the anklebones are your foot bones.
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1. Name four groups of bones. Explain what each group
of bones does.
Your ribs are shaped
like a cage, to protect
your heart and lungs.
The bones in the arms
and legs bend and move
so we can run, jump, and
move in many ways.
Your bones would not be able to move the way they do if you
didnt have joints. A joint is formed where two bones meet.
How Your Joints Work
Some joints, like most of the joints in your skull, allow little
or no movement. Other joints allow the bones to move. At
these movable joints, the bones are just far enough away
from each other to allow them to move. Movable joints are
found in many places in your body. How many can you find?
Can you find 10 20 50 100?
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How Your Bones Move
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[LIG-uh-muhnts] are strong, elastic groups of
cells that stretch and tighten, like rubber bands. They hold
the bones of the movable joints together.
Ligaments
Explore Your Movable Joints
Skills Focus: observing, communicating
1. Find five places in your body where there are movable joints.
Explore how these joints move.
2. In your notebook, make a table like the one below to record
your observations. An example has been done for you.
Movable Joints
Joint What is What two How does the
the joint bones meet joint move?
called? at the joint?
1 elbow upper arm bone back and forth;
and lower arm up and down
bone
2
The Role of Cartilage
Without protection, the bones at your joints would rub
together and wear away over time. This is why the ends of
these bones are covered by pads of cartilage [KAR-tuh-lihj].
is a layer of cells in a gel-like material. Cartilage
reduces friction between the ends of the bones at your joints.
It also acts like a cushion for your joints when you jump.
Cartilage
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1. Name two joints in your body that move in different ways.
Describe how they move.
2. How do ligaments help your skeleton and body move?
3. How does cartilage help when you are running and jumping?
4. What important role does bone marrow play in your body?
Muscle
Kneecap
Cartilage
Ligaments
Upper
leg bone
Lower
leg bones
Ligaments hold the
upper and lower leg
bones together at the
knee joint. A thin layer of
cartilage at the ends of
the bones stops the bones
from rubbing together.
Bone Marrow
Your bones have another very important job. The insides of
many bones contain marrow. Some of the marrow is red. The
red marrow produces the blood cells that make up a large
part of your blood. In children, large bones, such as your ribs
and the bones in your legs, make blood cells in their marrow.
You have cartilage in other
places, besides your bones.
Your ears and the end of your
nose are made of cartilage.
What would these structures
be like if they were made of
bone instead of cartilage?
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SKILLS MENU
Questioning Measuring
Predicting Classifying
Designing
Inferring
Experiments
Interpreting
Fair Testing
Data
Observing Communicating
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The Role of Calcium in Bones
Calcium from the food you eat settles in the outer parts of
your bones. Calcium helps to keep your bones hard and
strong. What would happen if the calcium left your bones
or if you didnt get enough calcium in your food?
In this investigation, you will use vinegar to eat away the
calcium in a bone. This will show what happens to bones
when calcium is removed.
Question
What happens to bones that lose calcium?
Prediction
Make a prediction about how bones change when calcium is
removed from them.
Materials
2 small chicken leg bones permanent marker
white vinegar masking tape
2 labelled jars triple beam balance
water in a plastic jug
Conduct an Investigation Conduct an Investigation
Step 1 Work with a partner. Copy the following table
into your notebook.
Make sure you wash
your hands with
soap and water
after handling the
chicken bones. Be
careful when using
glass containers.
Data Table for Investigation 6.4
Day Container 1 (bone 1) Container 2 (bone 2)
1
2
chicken bones
jars
permanent
marker
triple beam balance
vinegar
water
masking tape
Interpret Data and Observations
1. Use your observations and measurements to compare
the two bones. What happened to the bone in the
vinegar? What happened to the bone in the water?
2. Was your prediction correct?
Apply and Extend
1. What do think would happen if your bones did not get
enough calcium every day?
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Step 2 Your teacher will give you two
bones. Label them 1 and 2 with a
permanent marker. Try to bend the
bones to see how flexible they are.
Weigh the bones. Carefully examine
them. Write all your observations and
measurements in your table (day 1).
Step 3 Place bone 1 in container 1.
Add water until the bone is covered.
1. Why did you have a chicken bone in water in this investigation?
How did it help you understand what happens to a bone if
calcium is removed?
2. Was this investigation a fair test? Why or why not?
Step 4 Place bone 2 in container 2.
Add vinegar until the bone is covered.
Step 5 After one day, take the bones
out of the containers. Before
handling the bones in vinegar, empty
the vinegar into a sink and run fresh
water over the bones. Check for
flexibility and weigh the bones.
Record your observations and
measurements (day 2).
Step 6 Put fresh vinegar and water in
the two containers. Put the bones
back in the correct containers.
Step 7 Continue doing this for three
more days.
Your bones cannot move by themselves. They need muscles
[MUSS-uhlz] to make them move. In fact, muscles cause
every movement you make. are tissues that are
attached to bones. They are attached by strong, elastic bands
of cells called [TEN-duhnz]. Tendons are similar
to ligaments, but they attach muscles to bones instead of
bones to bones, like ligaments.
Muscles work by contracting. When they contract, they
pull on the bones they are attached to. When you want your
bones to move, your muscles will react to make this happen.
For example, if you want to kick a ball, one group of muscles
will contract to lift your foot, and another group of muscles
will bend your knee. Then other groups of muscles will
contract to straighten your leg and foot to kick the ball.
tendons
Muscles
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Your Muscular System
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You have over 600
muscles in your body.
Your muscles make up
nearly half of the mass
of your body.
Can you find the muscles the girl is using to kick the ball?
Voluntary Muscles
Some muscles, such as the muscles you use to kick a ball, do
their job because you want them to. These muscles are called
voluntary [VOL-uhn-TEHR-ee] muscles.
Voluntary muscles work in pairs to make your body move.
Put one of your arms straight out in front of you, with the
palm of your hand up. Bend your arm toward you, and feel
the muscle in the inside of your upper arm. This is your
bicep [BY-sehp] muscle. Now hold the back of your upper
arm above the elbow and straighten your arm. You will feel
your tricep [TRY-sehp] muscles. Bicep and tricep muscles
work together to bend and straighten your arm.
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Involuntary Muscles
There are many muscles that work without you thinking
about what is happening. These muscles are called
involuntary [in-VOL-uhn-TEHR-ee] muscles.
For example, you have muscles that move the food through
your digestive system. These muscles contract and relax slowly
to push the food along. Your heart is made of a special type of
involuntary muscle. It will beat faster or slower automatically,
depending on what you are doing. Your diaphragm is also an
involuntary muscle. It controls your breathing.
To bend your arm at
your elbow, the bicep
muscle contracts and the
tricep muscles relax. To
straighten your arm, the
tricep muscles contract and
the bicep muscle relaxes.
Movement
Bicep muscle
contracts
Bicep muscle
relaxes
Tricep muscles relax
Tricep muscles
contract
Movement
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1. How do muscles move bones?
2. What are tendons? How are they the same as ligaments? How
are they different from ligaments?
3. What two types of muscles do you have? Which type do you use
when you throw a ball?
4. What happens to the muscles in your upper arm when you bend
your arm at the elbow?
Identify the Type of Muscle
Skills Focus: observing, inferring
1. Work with a partner. Look in a mirror for one minute. Have
your partner count the number of times your eyes close
automatically. Record the number.
2. Stare in the mirror for as long as you can without closing your
eyes. Have your partner time you. Record the time.
3. Switch roles with your partner.
4. Which type of muscles do your eyelids have? How do you
know?
5. Can you control some involuntary muscles? How do you
know?
6. Why is it important for some muscles to work automatically?
The human face has many small muscles.
When you frown, you use 34 muscles.
When you smile, you only use 13
muscles. It is much easier to smile than
to frown!
Look back through
the section to find
the answers to these
questions. Do not
guess. Even if you
remember the answer,
it is a good idea to go
back and check it.
I
magine a computer that could read
your mind. If you wanted to send an
e-mail, you wouldnt need a keyboard
and a mouse. You could just think
about what you wanted to say, and
the computer would take care of the
rest. This might sound like science
fiction, but it may be closer to reality
than you think.
Muscles can become paralyzed
[PEHR-uh-LIZD] because of an injury
or illness. When muscles are paralyzed,
they cannot move the part of the body
they are attached to. People who are
paralyzed are unable to move their legs
or arms, or both. Now scientists have a
new tool that may help these people do
some everyday things.
Scientists have implanted a tiny
computer chip into the brain of a man
named Matt who is paralyzed from his
neck down. The chip reads Matts
thoughts and sends them to a computer
through tiny wires that are attached to his
head. The computer then performs the
action that Matt thought about. For
example, if Matt wants to turn on a
television or change the channel, he
thinks the thought and the computer
sends the command to the television.
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Similarly, Matt can send his thoughts to a
robotic arm and make its hand open and
close. He can also move the robotic arm
and make it pick up and drop objects.
Computer Muscle
Scientists hope that a computer chip
can eventually be used to help people
who are paralyzed move again. They want
to find a way to send messages from a
computer chip in the brain to paralyzed
arms and legs so that people can move
them just by thinking about it.
This chimpanzee's thoughts are controlling
the robotic arm. Matt uses a similar arm.
A computer chip in Matt's brain lets him
send his thoughts to a computer to perform
the action.
It is not just your bones and muscles that support and
protect your body. Your skin also does this. Your is the
largest organ in your body. It provides you with a waterproof
cover, and holds all the systems in your body safely inside. As
well, it helps to prevent infections from entering your body.
Infections can enter your body if you have a cut or scrape on
your skin.
Your skin has different layers. The top layer is where new
skin cells are made. They are made at the bottom of the top
layer and move to the surface of your skin. By the time they
get to the surface, they are dead. Then they flake off. In fact,
you lose 30 000 to 40 000 dead skin cells every minute of every
day. By doing this, your skin is always replacing itself so that it
can protect you better.
skin
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Skin: Your Protective
Covering
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Did you know that your nails and your hair are part of
your skin? They grow from one of the lower layers. Both
your nails and your hair protect your body. Its easy to see
how your nails protect the ends of your fingers and toes, but
how does your hair protect you?
It is important to wash your skin to remove dead skin cells and dirt.
Top layer
of skin
Skin cells moving
to top layer of skin
Skin cells flaking off
You have hair on nearly every part of the outside of your
body. Some places that do not have hair are your lips, the
palms of your hands, and the soles of your feet. The hair on
your head helps to keep your head warm and protects your
skull, like a cushion. Your eyebrows protect your eyes from
sweat that could drip into them. Your eyelashes help to stop
things such as dust from getting in your eyes.
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You will grow about
15 m of fingernails in
your lifetime. You will
also grow about 1 km
of hair.
1. What are two important jobs of your skin?
2. How does your skin keep itself new? Why do you think this is
important?
Compare Fingerprints
Skills Focus: observing
Each person has unique skin patterns on their fingers called
fingerprints. Your fingerprints mark you as different from every
other person in the world. This is why fingerprints are used to
identify people.
1. Rub a pencil on a piece of paper until you have a dark
smudge, about 2 cm by 2 cm.
2. Rub the tip of your left index finger on the pencil smudge until
it is covered with the pencil lead.
3. Place a strip of clear tape over your fingertip lengthwise.
Press down gently on the tape.
4. Carefully remove the tape, and stick it on a piece of white paper.
5. Use a magnifying glass to examine your fingerprint.
Compare your fingerprint with other students fingerprints.
Are they all different?
Your skeleton protects your
organs, such as your brain.
Bones and muscles
help you breathe.
Your skin covers and protects
everything in your body.
Muscles make your
heart beat.
Bone marrow makes
blood cells for your blood.
Muscles help you swallow
and move food.
Your bones, muscles, and skin all have important jobs in
supporting, protecting, and moving your body.
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How Your Bones, Muscles,
and Skin Interact with Other
Body Systems
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Your other body systems help your bones, muscles, and
skin do their jobs.
Your digestive system provides the nutrients that the
cells in your bones, muscles, and skin need in order to
grow and repair themselves.
Your respiratory system provides oxygen to keep the cells
in your bones, muscles, and skin healthy and growing.
Your circulatory system carries nutrients and oxygen to
the cells in your bones, muscles, and skin. It also carries
wastes away from these cells.
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Digestive
system
Circulatory
system
Respiratory
system
Muscular
system
Skeletal
system
Skin
P
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1. Write the following words in circles on a page in your
notebook:
- digestive system
- respiratory system
- circulatory system
- muscular system
- skeletal system
- skin
Draw a line from the digestive system to any other circle it
is connected to. On the line, write how the two circles are
connected. Do the same for the other circles. You only need
to have one line from each circle, but you might want to
have more.
This page describes
how your digestive,
respiratory, and
circulatory systems help
your bones, muscles,
and skin do their jobs.
Before you read, write
three questions that
you should be able to
answer after reading.
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Vocabulary
bones p. 119
Key Idea: Your skin covers and
protects your body.
Vocabulary
skin p. 130
Key Idea: Your bones and muscles make it possible for you
to move.
Vocabulary
ligaments p. 122
cartilage p. 123
muscles p. 126
tendons p. 126
Key Idea: Your bones
give your body support
and shape, and protect
your organs.
Skeletal system Rib cage
Review Key Ideas and Vocabulary
Use the vocabulary words in your answers to the questions.
1. What are the jobs of the skeletal system?
2. How do the skeletal and muscular systems work together?
3. Where do you find cartilage in your body?
4. What is the difference between voluntary and involuntary
muscles?
5. Name one job that skin has. How does this job help your body?
6. Describe two ways that your skeletal system interacts with
your other body systems.
7. Describe two ways that your muscular system interacts with
your other body systems.
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Key Idea: Your bones, muscles, and skin interact with other
body systems to keep you healthy.
Visit the Quiz Centre at: [Link]
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Looking Back
You have learned
that some bones come together at movable joints
that bones at movable joints are attached to each other
with ligaments

that muscles are attached to bones with tendons

how your bones and muscles work together
In this activity, you will design and build a model of a leg to
show what you have learned about how your skeleton moves.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Design and Build a Model Leg
1. Work with a partner to design a model of a leg.
Your model leg should include
the upper leg the ankle joint

the knee joint

the foot (You do not have

the lower leg to include the toes.)
When your model leg is complete, you should be able
to move it to show how it could kick a ball.
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Design and Build a Model Leg
2. Draw a design for your model leg. Plan which materials
you will use for the bones, muscles, ligaments, and
tendons. For example, you could use cardboard, rubber
bands, art straws, string, tape, scissors, brass paper
fasteners, and a one-hole punch. You could also use
other materials that are available in your classroom or
your home, such as deflated balloons, paper tubes,
stuffed socks, straightened paper clips, corks, Styrofoam,
half a tennis ball, wood, plastic tubing, pipe cleaners,
craft sticks, and hinges.
Label your design to identify the materials you will use
and the parts of the leg.
3. Show your design to your teacher. Once you have your
teachers approval, build your model.
Communicate
1. Present your model to your class. Demonstrate how the
bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, and tendons work
together to kick a ball. In your demonstration, point out
each of these parts, and explain what each one is doing.
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MODEL LEG
As you design and build your model leg, make sure that you
show you are able to
model accurately the bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, and
tendons in a human leg
demonstrate how the bones and muscles in the leg and foot
work together to help you move
use scientific words correctly in your demonstration
work cooperatively with another student
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Your brain is the
control centre of
your body.
Nerves send messages
to and from your
brain to all parts of
your body.
Your sense organs
react to touch, smell,
taste, sight, and sound.
Your nervous system
is connected to all
the other systems in
your body.
Hockey players have a lot to think about. As they race
around the rink on skates, they have to keep track of every
movement and sound around them. They have to decide,
in a split second, what to do next.
Like a hockey player, you are taking in information and
reacting to it all the time. You hear your name, and you
turn toward the sound. You trip and put your arms out to
stop yourself. What is making you react the way you do to
these things?
In this chapter, you will learn about the system that
controls everything in your bodyyour nervous system.
You will discover how this system receives and sends
messages throughout your body, allowing you to react
to the world around you.
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The Parts of Your
Nervous System
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Your nervous system is made up of billions of specialized cells
called The main job of a nerve cell is to receive
messages and then send the messages to other cells. Nerve
cells form bundles called Messages are received and
sent from nerve cell to nerve cell along a nerve.
nerves.
nerve cells.
Check for understanding
as you read. After you
read about each
vocabulary word in this
section, explain the
meaning of each word
to a partner.
Your nerve cells pass messages along a nerve.
Your is located inside your skull. It is made from
nerve cells, as well. You can think of your brain as the control
centre of your body. It receives messages from all parts of
your body and sends out messages in return. Your brain is the
main organ in your nervous system, but it cannot work alone.
It needs help to receive and send messages. It gets this help
from your nerves and spinal cord.
brain
Your is a long rod, made of many nerves.
It is located inside your spinal column. Your spinal column
protects your spinal cord. Your spinal cord is attached to the
base of your brain. It ends just before the bottom of your
spinal column.
spinal cord
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Sense organs
(skin, nose, tongue,
eyes, ears)
Spinal cord
Nerves to
spinal cord
Brain
Nerves into arm
Nerves into leg
Your nervous
system connects all
parts of your body
to your brain.
Look at the words in
brackets. How do they
relate to sense organs?
Explain to a partner
what the brackets mean.
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1. Name the four main parts of your nervous system.
2. Why is the brain the most important organ of your nervous
system?
3. Name your sense organs. What is their role in your nervous
system?
Look at the diagram of the nervous system on the
previous page. There are 31 pairs of nerves that branch off
the spinal cord. These nerves connect your brain with the
rest of your body. They run to your head, feet, hands, and
other parts of your body. As these nerves spread out, they
branch many times. This allows nerves to reach every part
of your bodyeven the smallest parts.
Your sense organs are also part of your nervous system.
Your gather information from outside your
body and send the information to your brain through
nerves. Your sense organs include your skin, nose, tongue,
eyes, and ears.
sense organs
Your spinal cord
helps carry messages
to and from the brain.
It is protected by the
spinal column.
Spinal cord Spinal column
Your brain contains about 100 billion nerve cells. It is shaped
like two clenched fists. It has a wrinkled appearance because
its surface has many folds. This photo, taken from above,
clearly shows these folds.
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The Brain:
Your Control Centre
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Your brain controls everything you do. Messages are sent
to your brain from every part of your body. Your brain takes
in all the information and decides what to do. Then your
brain sends a message back to the part of your body that
needs to react.
If you bite an apple, your brain will tell your mouth to
start digesting it. If you lose your balance, your brain will
tell your muscles and bones to move quickly to regain your
balance. Your brain controls how you react to everything
around you and inside you.
Your brain is the control centre of your whole body.
Your brain has three main parts. Look at the diagram
above. The part that is coloured grey is the largest part. It is
the part that receives messages from your sense organs. It is
the thinking and reasoning part of your brain, so it takes the
messages, thinks about them, and decides what to do. Your
memories are stored here. As well, this part of your brain
tells your muscles what to do.
The part of the brain that is red in the diagram keeps you
coordinated and balanced. It coordinates the movements of
your muscles, so they operate smoothly when you are walking
and running. It tells your body which arms and legs to move.
It helps your body keep its balance so that you do not fall over.
The part of the brain that is green in the diagram sits at the
base of the brain, at the top of the spinal cord. This is the part
of the brain that controls muscles for things like heart rate,
breathing, digestion, coughing, and sneezing. You dont think
about these things happening. They just happen because this
part of your brain is always working and keeping them going.
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Memory, muscle control, smelling,
tasting, seeing, and hearing
Muscles for breathing, sneezing,
coughing, and digestion
Coordination
and balance
Each of your brain's
three parts has its own
important jobs.
The diagram above uses
colour to show the main
parts of the brain. After
you read about each
part, find the colour on
the diagram and read the
label that goes with it.
Reflex Actions
Not all messages and reactions to messages travel through
your brain. Have you ever moved your hand away suddenly
from a hot object, or jumped at the sound of a loud,
unexpected noise? If so, you have experienced a reflex.
A is a response that occurs immediately and
automatically. Because you need to respond so quickly, the
message does not go to your brain. It only goes to your
spinal cord. Nerve cells in your spinal cord send a message
back to your body, telling your body how to react.
reflex
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5. The muscles in your hand contract
so you can pick up the glass.
1. Your eyes see the
glass of milk.
4. Your brain
sends a message
to the muscles
in your hand.
2. The message from your
eyes travels along nerves
to your brain.
3. Your brain thinks about the
message and decides that you
want to drink the milk.
A long chain of messages runs through your nervous system from
the moment you look at a glass of milk to the moment you pick it up
to drink.
The diagram below shows what might happen in your
body when you see and pick up a glass of milk. What part of
your brain do you use to do this?
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1. Why is your brain so important? What role does it play in
your body?
2. If someone is paralyzed from the waist down, what can you
infer about her or his spinal cord?
3. How would your body react if you accidentally touched
something very hot or very cold?
Observe a Reflex
Skills Focus: observing, interpreting data
1. Do this activity with a partner. Have your partner sit on a desk.
The desk must be high enough that your partners toes do not
touch the floor.
2. With the edge of your hand (the little finger side), give your
partners leg a quick, light tap, just below the kneecap.
3. Switch places with your partner, and repeat steps 1 and 2.
4. What happened to your partner when you tapped his or her
leg? Explain why this is an example of a reflex.
Do not tap your partners leg too hard. Be careful when
sitting on the desk.
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SKILLS MENU
Questioning Measuring
Predicting Classifying
Designing
Inferring
Experiments
Interpreting
Fair Testing
Data
Observing Communicating
Test Your Reaction Time
Your reaction time is the length of time it takes for a
message to travel to your brain, and then from your brain
to the muscles in your body to make them move. Sometimes
you can improve your reaction time. In this investigation,
you will work with a partner to see how quickly you can catch
a ruler and find out if you can improve your reaction time.
Question
Can I improve my reaction time with practice?
Prediction
Make a prediction about whether your reaction time can be
improved with practice.
Materials
30 cm ruler
Conduct an Investigation Conduct an Investigation
ruler
Step 1 Copy the following table into
your notebook.
Step 2 Have your partner stand with
his or her writing arm held straight
out, and with the thumb and fingers
about 2 cm apart.
Step 3 Hold a 30 cm ruler above your
partners hand, with the 0 mark at the
bottom. The end of the ruler should
be between your partners thumb and
index finger. Your partners thumb
and index finger should not touch
the ruler.
Data Table for Investigation 7.3
Trial Where ruler Reaction
caught (cm) time (seconds)
1
2
3
4
5
NEL
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Step 6 Repeat steps 2 to 5 four times.
Step 7 Change roles with your
partner, and repeat steps 2 to 6.
Step 8 Complete the third column of
your table, using the table below.
Find Your Reaction Time
Where ruler Reaction time
caught (cm) (seconds)
5 0.10
10 0.14
15 0.17
20 0.20
25 0.23
30 0.25
Step 4 Drop the ruler without
warning your partner. Your partner
will catch the ruler by closing his or
her thumb and fingers.
Step 5 Read the ruler to find out how
far it dropped before your partner
caught it. Read the number that is
just above your partners thumb and
index finger. Your partner will record
the distance in his or her table.
Interpret Data and Observations
1. What happened to your reaction time between trials?
2. Was your prediction correct?
3. What do you think would happen if you tried to catch
the ruler 10 times in a row?
Apply and Extend
1. How would being tired affect your reaction time? Design
a simple experiment to test this.
1. Was this a fair test? Give reasons to support your answer.
Like all humans, you have special sense organsyour skin,
nose, tongue, eyes, and ears. The nerves in your sense
organs send messages to your brain. Your brain recognizes
these messages as sensationstouch, smell, taste, sight,
and sound.
NEL
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Your Senses
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If you touch your skin, you can
feel your hand on your skin. If you
put something hot or cold on your
skin, you can feel the warmth or
coolness on your skin. You can feel
these sensations because your skin
has very small nerves that pick up
these sensations and send the
messages to your brain.
Inside your nose are nerves that
react to smell. When you smell
something, the nerves in your nose
take in the smell and send the
message to your brain.
There are taste buds on your
tongue. Taste buds are nerves that
react to different taste sensations.
Taste buds take in the taste and
send the message to your brain.
Your eyes have nerves that take
in images, or pictures. They send
the pictures to your brain so that
you can see what is in your world.
Each of the next five
paragraphs tells you
about one of the sense
organs. After you finish
reading each paragraph,
tell a partner what you
have learned about
each organ.
NEL
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1. How are all your sense organs the same?
2. What is the relationship between your brain and your
sense organs?
Compare Your Sense of Touch
Skills Focus: observing, interpreting data, communicating
1. Work with a partner. Your teacher will give you two sealed
plastic bags. Each bag will have a piece of ice in it.
2. Close your eyes. Have your partner place one bag on the
inside of one of your wrists and the other bag on the outside
of the same wrist. Which part of your wrist feels colder?
Record your observations in a data table.
3. Have your partner place one bag on top of one of your hands
and the other bag on the palm of the same hand. Which part of
your hand feels colder? Record your observations in a data table.
4. Switch roles with your partner, and repeat steps 2 and 3.
5. Compare your observations with your partners observations.
6. What did you learn about your sense of touch from this activity?
Do not keep the ice on any place for longer than
15 seconds.
Your ears have nerves that pick up
sound vibrations. The nerves in your
ears sense these vibrations and send
them as messages to your brain.
In all these cases, your brain uses
its reasoning and memory to think
about and figure out what it is feeling,
smelling, tasting, seeing, or hearing.
NEL
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How Your Nervous System
Interacts with Other Systems
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Here is another example of how your nervous system
interacts with the other systems in your body. Suppose you
are hungry when you come home from school. You see a
banana and an apple on the kitchen counter. What happens
in your body?
2. Your brain thinks about
the message and decides
your arm is itchy.
3. Your brain sends a
message to the bones
and muscles in your
arm and fingers to
move and scratch
your arm.
1. The nerves in your
skin feel a bite on
your arm. They
send a message
to your brain.
You have learned that your nervous system is connected to
every part of your body. This means that it is connected to
all the other systems in your body. The organs in your other
systems send messages to your brain. Your brain sends
messages back, telling the organs what to do.
Imagine that you are sitting, doing your homework.
Suddenly, you feel something on your arm. Its a mosquito,
and it has just bitten you. What happens in your body?
Scratching a mosquito bite may seem like a simple thing
to do, but three systems are involvedyour nervous,
muscular, and skeletal systems.
NEL
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1. Suppose that you are playing soccer and see a ball coming
toward you. What will happen in your body? Describe two
possible responses, and the body systems that are involved.
1. Your eyes see the banana
and the apple, and the
nerves in your eyes send
this message to your brain.
2. Your brain thinks about the
message. It decides that you
are hungry and want the
banana because you have
already had an apple today.
3. Your brain sends the
message to the muscles and
bones in your arm to reach
for the banana, peel it, and
take a bite.
4. Your brain sends a message
to the muscles in your jaw
to start chewing the piece
of banana.
5. Your brain sends another
message to your esophagus
to swallow the piece of
banana and move it down
to your stomach.
6. Your brain sends a message
to your stomach to start
digesting.
How many body systems were involved in this simple act
of peeling a banana and swallowing a piece of it?
In both of these examples, your sense organs took in
sensations and sent messages to your brain. Your brain
responded and sent messages back to specific parts of your
body. What your body does every waking and sleeping minute
of your life depends completely on your powerful nervous
system and the way it works with your other body systems.
1.
5.
3.
2.
4.
6.
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Vocabulary
brain p. 139
Key Idea: Your sense organs react to touch, smell, taste,
sight, and sound.
Vocabulary
sense organs
p. 141
Vocabulary
nerve cells p. 139
nerves p. 139
spinal cord p. 140
reflex p. 144
Human brain
Key Idea: Your brain is the
control centre of your body.
Key Idea: Nerves send messages to and from your brain to
all parts of your body.
Review Key Ideas and Vocabulary
Use the vocabulary words in your answers to the questions.
1. Copy the following table into your notebook. List each part
of the nervous system and its main job.
NEL
153
Key Idea: Your nervous system is connected to all the other
systems in your body.
Visit the Quiz Centre at: [Link]
2. Make a web about the three main parts of the brain and what
each part does.
3. Why are reflexes important?
4. If there were no nerves running from your feet to your brain,
what would happen if you stubbed your toe on a rock?
Part of nervous system Job
2. Your brain thinks about
the message and decides
your arm is itchy.
3. Your brain sends
a message to the bones
and muscles in your arm
and fingers to move and
scratch your arm.
1. The nerves in your
skin feel a bite on
your arm. They
send a message
to your brain.
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Looking Back
You have learned
how nerves send messages from all parts of your body to
your brain, and from your brain back to your body
how your sense organs react to touch, smell, taste, sight,
and sound

that your nervous system is connected to all the other

systems in your body
In this activity, you will work in a group and use what you
have learned about the nervous system to role-play what
happens in your body when you react to a sensation.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Develop a Role-Play
1. Brainstorm a list of simple sensations that you have
experienced. Here are some examples:
seeing a light turn red just before you cross a street
and stopping
smelling freshly baked cookies and eating one
stepping on hot sand in your bare feet and then
running off the sand
NEL 154
Role-Play Your Nervous System
2. Choose a sensation from your list to role-play. Then identify
the messages that need to be sent to the brain or
automatically to different parts of the body (Remember
that some messages may only go to the spinal cord.)
the parts of the nervous system that will carry the
messages
the parts of the body that will receive and send the
messages
the ways that different parts of the body will react to
the messages
3. Plan your role-play. Decide on how your group will
communicate the messages to the audience
(Will you speak the messages, write the messages
on cards, or use a combination of both?)
show the messages being passed from one body part
to another
show the reactions of the body parts
Perform a Role-Play
1. Practise your role-play, and then perform it for your class.
Be prepared to explain what each player is doing and why.
NEL 155
DEVELOPING THE ROLE-PLAY
As you develop each role in your role-play, make sure that you
show you are able to
identify correctly the role of each part of the nervous system
show how each part of the nervous system works
show how different parts of the body react to messages from
the nervous system
use science words correctly
PERFORMING THE ROLE-PLAY
As you put on your role-play, make sure that you show you are
able to
work cooperatively with your group
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NEL 156
Create a Road Map of Your Body
Looking Back
In this unit, you have learned
how your digestive system processes food to make
nutrients for your cells
how your respiratory system takes in oxygen for your cells
how your circulatory system transports nutrients and
oxygen throughout your body

how your excretory system gets rid of wastes from your cells
how your muscular and skeletal systems allow you to
move and, with your skin, support and protect your
other body systems
how your nervous system controls other body systems
In this activity, you will use your understanding of these major
body systems to create a road map of your body.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Plan a Road Map
1. Use the four chapters in this unit to identify the
information about each body system that you want to
include on your map.
2. Examine real maps to find ideas that you can use to show
different things on your map. Decide how you will show
points of interest (organs) and the roads (veins, arteries,
and nerves) that connect these points of interest. Choose
colours and symbols for each body system so that your
map is easy to read and follow.
3. Decide on the order in which you will add the
information about each body system to your map.
Create a Road Map
1. Draw your map in pencil. Look for places where the
information is too crowded. Add shapes, symbols,
labels, and any other information. Make a key or
legend to explain what the different colours, shapes,
and symbols mean.
2. Explain your map to at least one classmate. Ask for
feedback, and make changes based on the feedback.
Then colour your map.
3. Post your completed map for others in your class to read.
NEL 157
PLANNING THE ROAD MAP
Your plan should show that you are able to
identify important information about the body systems you
have studied in this unit to include on your map
create a design that will present the information in a readable
form on paper
CREATING THE ROAD MAP
Your road map should show that you are able to
accurately show the body systems you have studied in this unit
and the ways they are connected
use colour, shapes, symbols, and other features such as
legends to help readers follow your map
use science words correctly
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We depend on Earths
natural resources for
our survival.
Renewable resources
can replace themselves.
Non-renewable
resources can be used
only once.
Soil, water, plants, air, and the Sun are resources [REE-sors-ez]
that nature provides us. Can you imagine what your life would
be like without each of these resources? Not only would you
be cold and hungry, you wouldn't be able to stay alive. These
resources make Earth the only planet that we know of in the
Universe where humans can survive.
In this unit, you will examine the different types of
resources on Earth. You will learn how we extract or harvest
and process resources so that we can use them. You will learn
how our use of resources affects Earth. You will also learn
how traditional Aboriginal cultures in British Columbia use
resources responsibly. You will also explore ways we can all
protect Earths resources for future generations.
NEL
159
Resources like soil, water, plants, air, and the Sun make it possible
for humans to survive on Earth.
Brainstorm Resources
Skills Focus: communicating
1. With a partner, brainstorm a list of resources that are found
on Earth.
2. Now circle all the resources that you think are found in British
Columbia.
3. Compare your list with the list of another pair of students.
Add to your list any other resources that you think are found
in British Columbia.
4. Add to your list as you work through this unit.
Think of the things you used today before you left your
home. Where did the materials in your toothbrush come
from? Where did the water in your bathroom tap come from?
Where did the electricity to run the lights in your home
come from?
No matter what things you think about, they are products
of Earth. Earth provides us with every single thing we use in
our daily lives.
In this chapter, you will learn about Earths resources and
how humans use Earths resources to survive. You will also
learn how our use of resources affects our environment, and
how we can use resources more wisely.
NEL
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Everything we use
comes from Earth.
Resources can be living
or non-living.
The way we use
resources has an impact
on the environment.
We can help to
conserve resources by
using them wisely.
Have you ever observed the things around you when you
were outside? You may have noticed that some things, such
as plants and animals, are living. All living things can grow,
move, and use energy. Other things, such as rocks and
clouds, are not living. They do not grow, move on their own,
or use energy. All living and non-living things are part of
Earths environment.
Together, the living and non-living things in Earths
environment give us everything we need to survive. They
also give us everything we want to make our lives more
comfortable or enjoyable.
All the things we use to meet our needs and wants come
from Earths natural resources. are all
the living and non-living materials in nature. Natural
resources can be living plants and animals, or non-living
materials, such as water, wind, and gold. We call these
materials because we can use them to meet our
wants and needs.
resources
Natural resources
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Earths Natural Resources
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Our environment is made of living and non-living things.
Classify British Columbias Living and Non-Living Resources
Skills Focus: classifying, inferring, communicating
Resources We Use
Early peoples hunted animals and searched for food that
grew naturally, such as berries. They made their homes in
caves or built their homes out of wood from trees. Think
about the resources you use today. Some are the same
resources that people used in the past, and they may be
used for the same purposes. For example, you use water for
many of the same purposes, such as drinking and washing.
Your bed, bookshelves, and other furniture may be made
of wood. You may eat fish or other seafood. It is easy to
identify the resources used in these three examples.
NEL
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Living
resources
Non-living
resources
2. Look at the map of natural resources found in
British Columbia. Think about whether each
resource is living or non-living. Record each
resource in the correct column of your T-chart.
3. Add two living resources and two non-living
resources that are not on the map but are
also found in British Columbia.
4. Share your T-chart with your classmates.
1. Copy the following T-chart into your notebook.
R
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k
y
M
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s
R
o
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k
y
M
o
u
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t
a
i
n
s
Stewart
Tofino
Ucluelet
Kamloops
Prince George
Kelowna
Vancouver
Pacific
Ocean
Alaska
Yukon
Territory
Northwest
Territories
Alberta
Queen
Charlotte
Islands
Vancouver
Island
United States
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s
deer
copper
salmon
gold
silver
crab
trees
coal
However, it is not so easy to identify other resources we
use today. New technologies can change a resource so that
it can be used in different ways. One example is petroleum
[puh-TRO-lee-uhm], or what we call oil. Petroleum is a
resource found beneath Earths surface. It can be used to
make gasoline for cars and buses. It can also be used to
make polyester (a fabric used in clothing), as well as
plastics, paints, fertilizers, and many other products. None
of these products look like petroleum does when it comes
from the ground.
Today, we use resources to make products that were
unknown to people in the pastfrom MP3 players to
artificial limbs. No matter how a product is made or what
it looks like, it comes from Earths resources.
NEL
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The word petroleum
comes from petra-,
which means rock
and -oleum, which
means oil. So,
petroleum simply
means oil from rock.
The same resource can be used to run a car and to make plastic
products and some parts of clothes.
1. Where does everything we use come from?
2. Think about the student book you are reading. Can you identify
the resources used to make it? Why is it sometimes difficult to
identify the natural resources that are used to make something?
Shirt
Water bottle
Gasoline
Food container
Petroleum
As you discovered in the activity, it is hard to remove all the oil
from water. It is hard to undo damage. Things that can change
the environment are said to have an
[en-VI-ruhn-MEN-tl IHM-pakt]. Environmental impacts can
be small or large.
environmental impact
NEL
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The Impact of Resource Use
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Clean Up an Oil Spill
Skills Focus: predicting, observing, communicating
Oil removal method Observations Questions
1. Measure 15 mL of olive oil. Add the oil to 250 mL of water in
a bowl. Mix the oil into the water as much as possible.
2. Make a table like the one below.
3. Use whatever you think will work best to remove the oil. For
example, you could try mopping it up with a paper towel or
sponge. Record what you did, what you observed, and any
questions you have.
4. Were you able to remove all the oil from the water?
5. Share your findings in a group. Based on what you learned,
what techniques would you suggest for cleaning up oil spills in
lakes or oceans?
Oil spills have an
environmental impact on
the water and everything
that lives in the water.
How Ecosystems Work
All living things interact with each other and with the non-
living things in their environment. The system that is formed
by the interactions of all the living and non-living things in
an environment is called an [EE-ko-sis-tuhm].
Ecosystems can be small, like a puddle or a tree. They can
also be large, like a forest, a lake, or an entire valley.
ecosystem
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What living and non-living things can you see in this ecosystem?
What does the word
interactions mean?
Read this paragraph
again to help you
define it. Then check
your definition in a
dictionary.
All the living and non-living things in an ecosystem are
connected. This means that a change in one part of the
ecosystem can affect the whole ecosystem. A terrarium
[tuh-RARE-ee-uhm] is an artificial ecosystem. The water, air,
light, temperature, plants, animals, and soil in a terrarium
all work together. When the plants in a terrarium have the
right light, water, temperature, and nutrients in the soil, they
are able to live. When the plants have what they need to live,
the animals that live off the plants, such as butterflies, are
able to live.
Ecosystems in nature work the same way as an ecosystem
in a terrarium.
The natural resources we use are parts of ecosystems.
When we use one of these resources, we are making an
environmental impact on an ecosystem because we are
changing the ecosystem. Humans often benefit from the
changes to an ecosystem, but the environmental impact is
always there.
NEL
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In a terrarium, a single change can affect all the other parts of the
ecosystem. This is also true in a natural ecosystem.
Traditional Aboriginal Cultures
and Resources
Aboriginal peoples have lived in what is now known as British
Columbia for thousands of years. In traditional Aboriginal
communities, the people understand how they and all the
living and non-living things in their environment are
connected. They understand that if one part of an ecosystem is
affected, everything else in the ecosystem is also affected. They
try to take from Earth only what they need to survive. They also
try to waste as little as possible of what they take from Earth.
For example, in the traditional culture of the Kutenai [KOOT-
nee] people, if an elk is killed for food, its hide is used to make
clothing and its bones and antlers are used to make tools.
If we want to continue to enjoy Earths resources, we must
understand how the living and non-living things on Earth are
connected and how we are connected to them. If we learn to
use resources responsibly, we can protect them so they will
still be available in the future.
NEL
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Aboriginal peoples use
the circle to represent
harmony and connections
in nature. Everything in
the circle is important
and equal. Humans are
part of the circle, so they
are only one of the many
important parts of
nature.
1. What is an ecosystem? Describe how Earth is a large ecosystem.
2. Traditional Aboriginal cultures eat berries, fish, shellfish, and many
other plants and animals that are found in their local environments.
How do you think these cultures protect the ecosystems in which
these plants and animals live?
We use resources every day. Sometimes we dont think
about where a resource came from or how hard it would be
to replace if it was all used up. Our actions can have serious
effects on the resource, and on the environment.
means saving or reusing resources so they
will be available for the future. The governments of Canada
and British Columbia have passed many laws and regulations
to help conserve our resources and protect the environment.
For example, there are laws about when people can fish,
where they can fish, what fish they can catch, and how many
fish they can catch.
Conservation
It is not only governments and companies that can help to
conserve our resources. You can help, too!
NEL
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Conserving Resources
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Dungeness crabs, like the ones above, are caught in traps. People
who catch crabs must have a licence and can only fish in certain
areas. They can only use a specific number of traps, and the crabs
they catch must be a certain size.
Before you read this
section, make a web to
show what you already
know about conserving
resources.
We all need to think about the resources we use and how
to conserve them.
Reduce
The best way to conserve resources is to reduce what we use.
By reducing, we use fewer resources and create less garbage.
The less garbage we create, the less garbage there is to
manage. You can reduce by doing simple things such as
using both sides of a piece of paper for writing or turning
off lights when youre not in a room. You can also reduce
by paying attention to the packaging on the things you buy.
The less packaging there is, the less garbage you create.
How You Can Help
NEL
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Classify Your Garbage
Skills Focus: classifying, communicating
1. Make a table with the following headings.
2. For one day, record everything you throw away as garbage in
the correct column of your table. Make sure that you include
everything.
3. At the end of the day, add up the garbage items in each
column. Then rank the columns from the least number of
items (5) to the most number of items (1).
4. Compare your table with some of your classmates tables.
Discuss what you could change to create less garbage.
Can you think of
another way to buy raisins
that uses less packaging?
Paper Plastic Glass Metal Food waste
Reuse
Another way to save resources is to reuse them. Reusing
means using a product again, or using it for a different
purpose, before throwing it away or recycling it. When you
reuse, you dont have to buy so many new products. Garage
sales and stores that sell used clothing give people the chance
to buy and reuse clothing and other items that might end up
in landfills. Wrapping paper and gift bags can be reused
many times. Shoeboxes can be used to store things.
Recycle
A third way to save resources is to buy products in containers
that can be recycled. means that a container can
be processed and then used again. One example is aluminum
cans. Aluminum cans can be sent to a factory to be made into
aluminum sheets, which can be made into new aluminum
cans. This way, the same aluminum is used over and over
again. Recycling aluminum cans helps to save aluminum so
that less needs to be mined. Glass, plastic, and paper products
(such as newspapers, cardboard containers, and writing
paper) can also be recycled to make new products.
Recycling
NEL
170
Aluminum can
factory
Recycling depot Recycling press
500 kg bales of
aluminum
Flat sheet of
aluminum
Furnace
melts bales
of aluminum
Aluminum cans can be recycled to make new aluminum cans.
Recycling one
aluminum can saves
enough energy to run
a television for 3 hours!
Products that are made from materials that were once living
are [BY-oh-dih-GRAY-duh-buhl]. This means
that they can be broken down by organisms, just like fruit and
vegetable scraps can. For example, paper is a biodegradable
product because it is made from trees that were once living.
biodegradable
Composting
Another form of recycling is called composting. In
composting, bacteria and other small organisms, such as
worms, break down matter. Matter is material that was once
living, such as vegetable and fruit scraps. Composting makes
a material called compost. Compost can be used as a fertilizer
to make better soil.
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Composting is a good way to recycle kitchen waste to make
compost. The compost that is created can go back into the soil to
help grow new plants.
1. What is conservation? Give an example to explain why
conservation is important.
2. List three different ways to conserve resources, and give an
example of each.
3. Name one product that is biodegradable and one product that is
not biodegradable. Explain the difference between these products.
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Key Idea: Everything we use comes from Earth. Vocabulary
natural resources
p. 161
resources p. 161
Key Idea: The way we use resources has an impact on the
environment.
Vocabulary
environmental
impact p. 164
ecosystem p. 165
Key Idea: Resources can be living or non-living.
3. Use an example to describe how our use of resources can
have an impact on the environment.
4. What can we do to help conserve resources?
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Review Key Ideas and Vocabulary
Use the vocabulary words in your answers to the questions.
1. Where do we get natural resources?
2. Identify the living and non-living resources in this picture.
Visit the Quiz Centre at: [Link]
Vocabulary
conservation p. 168
recycling p. 170
biodegradable
p. 171
Key Idea: We can
help to conserve
resources by using
them wisely.
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NEL 174
Design a School
Conservation Plan
Looking Back
You have learned
that everything we use comes from Earths resources
that how we use resources has an impact on the
environment
that there are many ways to conserve resources
In this activity, you will work with a group to design a
simple conservation plan for your school. Your conservation
plan must be easy to put into practice, with little or no cost.
NEL 175
CONSERVATION PLAN
As you conduct research, and develop and present your plan,
make sure that you show you are able to
identify ways that your school is conserving resources
create a conservation plan that is simple and would cost nothing
or very little to do
communicate your ideas clearly
Demonstrate Your Learning
Do Research for Your Plan
1. Take a look around your school to find out how your
school is recycling, reusing, and reducing. For example,
is waste paper put in garbage cans or in recycling boxes?
Look in both classrooms and common areas, such as
hallways and the gymnasium.
2. Choose two or three members of your group to interview
teachers, the principal, and support staff to find out what
they do to conserve resources in your school. Have other
group members interview students to find out what they
do to conserve resources in school.
3. Create a list of things that are now being done to conserve
resources in your school.
Develop and Present Your Plan
1. Make a list of new things that could be done to conserve
resources. Make sure that your ideas are simple and
would cost nothing or very little to do.
2. Think of how you might convince people in your school to
do these new things.
3. Choose three ideas from your list for your conservation
plan. Decide on the best way to communicate your ideas.
For thousands of years, Aboriginal peoples have used
the natural resources around them to survive. They
have managed the living and non-living things in their
environment so that the resources they depend on return
each year. All British Columbians depend on the same
resources, but we use them for many different and new
purposes. We also use more of them.
In this chapter, you will study three renewable resources
that are very important to British Columbians: salmon
[SAH-muhn], forests, and water. You will learn how these
resources are harvested and processed to meet many of our
needs. You will also learn how traditional Aboriginal cultures
conserve these resources. Finally, you will learn what all
British Columbians must do to make sure that our renewable
resources are available to meet our future needs.
NEL
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We harvest and process
renewable resources to
meet our needs.
Harvesting and
processing renewable
resources has an impact
on the environment.
Traditional Aboriginal
cultures protect and
conserve resources.
We must conserve
and protect our
renewable resources
for future use.
Living resources are part of the cycle of life and death.
A living resource produces more of its kind while it lives,
and then it dies. Plants grow from seeds, and fish reproduce
by laying eggs.
Forests are an important natural resource in British
Columbia. We use trees to make many products, such as
furniture, paper, and cardboard. How can we cut down so
many trees to make wood products and still have so many
trees left? Some of Earths resources can replace themselves
through reproduction, be re-grown, or renew themselves
naturally. These resources are called
[rih-NOO-uh-buhl] resources. They will always be available
if we use them carefully.
Living Renewable Resources
renewable
NEL
177
Renewable Resources
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Many renewable resources are living things, such as trees, fish, and animals in the wild.
British Columbias Renewable
Resources
Renewable resources are found everywhere in British
Columbia. There are fish and other animals in streams,
rivers, and the Pacific Ocean. There are trees in the coastal
rain forests and inland mountains. There are resources that
provide energy, such as water, wind, and the Sun, nearly
everywhere. The map on the next page shows just a few of
British Columbias renewable resources.
Non-Living Renewable Resources
Non-living resources can also be renewable. We consider
these resources to be renewable because they are almost
always there for us to use. Non-living renewable resources
include water, wind, air, and the Sun.
NEL
178
Non-living renewable resources are important to living things.
Water is the home for fish, other animals, and water plants. Plants
need the Sun to grow. Wind provides the power to move people
in boats.
Identify Renewable Resources
Skills Focus: classifying, communicating
1. List three renewable resources in your community.
2. Write one or two sentences to explain why each resource is
renewable. For example, suppose that one of the resources
you listed is trees. You could explain that trees are renewable
because they make seeds, which grow into new trees.
3. Compare ideas in a group. Do you all agree that the resources
you listed are renewable? Do you all agree on why they are
renewable?
NEL
179
A map showing some of British Columbias renewable resources.
1. What makes a resource renewable?
2. List five different renewable resources. Give an example of each
resource, and describe how humans use it.
3. Why are water, wind, air, and the Sun considered to be
renewable resources, even though they are non-living?
Prince
Rupert
Castlegar
Pacific
Ocean
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Woss
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Skeena River
Salmon are an important natural resource in British
Columbia. They are a valuable resource in commercial fishing,
sport fishing, aquaculture (fish farming), and processing.
Harvesting Salmon
is taking any resource, including water, from
Earths surface. This means that fish, such as salmon, are
harvested, even though we usually use the words fished
and caught instead of harvested. Many different methods
of salmon harvesting have been used in British Columbia.
Salmon are highly valued by the Aboriginal peoples of
British Columbia. For thousands of years, they have been
harvested by Aboriginal peoples using traditional methods.
These methods do not catch a lot of salmon at a time,
and they allow the number and kind of salmon caught
to be controlled. Today, most salmon that are harvested
using traditional methods are used for personal food
and ceremonies.
Harvesting
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Salmon
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Sockeye salmon like these are one of British Columbias valuable
renewable resources.
Check your
understanding as you
read this section. Pause
after each paragraph
and try to explain what
you have just read,
using your own words.
Catching salmon using
a weir [WEER].
Many salmon are caught in sport fishing, as well. Another
name for sport fishing is recreational fishing. Recreational
fishing is an important part of British Columbias tourist
industry. Many people from other parts of Canada and the
world come to British Columbia to fish and to enjoy the
natural beauty of the province.
Some salmon are raised in fish farms, like this one in the Burdwood
Islands.
Harvesting fish to sell is called commercial fishing.
Commercial fishers need to catch large numbers of
salmon. To do this, they use different methods than
traditional fishers. It is difficult to control how many
salmon are caught using commercial fishing methods.
As well, these methods often catch other fish and marine
life along with the salmon.
Salmon can also be farmed. This is called aquaculture.
In fish farms, the salmon are raised in closed pens, mostly
in the ocean. They are fed special feed pellets. When they
are large enough, they are harvested and sold. About
three quarters of the salmon raised on fish farms in British
Columbia are Atlantic salmon. This kind of salmon is not
naturally found in the Pacific Ocean.
NEL
181
Catching salmon using
a seine [SAYN] net. The
seine net is attached to
the boat.
Starting in the early 1800s, European settlers used salt to
preserve salmon. The salmon were salted and transported
back to Europe in barrels. By 1867, canneries were operating
in British Columbia. In canning, the salmon are cleaned
and packed into metal cans with lids. The cans are then
heated to remove the air and cook the salmon. Canning
is still an important process for preserving commercially
harvested salmon. As well, many salmon are frozen, smoked,
and sold fresh.
Processing Salmon
People do not use most living resources exactly as they are
harvested. Usually, the resources are processed. When a
resource is processed, it is changed from its natural form
into another form. Salmon are processed so they will taste
different or to preserve them (make them last longer).
In the past, Aboriginal peoples processed the salmon
they caught so they could eat salmon year-round. The salmon
were air-dried or smoked on cedar sticks around a fire.
Drying or smoking the salmon removed the moisture
from them, so they would not rot. Today, these traditional
methods continue to be used in Aboriginal communities.
NEL
182
Aboriginal peoples continue to smoke salmon today using
traditional methods.
Protecting the Salmon Industry
The number of salmon in British Columbias waters today is
much lower than it was in the past. There are many opinions
about why the number of salmon is decreasing. Some of
these opinions are
increased fishing
an increase in the temperature of Pacific Ocean water
the destruction of streams and rivers where salmon lay
eggs
the infection of wild salmon with lice from farmed salmon
How can we save the salmon? Governments have passed laws
about the kind of salmon and the number that can be caught
each year. Groups of people are protecting and restoring
environments where salmon lay their eggs. Governments,
scientists, Aboriginal peoples, environmentalists, fishers,
fish farmers, and other interested people are working
together to find ways to protect our salmon for the future.
NEL
183
Think about what you
have read. How do you
think British Columbia's
salmon should be
protected? Compare
your opinion with a
partner's opinion.
Salmon are taken
to canneries
Salmon are caught
in big boats
1. Use a Venn diagram to compare the similarities and differences
between traditional Aboriginal methods for harvesting salmon
and commercial fishing.
2. Why do you think salmon farming started?
3. Create a flow chart to show what happens to a salmon from the
time it is caught until a sandwich is made from a tin of salmon.
4. Why does the salmon industry need to be protected? How is this
being done?
Trees have always been one of the most important natural
resources in British Columbia. In the past, the Aboriginal
peoples of British Columbia used trees for shelter,
transportation, cooking, storage, clothing, and medicine.
Today, we still value trees for the products they can give
us. Logging and making forestry products are important
industries in British Columbia. Many people earn a living in
tourism because thousands of people visit our forests each
year. As well, our forests help to keep our environment
healthy by providing a habitat for many living things.
Logging Forests
Logging has become British Columbias largest renewable
resource industry. In the past, logging was done mainly by
clear-cutting. Today, more companies are leaving some trees
standing in areas that are logged. This is called selective
logging. Tree seedlings that have been grown in plant
nurseries are usually planted to replace the logged trees.
Roads are built to move people, equipment, and logs
in and out of logging areas. Sometimes, in coastal forests,
helicopters are used to lift trees out of logging areas. Using
helicopters limits the amount of road building needed.
NEL
184
Forests
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Aboriginal peoples
in traditional
communities still use
the lodgepole pine for
many purposes. They
use the wood to build
homes. They use the
pine sap in medicines
to treat muscle and
joint pains and to
relieve sore throats.
In the spring, they
strip and eat the sweet
inner bark of the tree.
A black spruce forest in
Northern British Columbia.
Managing forests is difficult. People who work in the
forestry industry today try to use nature as a guide to find
out the best way to log. They look at how trees are naturally
removed and replaced in ecosystems in different areas.
Then they use what they have learned to decide how many
trees can be logged and what type of logging to use. They
have learned that different kinds of logging are best for
different ecosystems.
The Impact of Logging
When only a few trees are harvested at a time, the impact
on the local environment is small. The
includes all the living and non-living things in a particular
area.
As more trees are harvested, more of the local environment
is affected. Bark, twigs, and mud can collect in the streams
and rivers near logging sites. This can cause changes to the
habitats of animals and plants that live in and along the rivers.
Many places where salmon go to lay their eggs are destroyed.
local environment
NEL
185
In clear-cutting, all the trees in an area are cut
down.
In selective logging, some trees are cut down
and others are left standing.
Visuals can help you
remember important
information. What does
each of these photos
show? Is it helpful to
have them side by side?
As logging increased, the government of British Columbia
realized that laws were needed to make sure that forest
ecosystems were protected. For example, there are now
certain areas that cannot be logged and other areas that are
logged less. Areas that are logged are replanted to speed up
the growth of new trees. Many Aboriginal peoples are taking a
greater role in managing the forests in their traditional areas.
Forestry Products
Many products are made from trees. Trees are the raw
materials for these products. are what we
call resources before they are turned into products we use.
Trees are used to make two main kinds of products: lumber
products, and pulp and paper products. We usually think of
lumber products as wood. Lumber products include different
sizes of lumber used for building, as well as plywood, wooden
furniture, and cedar shingles for covering walls and roofs.
Pulp and paper products include many different kinds of
paper, such as the pages in this student book, paper towels,
toilet paper, and cardboard.
Raw materials
When logging is not done carefully, soil may wash away.
As a result, new plants cannot grow and animal habitats are
changed. This can cause the populations of some animals to
get smaller. Other animals may move to new habitats.
NEL
186
The spotted owl and
the mountain caribou are
two animals that are
endangered and could
become extinct because
their habitat of old forest
is being logged.
Check your
understanding. Explain
the impact of logging
to a partner.
NEL
187
Some logs are chipped into
smaller pieces and used to
make pulp for paper.
Some logs are used
to make furniture.
Chips, bark, and sawdust
may be burned to produce
heat and light.
Some logs are made
into plywood.
Some logs are made
into lumber.
Logs are moved to mills
by truck (as shown here),
train, or water.
The branches are cut
off the trees, then the
trees are cut into
smaller logs.
At the mill, logs
are sorted by their
size, quality, and type
of wood.
1. How did Aboriginal peoples use forests in the past? How do we
use forests today? How are these past and present uses the same?
How are they different?
2. Describe two different ways that trees are logged.
3. List two ways that logging has an impact on the local environment.
List two things that are being done so that logging has less of an
impact on the local environment.
4. List four forest products you have used today.
The flow chart below shows what usually happens to trees
after they are logged.
The Western red cedar is one of the best known
and most valuable plants in British Columbia.
Cedar trees grow along the coast of British
Columbia and in many areas of the interior.
They can be 50 to 70 m high and 3 to 6 m wide.
In the wild, cedar trees can live for 800 to
1500 years. The wood from cedar trees contains
chemicals that keep it from rotting when it is cut.
Long ago, the Aboriginal peoples of British
Columbia understood the great value of the
cedar tree. They called it The Tree of Life.
Cedar trees provided the coastal Aboriginal
peoples with materials for almost every part
of their lives. They used the wood from
cedars to build longhouses, canoes, and
totem poles.
NEL
Cedar: The Tree of Life
188
Cedar trees are among the tallest and
longest-living trees in Canada.
A longhouse and totem poles in the Haida
village of Masset, on Haida Gwaii.
Aboriginal peoples also used the bark for a
variety of things. The bark was carefully removed
from the trees to do as little damage as possible.
The soft inner bark was separated from the thick
outer bark. The inner bark was carefully air-dried,
cut into strips, and stored for use. The bark strips
were made softer by pounding. They could then
be woven into baskets, mats, boxes, diapers,
hats, belts, ropes, capes, blankets, towels, and
many more items used in daily life.
Cedar trees continue to play an important role
in the lives of many Aboriginal peoples. They
continue to use cedars as they did in the past.
NEL 189
A Look into the Past
Aboriginal peoples saw the cedar as a gift from
Earth that needed to be treated with respect
and used carefully. A whole tree was cut down
only if the entire tree was needed. Many
Aboriginal peoples harvested both bark and
planks from living cedar trees. This allowed the
trees to continue to grow. Trees that were used
in this way can still be found in the forests of
British Columbia.
The capes the women are wearing and the
baskets are traditional uses of cedar bark.
These trees show one of the traditional
methods of harvesting cedar trees.
In British Columbia, we are lucky to have clean water to
use. In many parts of the world, clean water is hard to find,
so people use the water very carefully. How carefully do you
use water?
NEL
190
Water
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Calculate Your Daily Water Use
Skills Focus: observing, inferring
1. Make a table like the one below
My Water Usage
Amount
Activity Time of water Water used
showering 5 minutes 25 L per 25 L per minute x
minute 5 minutes = 125 L
2. Keep track of the water you use for one day. Each time you do
one of the activities shown below, list it in your table. Include
how long you did the activity if needed. At the end of the day,
calculate how much water you used, based on the amounts in
the table below.
Average Amount of Water for Activities
Activity Amount of water
using washing machine 230 L per use
running dishwasher 65 L per use
flushing toilet 20 L per use
bathing 130 L per use
showering 25 L per minute
washing hands under tap 12 L per minute
Every person in
Canada uses an
average of 350 L of
water a day. This
amount includes
about 100 L a day just
to flush the toilet.
3. In what ways could you reduce how much water you use?
Evaporation
Ocean
Precipitation
(rain and snow)
Groundwater
Condensation
Surface runoff
(from rivers to
the ocean)
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191
Where Does Water Come From?
Water is a renewable resource that all living things need to
stay alive. Most of the water on Earth is salt water in oceans
and seas. The rest is fresh water. About three quarters of the
fresh water on Earth is found as ice. This means that only a
very small amount of all the water on Earth is fresh and in a
liquid form that humans can use.
Fresh water is found in lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, and
underground. The supply of fresh water does not decrease
when we use it because it is recycled. Water can be used over
and over again as it goes through the In the
water cycle, water evaporates, then condenses and falls back
to Earth as precipitation. When precipitation falls on land,
one of two things happens:
It runs over the surface of the land into a stream, river,
lake, or ocean. This is called surface runoff.
water cycle.
All the Water on Earth
Fresh
water
Salt water
Nearly all the water on
Earth is salt water.
The Fresh Water on Earth
Liquid
water
Frozen water
We can use only about
one quarter of the fresh
water found on Earth.
The Water Cycle
It goes into the ground. This is called
Groundwater supplies water for wells and freshwater
springs. Unless groundwater is brought to the surface, it
will eventually flow into a stream, lake, or river.
groundwater.
Watersheds
A is an area of land that drains into a river or
lake. When precipitation falls on a watershed, it flows down
to the river or lake or it sinks into the ground and becomes
groundwater.
As water flows on the surface, it picks up materials such as
soil and rocks, and carries these materials to the river or lake.
Groundwater picks up chemicals and materials like soil
and rocks and carries them with it as it goes into the ground.
This is called [LEECH-ing]. Leaching can cause leaching
watershed
NEL
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soil pollution. happens when chemicals and
other harmful substances get into the soil. Things that cause
pollution are called pollutants. Some pollutants stay in the
soil and may be taken up by plants. Other pollutants are
eventually carried to the river or lake.
Watersheds are very important because they usually supply
all the water needs and wants for an area.
Soil pollution
A watershed includes both land and water. Each watershed has its
own habitats, such as rivers, streams, farmland, and cities.
Check your
understanding of the
vocabulary words in
this section. Take turns
explaining them to a
partner. Try to use your
own words.
NEL
193
1. Why is water such an important resource?
2. What is the water cycle? Why is it important?
3. What is a watershed? Why should communities protect their
watersheds?
4. How can rivers and lakes become polluted?
Water
sometimes
treated
Water
usually
treated
Water
usually
treated
Water
usually
treated
Water is usually treated to make it safe for us to use.
Water Pollution
We need clean fresh water for drinking, cooking, washing,
swimming, and other uses. Similarly, plants and animals
need clean water to live in and drink. Many things, however,
can make water polluted. happens when
harmful substances or organisms that can make animals and
plants sick get into the water.
Pollutants can get into the water in many ways. Many
of the products we use to clean contain pollutants. Some
people pour chemicals, such as paint and motor oil, down a
drain or on the ground. Body wastes from farm animals can
leach into the soil or be washed directly into streams when
there is rain. Garbage from landfills can leach directly into
the soil. Industries have to follow strict rules to treat the
water they use before it goes back into rivers and streams.
Some industries, however, may illegally dump pollutants into
streams and rivers.
Water pollution
NEL
194
Design Your Own Experiment Design Your Own Experiment
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SKILLS MENU
Questioning Measuring
Predicting Classifying
Designing
Inferring
Experiments
Interpreting
Fair Testing
Data
Observing Communicating
Before you begin this
experiment, review
Design Your Own
Experiment in the
Skills Handbook.
How Does Water Pollution Affect
Living Things?
Most soaps used to contain chemicals called phosphates
[FOSS-fates]. Phosphates helped the soaps clean better.
Some of these phosphates, however, caused water pollution
when they went down drains into the water supply.
Phosphates that go into the water supply can end up in
soil. They can also end up in ponds or streams.
Today, most soaps contain very few phosphates. However,
detergents for automatic dishwashers and some other types
of detergent contain high amounts of phosphates.
Design an experiment to find out how phosphates affect
plant growth. You could water seedlings with a soap-and-
water mixture that contains phosphates, then measure their
growth. Seedlings are young plants that are just beginning to
grow above the soil.
Phosphates help detergents work better, but can cause water
pollution when they go down the drain and end up in a stream like
this one.
Prediction
Think about how many soap-and-water mixtures you will
use and how each mixture will be different. Think about
including seedlings that get water only. Predict which
mixture will grow seedlings the best.
Materials
Decide what materials you will need to conduct your
experiment. Check with your teacher to make sure that
these materials are safe for you to use.
NEL
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Question
Write a question you would like answered about how
phosphates in water affect plant growth. Your question
could be similar to one of these:
Will the amount of phosphates in water affect the
growth of seedlings?
Which seedlings will grow betterones watered with no
phosphates or ones watered with phosphates?
Data and Observations
Create a data table to record your observations as you carry
out your experiment. A sample data table is shown below.
NEL
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Data Table for Experiment 9.5
Average height
Seedling of seedlings at Average height
group Amount of beginning of of seedlings at Other
number soap in water experiment end of experiment observations
1
Design a procedure to test your prediction. A
procedure is a step-by-step description of how you
will conduct your experiment. It must be clear enough
for someone else to follow and do the exact same
experiment. Think about
how many seedlings you will use (Will you use
groups of seedlings? How many seedlings will you
have in a group?)
how you will measure the growth of the seedlings
(Will you measure the growth of each seedling in
a group and find the average growth?)
how often you will water the seedlings
what amount of water you will use each time you
water the seedlings
how long your trial will last
how the soap-and-water mixture you use for each
seedling will be different (Will the amount of
water be the same, but the amount of soap
different? Will you use only water and no soap
for one group of seedlings?)
Hand in your procedure, including any safety
precautions, to your teacher for approval.
NEL
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Interpret Data and Observations
1. Which seedlings grew the most? Which seedlings grew
the least?
2. What happened to the colour of the seedlings during
the experiment?
3. Do you think the phosphates in the water affected the
growth of the seedlings? Why or why not?
4. Look back at your prediction. Did your results fully
support, partly support, or not support your prediction?
Write a conclusion for your experiment.
Apply and Extend
1. Think about how phosphates affected the growth of the
seedlings. What would happen to plants in a pond that
contained phosphates? How could this affect other
organisms in the pond ecosystem?
2. Why do you think some manufacturers now make soap
without phosphates?
1. What variable did you change in your experiment?
2. What variable did you measure?
3. What variables did you keep the same?
4. Was your experiment a fair test? How do you know?
Some renewable resources can be used to produce energy.
Water is the most important renewable energy resource in
British Columbia.
Water can be used to produce electricity. This is called
hydroelectricity. Dams are built on rivers because the water
needs to flow quickly downward to produce electricity. Dams
hold back the water. The water can then be released when it
is needed to produce electricity. British Columbia has many
fast-flowing rivers, so many dams have been built. More than
three quarters of British Columbias electricity needs are
met by hydroelectricity.
NEL
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Renewable Energy Resources
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Hydroelectricity is renewable and does not pollute the
water. Building a dam, however, can cause problems. When
a dam is built, the area behind the dam fills up with water.
This floods land, which can destroy farmland and habitats for
wildlife. For example, flooding has destroyed many habitats
for some migrating birds who build nests in the area. Before
a dam is built, it is important to study the possible effects of
the dam on the habitats for wildlife and the surrounding
communities.
The lake that is created behind a dam is often used for recreation,
such as boating.
Energy from the Sun
Scientists are developing other sources of energy that will
not cause problems for the environment. One of these
sources of energy is solar energy. is energy
that comes from the Sun. Solar energy can be changed into
heat or electricity.
Solar energy
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1. What are renewable energy resources?
2. Explain how hydroelectricity can be good and bad for the
environment.
3. Is solar energy a good alternative to hydroelectricity? Why or
why not?
Sunlight does not pollute. There is also a never-ending
supply of it. Nevertheless, there are many drawbacks to
using solar energy. It is only available during the day when
the Sun is shining, so solar cells do not work at night. In
many parts of the world, such as British Columbia, there
is not enough sunlight year-round to make solar energy
practical. For these reasons, solar energy is usually used
along with other energy resources.
Solar cells in calculators
change light from the Sun into
electricity.
Solar panels collect the Suns
heat and use it to produce
electricity or heat water.
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Key Idea: We harvest and process renewable resources to
meet our needs.
Vocabulary
renewable p. 177
harvesting p. 180
local environment
p. 185
raw materials p. 186
water cycle p. 191
surface runoff p. 191
groundwater p. 191
watershed p. 192
leaching p. 192
solar energy p. 199
Key Idea: Harvesting and processing renewable resources
has an impact on the environment.
Vocabulary
soil pollution p. 192
water pollution
p. 193
NEL
201
Visit the Quiz Centre at: [Link]
Review Key Ideas and Vocabulary
Use the vocabulary words in your answers to the questions.
1. Choose one renewable resource, and explain why it is
considered renewable.
2. How can the methods of harvesting salmon have an effect on
whether salmon will be available in the future?
3. How have Aboriginal peoples traditional practices helped to
conserve renewable resources?
4. Why do we process renewable resources?
5. Why must humans make choices about using renewable
resources? How can we help to conserve renewable
resources?
Key Idea: Traditional Aboriginal cultures protect and
conserve resources.
Key Idea: We must conserve and protect our renewable
resources for future use.
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NEL 202
Model the Harvesting of a
Renewable Resource
Looking Back
You have learned
that we harvest renewable resources
why harvesting renewable resources has an impact on
the environment
why we must conserve and protect our renewable
resources for the future
In this activity, you will work with a partner to model what
can happen to a renewable resource when it is harvested.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Plan and Carry Out Your Modelling Activity
1. Your teacher will give you red beans and white beans to
represent trees in a forest. The red beans will be mature
trees, and the white beans will be young trees.
2. Start your modelling by placing between 30 and 50 red
beans in a bowl. Then add enough white beans to make
a forest of 100 trees.
NEL 203
Harvest
year
Year 1
Year2
Red beans
before harvesting
40
20 + 5 = 25
White beans
before harvesting
60
60 - 5 = 55
55 + 4 = 59
Red beans
harvested
20
15
White beans
harvested
0
0
Red beans at
harvest end
20
10
White beans at
harvest end
60
59
Total beans
after harvest
80
69
MODELLING
As you plan and carry out your activity, make sure that you
show you are able to
identify the impact of resource harvesting
use appropriate scientific words
communicate clearly
3. Take away beans to show trees being harvested. The beans
you take away first will represent Year 1 of harvesting.
At the beginning of Year 2, trade 5 white beans for 5 red
beans. Also add 4 new white beans. The beans you have
after trading and adding beans will be the number you
will start with for harvesting in Year 2. Continue harvesting
the forest to model 5 or 6 years.
4. Record what happens to the forest in each year that you
harvest, for example:
5. Discuss the following questions with your partner.
Was there a time when you thought it was all right to
harvest the resource? When?
Was there a time when you thought it wasnt all right
to harvest the resource? When?
Did you harvest any young trees? What happened to
the resource when you did this?
6. What did you learn about resource use? What would
have to happen to maintain a resource? Write a short
paragraph about the wise use of resources.
Can you imagine not having cars? In just 100 years, cars have
changed life in Canada. Cars are not like products that are
made from renewable resources, such as wood. Cars are
mostly made from different metals. Cars also need gasoline
to run. We cannot reproduce or re-grow the metals and
gasoline for cars.
In this chapter, you will learn about resources, such as
metals and gasoline, that are non-renewable. You will learn
about the important roles of non-renewable resources in
our daily livesfrom running cars, planes, trains, and
boats to providing the materials used to manufacture many
products. You will also learn about the impact of our use of
non-renewable resources on the environment. Finally, you
will discover why we must make wise choices when using
non-renewable resources so that they will be available in
the future.
NEL
204
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Most non-renewable
resources take millions
of years to form.
We extract and process
non-renewable
resources to meet
our needs.
Our use of non-
renewable resources
has an impact on the
environment.
We must make
responsible choices
when using non-
renewable resources.
NEL
205
Non-Renewable Resources
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Model Using a Non-Renewable Resource
Skills Focus: creating models, observing, communicating
1. As a class, form a large circle. Your teacher will give one
student a paper bag full of a resource.
2. Pass the bag around the circle. Take as much or as little of
the resource as you want. Stop passing around the bag once
it is empty.
3. Did everyone get some of the resource? Why or why not?
How do you think this is like Earths non-renewable resources?
Non-Renewable Resources in
British Columbia
There are two types of non-renewable resources: fossil fuels
and minerals [MIHN-uhr-uhls]. British Columbia has both
types.
Fossil fuels are found under Earths surface. Coal, oil, and
natural gas are examples of fossil fuels that are found in
British Columbia. Minerals are materials that naturally occur
in rocks. Minerals that are found in British Columbia include
copper, gold, silver, and zinc.
[non-rih-NOO-uh-buhl] resources cannot
reproduce the way that trees or fish can. They cannot renew
themselves like water can through the water cycle. Once
non-renewable resources are used, they are considered gone
forever.
Non-renewable
Campbell River
Houston
Tumbler
Ridge
Sparwood
Fort St. John
Pacific
Ocean
Alaska
Yukon
Territory
Northwest
Territories
Alberta
Queen
Charlotte
Islands
Vancouver
Island
United States
R
o
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y
M
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a
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s
R
o
c
k
y
M
o
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t
a
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s
C
o
a
s
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M
o
u
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t
a
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s
Ladyfern
Gas Plant
(gas)
Caribou
Gas Plant
(gas)
Huckleberry
Mine (copper)
Wolverine
Mine (coal)
Coal
Mountain
(coal)
Myra Falls Mine
(zinc, copper,
gold, silver)
All fossil fuels were formed millions of years ago from
the bodies of animals and plant remains. They were all
formed in similar ways. For example, coal was formed from
huge plants that grew in swampy areas around the world.
When the plants died, they sank to the bottoms of the
swamps. There, they were broken down by bacteria into a
material called peat [PEET]. Over millions of years, layers of
mud and soil buried the peat. The layers pressed down on
the peat and eventually changed it into coal.
NEL
206
Coal is the product of ancient plants. As they decayed over millions
of years, they formed layers of coal deep in Earth.
British Columbia has
many non-renewable
resources, including
natural gas, coal, and
a variety of minerals.
Humans need to make wise choices when using non-
renewable resources. Earth has only a limited amount of these
resources. Once they are gone, they cannot be replaced.
NEL
207
Coal took millions of years to form. Most minerals we use
today were formed millions of years ago. That is why they are
both considered non-renewable.
Fossil fuels are used mostly to produce energy. Minerals
are used to make many of our everyday products, such as
pop cans, baby powder, toothpaste, calcium tablets, pipes
and wires, and even money.
Many everyday objects, such as pop cans, toothpaste, and coins,
are made from minerals.
1. What is a non-renewable resource?
2. Explain how fossil fuels were formed. List the fossil fuels found
in British Columbia.
3. List three minerals found in British Columbia. Why are minerals
important?
It is easier to remember
information if you relate
it to your daily life. What
objects made from
minerals do you use?
Minerals are important to us because we use them in many
products in many different ways. For example, graphite
[GRAF-ite] is a mineral used to make pencils. Diamonds are
a mineral used to make jewellery [JOO-uhl-ree].
NEL
208
Mining Minerals
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Scientists are always working on new ways to use minerals.
Therefore, the list of their uses is always increasing. Perhaps
the most useful minerals to us are metals. Metals are found
in rocks, like all minerals. Some common metals are gold,
silver, and copper.
Rocks that have a lot of minerals in them are called ores.
Because most ores are under the surface of Earth, they must
be extracted. When something is it is taken out
of something else. Ores are taken out of the ground. We
usually call this mining.
There are two main ways of extracting minerals from
Earth: underground mining and open-pit mining.
extracted,
The mineral diamond can be used for a variety of purposes. It can
be used as a bit for a drill and also in jewellery, such as this ring.
NEL
209
Main shaft
Tunnels Ore deposit
Air shaft
In underground mines, tunnels are built below the surface to get
to the ore.
Underground Mining
Some minerals are found deep below Earths surface. To
extract these minerals, a mine is dug deep in the ground.
Tunnels are built to get to the ore. The ore is usually drilled
or blasted loose with explosives. Then the ore is moved to
the surface and taken to a mill to be processed. Zinc and
silver are two metals that are mined in underground mines
in British Columbia.
Underground mining does not destroy large areas of land
on the surface. It causes other problems, however. The
groundwater that flows through the rocks can be polluted
by the mining, and this can pollute water far away from a
mine. As well, underground mining is very expensive. It
costs a lot of money to build underground tunnels and to
move equipment to them. Underground mining is also
dangerous. Harmful gases can build up in the tunnels and
cause explosions. Workers in many underground mines
must wear breathing equipment to protect themselves from
breathing in harmful dust and gases.
NEL
210
Open-Pit Mining
Open-pit mines are used when minerals are found close to
Earths surface. Copper and gold are metals that are often
found close to Earths surface. They are mined in British
Columbia in open-pit mines.
In open-pit mining, the top layer of soil and rock is
removed by drilling into the rock and blasting away the rock
until the ore is found. Then the ore is dug out with large
machines, loaded onto trucks, and transported to a mill.
The mineral is separated from the ore at the mill.
Open-pit mining is the least expensive method of
extracting minerals from Earth. It is also considered to be
the safest method of mining, because there are no tunnels
that can collapse on mine workers. Ores can be removed
quickly and easily from open-pit mines.
Open-pit mines can cause water pollution, however.
Wastewater from the mines can pollute rivers and creeks.
Open-pit mines can also cause air pollution.
happens when substances that can harm the natural
environment are released into the atmosphere.
Air pollution
Huckleberry Mine is an open-pit copper mine located near Tahtsa
Lake.
NEL
211
1. Draw a diagram to show how a mineral is extracted from an
open-pit mine or an underground mine.
2. In your notebook, make a table like the one below. Then
complete your table.
Open-pit
mining
Underground
mining
Types of
mining
Advantages
Disadvantages
The air above a specific area is called an An
air shed is the air shared by every living thing in an area.
In open-pit mining, rock dust, exhaust fumes, and other
pollutants are put into the air shed. Look back at the photo
of the open-pit mine. What other effects do you think
open-pit mining has on the environment?
air shed.
An air shed can become polluted because of mining and other
human activities that release dust and fumes into the air.
E
very year, we use more of Earths
resources to meet our many wants
and needs. This means that our
impact on the environment is also
growing. In many parts of the world
there are shortages of resources, as
well as environmental problems such
as soil, water, and air pollution.
Scientists are starting to use plants to
help repair damage caused by our use of
resources, and to help keep our
environment healthy.
NEL
Cleaning Soil and Water
Scientists are using their knowledge
of how plants grow to help clean up soil
and water that is polluted with harmful
chemicals. They know that as plants take
up nutrients and water from the soil, they
also take up these chemicals. So they are
using common plants like sunflowers,
poplar and willow trees, and cabbages to
clean up soil and water pollution.
In Chilliwack, British Columbia,
scientists are using plants to clean up
Plants: Natures Way of
Helping the Environment
212
Scientists are using plants like sunflowers and poplar trees to clean up
polluted water and soil.
NEL 213
Most people would never think of
growing a lawn on the roof, but scientists
have found a very good reason for
growing lawns and gardens on the roofs
of buildings: these roofs help keep the
environment healthy.
Green roofs keep buildings warmer in
winter and cooler in summer, so less
energy is needed to heat and cool them.
Green roofs keep the air cleaner by
lead and copper from a gun-firing range
used by the Canadian military. The
plants take up the minerals as they grow.
Once they are fully grown, the plants are
chopped down, and the minerals are
disposed of safely.
Trees like willows and poplars are also
being used to clean up polluted water
and soil. A poplar tree can filter almost
100 L of polluted water a day.
Green Roofs
taking in harmful gases, dust, and other
pollutants in the air, and by putting out
oxygen. Green roofs also add green space
to a community that attracts birds and
insects, and can be used to grow food.
Making Plastic from Plants
Scientists have discovered another
important use for plantsplants can
replace plastic in many products. Plastic is
lightweight, strong, and cheap, but it is
not biodegradable. It takes hundreds of
years to break down and return to Earth.
Also, the chemicals used in making
plastics can pollute the air, water, and soil.
Now scientists are using material
from corn, wheat, palm trees, and other
common plants to replace some plastic
products. Already, inventors have created
plant-based grocery bags, disposable
dishes, packaging, and disposable diapers.
After it is used, a product made from
plants can be thrown into a compost pile.
The compost can be used as a fertilizer to
help grow more plants.
Green roofs, like this one on the Vancouver
Public Library, help clean the air, save energy,
and provide a home for birds and insects.
This fork made from plant materials becomes
compost in about 45 days.
0 days 12 days 33 days 45 days
Once the ore is brought to the surface, the next step is to
separate the mineral from the rest of it. The process for
separating the mineral always begins with crushing the ore.
Then different methods are used to get the pure mineral. No
matter what method is used, there will be waste left over, like
ground rock, other non-valuable minerals, and chemicals.
Much of the ground rock and non-valuable minerals are
put back into the ground. A lot of the water and chemicals
used in the processing of ore are recycled so they can be
used again. The rest of the waste rock and liquid waste are
called tailings. Tailings are placed in tailings ponds.
The waste in tailings ponds can be harmful to people and
the surrounding environment, so the ponds are lined with
clay or plastic. This stops the wastes from escaping into
streams, lakes, and groundwater.
NEL
214
Processing Ore to
Find Minerals
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Processing Copper
Copper is usually mined in open-pit mines. The extracted
ore usually contains very small amounts of copper. The
following diagram shows one way copper ore is processed to
get the copper.
This tailings pond is lined with a mixture of clay and sand to
prevent leaching.
NEL
215
1. When processing ore, what is done to protect the environment?
What is done to conserve resources?
2. In your own words, explain one way copper is processed.
Some of the many uses of
copper include wires,
sheets, or pipes.
The ore is crushed. The ore is put in a
flotation tank filled with
water and chemicals.
The mineral floats and
the unwanted rock
(tailings) sinks.
The pure copper
is burned off or
separated from the
non-copper parts in
a high-temperature
furnace.
The copper is put into
acid to make it into a
form of copper that
can be made into
products we use.
Copper ore is taken from the mine
to the mill for processing.
Copper ore is processed into copper that can be used to make
many products.
Processed copper is sold to different manufacturers, who
use it as the raw material for many products. For example,
copper can be made into wires that are used to conduct
electricity. It can also be flattened into sheets. These sheets
can be used to cover the roofs of large buildings. Copper
can be made into pipes, as well. The copper products are
sent to different stores, where they are sold.
What do you think would happen to this environment if an
open-pit mine was built?
NEL
216
Opening and Closing a Mine
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Make connections to
other things you have
learned about in school.
Have you learned about
decision-making in
Social Studies?
How does good
decision-making work?
A mine is not opened as soon as ore is discovered. There are
many things to think about before a mine is built. The mining
company has to decide whether or not the mine will make
money. If the mine will not make money, then it will not be
built. The company also thinks about the safety of workers.
Opening a Mine
Before a mine opens, scientists, environmentalists, politicians,
and community members study what impact the mine will
have. They carefully consider the type of mining needed to
remove the ore. They also consider how the mine will affect
the living and non-living things in the environmentthe
people, animals, plants, land, water, and air. As well, they
consider how materials will be transported to and from the
mine, where workers will live, and what to do with the wastes
from the mining process. If the effects on the environment
will be greater than the benefits from the mine, then the
mineral may not be mined.
NEL
217
Reclaimed tailings at Fording River Mine, Elk Valley Coal.
The pit is not always filled with tailings or rocks and soil.
Sometimes, it is allowed to fill with rainwater and snow.
This creates a pond.
Closing a Mine
Minerals are non-renewable so, over time, they run out
and mines are closed. Today, before a mine is even opened,
people think about what will happen when the mine is
closed. The land used for mining needs to be returned to a
usable environment for living things. The process of doing
this is called reclamation [rek-luh-MAY-shun].
There are many things that can be done to reclaim an
open-pit mine. The tailings are treated if they are harmful
to the environment. Dried tailings can then be used to fill the
pit, along with the rocks and soil that were removed when
the pit was dug. Sometimes the tailings are piled up in rows,
covered with soil, and planted with plants that normally
grow in the area. If the rocks and soil that were removed to
dig the pit are not used to fill the pit, they can also be piled
up, covered with soil, and planted.
NEL
218
1. Name three things that have to be considered before a mine
is built.
2. What is reclamation? Describe two things that might be done
to reclaim an open-pit mine.
The top photo shows the Island Copper Mine when the mine was
in use. The bottom photo shows the same mine, once the land was
reclaimed. The pit was turned into a lake using sea water.
flat
toothpicks
NEL
219
SKILLS MENU
Questioning Measuring
Predicting Classifying
Designing
Inferring
Experiments
Interpreting
Fair Testing
Data
Observing Communicating
Conduct an Investigation Conduct an Investigation
Mining Chocolate Chips
There are many things to think about before a mine is
opened. One thing that mining companies think about is
whether or not a mine can make money. Mining companies
also think about questions like these:
Is there a large enough amount of the mineral? If there
isn't enough of the mineral in the ore, the company may
not get the money back that it would have to pay to start
and run the mine.
How expensive will the equipment be? The company
might consider how difficult it will be to get the ore out
of the ground. The company might need to buy more or
bigger pieces of equipment if the mining will be
difficult.
How much will it cost to reclaim the land after the mine
is closed? One thing the company might consider is how
large an area the mine will cover. The larger the area,
the higher the cost will be to reclaim the land.
In this investigation, you will operate a chocolate chip
mine and try to make money.
Question
Can you open and operate a chocolate chip mine that
makes money?
Materials
3 different brands of chocolate chip cookies
sheet of graph paper: 100 squares to the page
small pile of round toothpicks
small pile of flat toothpicks
small pile of paper clips
stopwatch or clock with second hand
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chocolate chip
cookies
graph paper
round
toothpicks
stopwatch
paper clips
Data Table for Investigation 10.5
Original
amount
of money
$20
Cost of
property
Size of
property
Cost of
equipment
Cost of
operating
mine
Number of
chips mined
Value of
chips
Environmental
impact to land and
cost of reclamation
NEL
220
Step 2 Go to your teacher and buy one
of the three properties (chocolate chip
cookies) that can be mined. Property
A costs $3, Property B costs $5, and
Property C costs $7. Record the cost in
your table.
Step 3 Place your property on a sheet
of graph paper and trace it. Count the
number of squares that your cookie
covers. (Count partly covered squares
as full squares.) Record this number
in your table.
Step 4 Buy your mining equipment.
You can buy more than one piece of
equipment, but you cannot share any
equipment with other groups. A flat
toothpick costs $2, a round toothpick
costs $4, and a paper clip costs $6. If a
piece of equipment breaks, you must
buy a new piece. Record the cost of
your equipment in your table.
Step 5 You will have 5 minutes to
operate your mine. The cost will be
$5. Record this cost in your table.
Step 6 Use your equipment to mine
your chocolate chips. The cookie
must stay on the graph paper. You
can use only your own equipment to
mine the chips.
Step 1 Work with a partner. In your notebook, make a table like
the one below. You will have $20 when you start up your mine.
Interpret Data and Observations
1. Add up all the costs of your mineproperty, equipment,
operating, and reclamation. Subtract this amount from
your original $20. Then add the value of your mined
chocolate chips. Did your mine make any money?
2. Suggest ways to improve the operation of your mine.
Would you buy a different property? Would you change
the equipment you used? Be specific in your answer.
Apply and Extend
1. Make a list of all the expenses (things that cost money)
that a company would have to consider when operating a
mine. Which costs did you consider in this investigation?
2. What else would a company have to consider when
operating a mine?
NEL
221
Step 7 Count the number of chocolate
chips you mined. Count full chips and
half chips. You can put smaller pieces
together to make whole or half chips.
Record the total number of chips in
your table.
Step 8 Whole chips are worth $2, and
half chips are worth $1. How much are
your mined chips worth? Record their
value in your table. This will be the
amount of money your mine made.
Step 9 Your mine will have an
environmental impact on the land.
You will need to pay to reclaim the
land your mine used. The cost of
reclaiming each square of land
covered by your mine will be 5.
Calculate the cost of reclamation
and record this in your table.
1. Give an example of how working with a partner improved this
investigation.
NEL
222
Mining is an important part of the economy in British
Columbia. Mining provides jobs and earns money for both
mining communities and the province. Mining changes the
way the land is used, however. As a result, it can affect the
local environment and cause pollution. In this activity, you
will work in a group to explore the issue of whether a mine
should be allowed to open. Then you will reach a decision
about the issue as a class.
The Issue
A mining company has found copper ore in your area.
The ore is near the surface, so the company has asked the
government for permission to build an open-pit mine. There
are a lot of people in the town without jobs, so these people
would welcome the mine. The local Aboriginal community is
concerned, however, that chemicals used in the mine would
hurt fish and other animals, and that the water supply could
be contaminated. Also, some people from a nearby town are
concerned that the mine would ruin the natural beauty of
the area. This would result in fewer tourists visiting local
hotels, restaurants, and other businesses.
The mining company has said that it would restore the
land once the mine closed. People opposed to the mine say
that this would be too late. They have asked the government
to turn down the mining companys request.
Identify Perspectives
Work in a group of four or five. Your group will represent
a group of people who will be affected by the mine. For
example, your group could represent one of the following
groups:
The Pros and Cons
of a New Copper Mine
Explore an Issue Explore an Issue
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Before you begin this
activity, read Explore
an Issue in the Skills
Handbook.
1. Why do you think it is important to consider different viewpoints
on an issue?

the mining company

the Aboriginal community
the town council
people from the town who want jobs
a nearby company that needs the copper to make
products to sell
scientists who are concerned about the impact of the
mine on the local environment
After you have chosen the group you will represent,
think about the viewpoint of this group. You may want to do
some research in a library or on the Internet to learn about
similar situations. What reasons did different people give for
supporting or opposing a mine? As a group, decide whether
or not you will support the mine. Write a list of reasons for
your viewpoint.
Make a Decision
Present your viewpoint to the class, along with your reasons.
After all the groups have presented their viewpoints, discuss
the different viewpoints as a class. Decide whether the class
is for or against the mine. You could take a vote to find out
whether the majority of students are for or against the mine.
Communicate Your Decision
With your group, write a letter to a local newspaper
summarizing your viewpoint on the issue. In your letter, also
describe how you felt about the class decision. Did you think
it was fair? Why or why not?
NEL
223
Coal
The most important fossil fuel for British Columbia is coal.
British Columbia produces about one third of all the coal
in Canada. Since British Columbia also produces a lot of
hydroelectricity, only a small amount of the coal is used to
meet British Columbias energy needs. Instead, the coal is
sent to many parts of the world, where it is burned to
produce electricity and to make steel and other products.
Fossil fuels are used to heat homes and run cars.
We depend on fossil fuels for most of our energy needs. Many
homes and buildings are heated by oil or natural gas. Cars,
buses, and planes need oil and gas to run. As well, fossil fuels
earn money for British Columbia.
British Columbia has large supplies of natural gas and coal,
but only small amounts of oil.
NEL
224
Fossil Fuels
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Coal needs to be mined. As you have learned, mining
has many impacts on the environment. Burning coal also
has environmental impacts. Burning coal releases pollutants
into the air. These pollutants can be harmful to humans,
animals, plants, and the atmosphere of Earth.
Natural Gas and Oil
Natural gas is a gas that is burned to heat homes and
businesses and to supply power to some cars and buses.
Oil is used to run cars, buses, trucks, and planes. It can also
be used to heat buildings.
Both natural gas and oil deposits are found deep beneath
the surface of Earth. Wells are drilled to get to these
deposits. The oil and gas are pumped to the surface and
then transported in large pipelines. Drilling and building
wells and pipelines can disturb the environment.
Burning natural gas is cleaner than burning coal because
natural gas does not produce as many pollutants. Natural gas,
however, does produce small amounts of some pollutants.
Burning oil causes less damage to the environment than
burning coal, but it causes more damage than burning
natural gas.
NEL
225
Coal from British Columbia is shipped to many parts of the world.
NEL
226
1. Why are fossil fuels important to British Columbians?
2. Describe two impacts of fossil fuels on the environment.
3. Why do we need to find new sources of energy?
Fossil fuels are the main source of energy in Canada and
around the world. Producing and using fossil fuels has great
impacts on the environment. As well, fossil fuels are being
used up at a fast rate. To stop the damage that fossil fuels
cause to the environment, scientists are working hard to
develop new energy sources that do not pollute and are
renewable. Until new energy sources are ready to replace
fossil fuels, however, we must learn how to conserve them.
What environmental impacts do you think oil rigs like this one
could have?
As you read, make
personal connections.
How do you use fossil
fuels in your daily life?
How can you help
conserve them?
Both oil and natural gas are extracted on land or in the
ocean. When oil or natural gas wells are set up in the ocean,
they are called offshore rigs. There are several offshore oil rigs
in Canada, such as Hibernia off the coast of Newfoundland.
M
ost people love cars. Cars make
our daily lives so easy that it is
hard to imagine not having cars. Our
love of cars has two big problems,
however:
Cars run on gasoline, which is
made from oil. Oil is a non-
renewable resource. As more
people drive, and drive more,
the worlds oil supply will shrink.
Cars put out exhaust, which
pollutes the air.
NEL 227
Designing Better Cars
This hybrid car runs on both gasoline and
electricity.
This car of the future has extra large wheels.
It will need less energy to run than cars with
regular sized wheels.
Scientists and engineers have built
new types of cars that do not have the
same problems. These cars use less
gasoline, pollute less, or run on
renewable resources. Some of these
cars are for sale now, while others are
still being developed. One day, you may
drive a car like one of these.
This little three-wheeled car runs on electricity
only, so it doesn't pollute. It can go as fast as
110 kilometres per hour (km/h). It is also much
lighter than most cars on the road today.
C
h
a
pt
e
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NEL
228
Vocabulary
non-renewable
p. 205
Key Idea: Most non-renewable resources take millions of
years to form.
Key Idea: We extract and process non-renewable resources
to meet our needs.
Vocabulary
extracted p. 208
Review Key Ideas and Vocabulary
Use the vocabulary words in your answers to the questions.
1. What are non-renewable resources? Give an example of a
non-renewable resource, and explain how it is formed.
2. What are the two types of non-renewable resources that are
found in British Columbia? Name one use for each resource.
3. Describe one way to extract a non-renewable resource from
Earth. What are the environmental impacts of extracting this
resource?
4. Should one person or group make a decision about mining
or drilling for a non-renewable resource? Why or why not?
NEL
229
Key Idea: We must make responsible choices when using
non-renewable resources.
Visit the Quiz Centre at: [Link]
Key Idea: Our use of non-renewable resources has an
impact on the environment.
Vocabulary
air pollution p. 210
air shed p. 211
C
h
a
pt
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r
NEL 230
Research a Local
Non-Renewable Resource
Looking Back
You have learned

how non-renewable resources are extracted and

processed
that extracting and processing non-renewable resources
has an impact on the environment

why we must conserve and protect our non-renewable

resources for the future
In this activity, you will choose and research a local non-
renewable resource or a product that is made by processing
a non-renewable resource. You will then choose a way to
present what you learned from your research.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Research a Resource and Present the Information
1. Choose a topic. With your class, brainstorm a list of non-
renewable resources that are found in your community
and products that are made from non-renewable
resources. Then, with a partner, choose a topic to
research.
2. Identify the information that you need. Make a list of
what you want to find out about your topic. Your list
could include
how the resource is extracted or processed
the positive and negative impacts of extracting or
processing the resource on the environment and your
community
how the resource is being conserved
3. Find sources of information. Identify all the possible
sources of information about your topic. These sources
might include books, magazines, Internet sites,
videotapes, and/or people in your community.
4. Record the information. Identify categories or headings
for your notes. Record the information you find in your
own words. Include notes about drawings or pictures you
might use.
5. Decide how to present your information. You might
write an article, give an oral report, create a display or
model, or make a flow chart.
Present your information to the class.
NEL 231
RESEARCH
As you look for and record information, make sure that you
show you are able to
identify the scientific information you need to find out
choose and record useful information from different sources
organize your information
PRESENTATION
As you prepare your presentation, make sure that you show
you are able to
include accurate facts
use appropriate scientific words
communicate clearly
U
nit
NEL 232
Design a Plan for Future
Resource Use
Looking Back
In this unit, you have learned

that Earth provides us with natural resources

that renewable resources can be living or non-living
and can be reused

why non-renewable resources can only be used once

that our use of resources has an impact on the
environment
why all people should conserve resources
In this activity, you will use your understanding of resource
use to design a plan for conserving a resource for the future.
Demonstrate Your Learning
Plan
1. Choose a resource that may disappear from Earth or
may become unusable as a resource. The resource can
be renewable or non-renewable.
2. Research the uses of the resource you chose. Research
how harvesting or extracting the resource affects the
environment. If your resource is renewable, how is it
renewed? How and why is the resource threatened?
3. Think about the many uses of the resource. How could
the resource be conserved so that it will be available for
future uses?
Design
1. Draw a full-page sketch for a poster about future uses
of the resource. Your sketch should show, in words and
pictures, how the resource can be conserved.
2. Share your sketch with at least one other classmate.
Ask for feedback. Make any necessary changes and
improvements to your sketch based on the feedback.
3. Complete your final poster.
Communicate
1. Present your poster to the class. Include the following
information in your presentation:
the resource you chose and the reasons for your choice
how the resource has been harvested or extracted and
how this affects the resource and the environment
how your plan will conserve the resource and lessen
the environmental impacts of harvesting, extracting,
or processing it
NEL 233
POSTER AND PRESENTATION
Your poster and presentation should show that you are able to
identify a resource that will be needed in the future
identify ways that the resource has been harvested or extracted
and the impact on the environment
identify ways that the resource can be conserved
create a final poster that makes use of the feedback from
your classmate(s)
Follow your teachers
directions.
Always follow your teachers instructions.
Ask your teacher for help if youre not
sure what to do. Wear safety goggles or
other safety equipment that your teacher
tells you to wear.
NEL
234
Science Safety Rules
Tell your teacher about any
problems.
Tell your teacher immediately if you see
a safety hazard, such as broken glass or
a spill. Also tell your teacher if you see
another student doing something you
think is dangerous. Tell your teacher
about any allergies or medical problems
you have.
Be clean and tidy.
Keep yourself and your work area tidy and
clean. Clean up and put away equipment after
you have finished. Wash your hands carefully
with soap and water at the end of each activity.
NEL
235
Heat and Fire
Keep yourself and anything else that can
burn away from heat or flames.
Never touch an object that has been heated.
Slowly bring the back of your hand toward
the object until you are sure it is not hot.
Chemicals
Never put your nose directly over a chemical
to smell it. Gently wave your hand over the
chemical until you can smell the fumes.
Wash your hands well after handling
chemicals.
Glass and Sharp Objects
Handle glassware, knives, and other sharp
instruments with care.
Never point a knife or sharp object at
another person.
Tell your teacher immediately if you break
glassware or cut yourself.
Living Things
Treat all living things with care and respect.
Never hurt an animal in any way.
Always wash your hands with soap after
touching plants or animals.


Handle with Care
When you conduct an investigation or design an experiment,
you use many skills. Use this section when you have questions
about how to use any of the investigation skills and processes
listed here.
Questioning
Scientific investigations start with good questions. To write a
good question, you must first decide what you want to know.
Good questions often start in one of the following ways:
What causes ...?
How does ... affect ...?
What would happen if ...?
Predicting
When you make a prediction, you state what you think will
happen based on what you already know. Scientists do the
same thing. They look at data they have gathered to help
them see what might happen next or in a similar situation.
This is how meteorologists come up with weather forecasts.
Remember that predictions are not guesses. You must be
able to give reasons for your predictions. You must also be
able to test them by doing experiments.
Fair Testing
When you do an experiment, it is important to think about
the things that could affect your results. Things that can
affect the results of a test are called variables. To make sure
that you are doing a fair test, you have to make sure that you
change only one variable at a time. Each time the test is
conducted is called a trial.
NEL
236
To develop a good
question, think carefully
about what information
you want to find out.
Conduct an Investigation
For example, suppose you wanted to know if your sense of
smell affects your sense of taste. You design an experiment
to test a student who will wear a blindfold and a noseclip.
In your first trial, you give the student a slice of apple to see
if the student can identify the taste. You then repeat the
procedure, but this time without the noseclip.
In your second trial, the only thing you changed was the
noseclip. Everything else stayed the same. The student you
used, the type of food, and the blindfold were the same in
each trial. Changing any of these variables would affect
your results.
To make sure a test is fair, ask yourself these questions:
Are you changing only one variable at a time?
Are you observing the same things each time?
Could any other variable be affecting the results?
Could other people repeat the experiment and get the
same results?
Observing
When you observe something, you use your senses to learn
about the world around you. You can also use tools, such as
a clock, a tape measure, or a spring scale.
Some observations can be measured. For example, you can
measure time, distance, or temperature.
Other observations can't be measured. For example, you
can describe the shape, colour, or smell of something, but
you cannot measure these observations.
NEL
237
You can describe the shape and colour
of this box. You can measure its length,
width, and height.
Measuring
Measuring is an important part of observation. When you
measure an object, you can describe it exactly. To learn about
using measuring tools, turn to Measuring on page 244.
Classifying
You classify things when you sort them into groups. When you
sort clothes, sporting equipment, or books, you are using a
classification system. Scientists use classification the same way.
They try to group things that are alike in order to understand
the nature of life.
Inferring
An inference is a possible explanation of something you
observe.
When you make an inference, you are making a best
guess. An observation, on the other hand, is based on what
you discover with your senses and measuring tools. If you say
that you heard a dog barking, you are making an observation.
If you say that it must be your neighbours dog, you are making
an inference. It may turn out to be someone elses dog.
NEL
238
Make sure to measure
carefully so you know
your observations are
accurate.
Simple machines are classified into six groups.
Simple machines
Six types
Lever
Wheel and axle
Pulley Inclined plane
Wedge
Screw
Can be combined
to form compound
machines
Interpreting Data
When you interpret data from an investigation, you make
sense of it. You look at the measurements you have made
to see if they help explain your results. Once you have
interpreted your data, you can tell if your prediction is correct.
Often, making tables or graphs of your data will help
you see patterns and relationships more easily. Turn to
Communicating Using Tables and Graphs on page 250
to learn more about creating data tables and graphing
your results.
NEL
239
Communicating
Scientists learn from each other by sharing their observations
and conclusions. They present their data in charts, tables, or
graphs and in written reports. In this student book, each
investigation tells you how to prepare and present your results.
Trial Where ruler caught
(cm)
25
25
25
20
20
Reaction time
(seconds)
0.23
0.23
0.23
0.20
0.20
1
2
3
4
5
Scientists design experiments to test
their ideas about the things they observe.
They follow the same steps you will follow
when you design an experiment.
Ask a Testable Question
The first thing you need is a testable
question. A testable question is a question
that you can answer by conducting a test.
What question do you think Simon, in the
picture above, would ask?
Make a Prediction
Next, use your past experiences and
observations to make a prediction. Your
prediction should provide an answer to
your question and briefly explain why you
think the answer is correct. It should be
testable through an experiment. What do
you think Simons prediction would be?
Turn to "Predicting" on page 236 to learn
more about making a prediction.
NEL
240
Design Your
Own Experiment
Refer to this section when you are
designing your own experiment.
Apply Findings
Plan the Experiment
List the Materials
Record Data and Observations
Interpret Data and Observations
Write a Procedure
Ask a Testable Question
Make a Prediction
Make a Conclusion
After observing the difference between his
lunch and Dals, Simon wondered why his food
was not as fresh as Dals.
Plan the Experiment
Now you need to plan how you will
conduct your experiment. Remember that
your experiment must be a fair test. Also
remember that you must change only one
variable at a time. Turn to Fair Testing
on page 236 to learn about fair tests and
variables.
List the Materials
Make a list of all the materials you will
need to conduct your experiment. Your list
must include the amount and the sizes of
any materials you need. As well, you should
draw a diagram to show how you will set up
the equipment. What materials would
Simon need to complete his experiment?
Write a Procedure
The procedure is a step-by-step
description of how you will perform your
experiment. It must be clear enough for
someone else to follow exactly. As well, it
must include any safety precautions. Your
teacher must approve your procedure and
list of materials. What steps and safety
precautions should Simon include?
Record Data and
Observations
You need to make careful observations so
that you can be sure about the effects of
the variable you changed. Record your
observations, in a data table, chart, or
graph. How would Simon record his
observations?
Turn to Observing on page 237 to
read about making observations. Turn to
Creating Data Tables on page 250 to
read about creating data tables.
Interpret Data and
Observations
If your experiment is a fair test, you can
use your observations to determine the
effects of the variable you changed.
Scientists often conduct the same test
several times to make sure that their
observations are accurate.
Make a Conclusion
When you have analyzed your
observations, you can use the results to
answer your question and determine if
your prediction was correct. You can feel
confident about your conclusion if your
experiment was a fair test.
Apply Findings
The results of scientific experiments add
to our knowledge about the world. For
example, the results may be applied to
develop new technologies and medicines,
which help to improve our lives. How do
you think Simon could use what he
discovered?
NEL
241
You make decisions every day that can
affect yourself, others, and the
environment. What is the right decision
for you may not work for other people.
For example, you might think that bicycles
are the only means of transportation that
people need. But many people depend on
their cars and could not replace them with
bicycles.
When a decision has an impact on
many people or on the environment, it is
important to explore the issue carefully.
This means thinking about all the possible
solutions and trying to understand all the
different points of viewnot just your own
point of view. It also means researching
and investigating your ideas, and talking
to and listening to others.
Identify the Issue
The first step in exploring an issue is to
identify what the issue is. An issue has
more than one solution, and there are
different points of view about which
solution is the best. Try stating the issue
as a question: What should ...?
Background to the
Issue
The background to the issue is all the
information that needs to be gathered and
considered before a decision can be made.
Use this section when you are doing an
Explore an Issue activity.
NEL
242
Explore an Issue
Make a Decision
Communicate Your Decision
Identify
Perspectives
Gather
Information
Identify Possible
Alternatives
Identify the Issue
Background to the Issue
Develop Criteria for Evaluating Solutions
Identify perspectives. There are always
different points of view on an issue.
Thats what makes it an issue. For
example, suppose that the house at
the end of your street has been torn
down. The land is owned by the city,
and they are deciding what to do with
it. People in the neighbourhood want
a park to be put in. A house builder
wants to build an apartment building.
Gather information. The decision you
reach must be based on a good
understanding of the issue. You must
be in a position to choose the most
appropriate solution. To do this, you
need to gather facts that represent the
different points of view. Watch out for
information presenting only one side
of the issue. Develop good questions
and a plan for your research. Your
research may include talking to
people, reading about the issue, and
doing Internet research. For the land-
use issue, you may also want to visit the
site to make observations.
Identify possible alternatives. After
identifying points of view and
gathering information, you can now
make a list of possible solutions. You
might, for example, come up with the
following solutions for the land-use
issue:
Turn the land into a park.
Build an apartment building, so
more people can move to the
neighbourhood.
Create a combination park and
small apartment building.
Develop Criteria for
Evaluating Solutions
Develop criteria to evaluate each possible
solution. For example, should the
solution be the one that has the most
community support? Should it be the one
that protects the environment? You need
to decide which criteria you will use to
evaluate the solutions so that you can
decide which solution is the best.
Make a Decision
This is the stage where everyone gets a
chance to share his or her ideas and the
information he or she gathered about the
issue. Then the group needs to evaluate
all the possible solutions and decide on
one solution based on the list of criteria.
Communicate Your
Decision
Choose a method to communicate your
decision. For example, you could choose
one of the following methods:
Write a report.
Give an oral presentation.
Design a poster.
Prepare a slide show.
Organize a panel presentation.
Write a newspaper article.
NEL
243
NEL
244
Measuring
Measuring is an important part of doing science.
Measurements allow you to give exact information when
you are describing something.
Measuring Length
You measure length when you want to find out how long
something is. You also measure length when you want to know
how deep, how tall, how far, or how wide something is. The
metre (m) is the basic unit of length.
Length is the distance between two points. Four units can be used
to measure length: metres (m), centimetres (cm), millimetres (mm),
and kilometres (km).
1000 mm 1 m 100 cm 1 m 1000 m 1 km
Which of these measuring tools would you use to measure your
height? Which would you use to measure the size of your waist?
Which would you use to measure the width of your notebook?
Metric ruler
Metre stick
Tape measure
NEL
245
Measuring Liquid Volume
You measure volume when you want to measure the amount
of liquid in a container. Scientists use special containers,
with measurements marked on them, so that they can get
precise measures of volume.
Volume is the amount of space something takes up. Liquid volume
is measured in litres (L) and millilitres (mL).
1000 mL 1 L
Measuring Temperature
Temperature tells us how hot or cold something is. In science,
temperature is measured in degrees Celsius (C).
0 C freezing point of water
20 C room temperature
37.6 C normal body temperature
100 C boiling point of water
There are many different kinds of thermometers, and many
work the same way. When the liquid in the thermometer gets
warmer, it takes up more space and rises up the tube. When
the liquid gets cooler, it shrinks and the liquid goes down.
The numbers on thermometers are called the scale. To find
the temperature, you read the number on the scale that is at
the same height as the liquid.
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
mL
Read this
level
To read the measurement
of a liquid correctly, make
sure your eyes are at the
same level as the top of
the liquid.
Hold the thermometer
at eye level to be sure
your reading is accurate.
Reading Tips
When you are reading a science textbook, you are reading
for information. Reading for information takes some special
skills you dont use when you read a story. Here are some
tips to help you read.
Before Reading
Look at the pictures and the headings. Ask yourself what the
section is going to be about. Think about what you already
know about the topic. What else would you like to find out?
Write your ideas and questions before you start reading.
NEL
246
Reading for Information
After Reading
Ask yourself: What did I learn? Whats most important for me
to remember? How does this information fit in with other
things I already know about? Then, answer the questions at
the end of a section. These questions will help you check
your understanding of what you read. They will help you
make connections to other science topics, to your own life,
and to events in Canada and the world.
During Reading
Stop and think as you read. Sometimes, you may need to read
a part again. Check to make sure you understand. Notice the
important science words. Remember, you can use the glossary
or study the pictures to help you understand the words.
Spend time on the pictures and tables as well as on the words.
NEL
247
NEL
248
Sometimes it is helpful to use a picture or a chart to show
what you are thinking. You can read the information in the
picture or in the chart just like you read text on a page.
Using Graphic Organizers
A word web shows
connections among the
different words related
to a science topic.
Know
There are many
natural
resources
Wonder
Are all natural
resources
renewable?
Learned
Resources can
be renewable or
non-renewable.
A KWL chart shows
what you Know about a
topic, what you Wonder,
and what you have
Learned about the topic.
A flow chart shows the
steps in a process. This
diagram shows the steps
in digesting an apple.
digestive
system
circulatory
system
respiratory
system
muscular
system
skeletal
system
skin
p
r
o
v
i
d
e
s

n
u
t
r
i
e
n
t
s
t
o

c
e
lls
NEL
249
Living and Non-Living Resources
Living resources
plants
animals
Non-living resources
water
wind
gold
A T-chart shows two
sides of a topic.
Wheel
and axle
Pulley
Inclined
plane
Wedge
Screw
Other
machines
Class of
simple machines
Lever
Types of
levers
Third-class lever
First-class lever
Second-class lever
Fulcrum
Effort force
Require
three things
to do work
Load
A concept map shows a collection of words or pictures or both.
NEL
250
Communicating Using
Tables and Graphs
Trial
1
2
3
4
5
Where ruler
caught (cm)
Reaction
time
(seconds)
Creating Data Tables
You use data tables to record your observations. Data is
the information you collected. In the table on the left, the
data is the length the ruler was dropped and the time it took
to catch the ruler. Data tables are a good way to organize
your information.
Graphing Data
Sometimes you can create graphs from the data you collect.
When you graph data, you show the patterns or relationships
in the data. Graphs make the information easier to see.
Different types of graphs show different information.
Bar Graphs
A bar graph shows relationships between separate sets of
data. It is a way to show data that uses horizontal or vertical
bars. Bar graphs are useful when you want to compare data.
Look at the bar graph here. It shows the amount of water
used for different activities.
Average Water Use for Different Activities
Activities
Toilet Shower Bath Dishwasher Washing Washing
flush (5 minutes) machine hands
250
200
150
100
50
0
L
i
t
r
e
s

(
L
)
Swimming
Skateboarding Cycling
Snowboarding

1
2
0

1
3
0

1
4
0

1
1
0

Top Four Favourite Sports

of Students in My Class
NEL
251
Circle Graphs
A circle graph (or pie graph) shows the whole of something
divided into all its parts. A circle graph is round and compares
data by showing it as parts of the circle. This circle graph
shows favourite sports of students in a class.
Line Graphs
A line graph shows changes in measurement over time. A
line graph is useful when you are looking at a relationship
between two different things. The line graph for the data
here shows the amount of fish caught in British Columbia
from 1976 to 2003.
Tonnes of Fish Caught in British Columbia
Note: 1 tonne = 1 000 kilograms
1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003
Year
350 000
300 000
250 000
200 000
150 000
100 000
50 000
0
T
o
n
n
e
s
A
air pollution the state of air
that has been made unclean
by harmful substances
air shed the air above a
specific area; the air shared
by every living thing in the
area
arteries thick blood vessels
that carry blood away from
your heart; this blood
usually carries oxygen
axle the rod part of a
wheel and axle (a simple
machine)
B
balanced forces two forces
of equal strength that are
acting in opposite directions
on an object; when forces
are balanced, the motion of
the object does not change
biodegradable made from
materials that were once
living; biodegradable
products can be broken
down by organisms
bladder a balloon-like
organ that holds urine until
it is released from your body
blood cells the solid parts
of your blood; there are
three kinds of blood cells:
red blood cells, white
blood cells, and platelets
NEL
252
Glossary
blood vessels hollow tubes
that contain your blood;
your blood moves through
your body in blood vessels
bones pieces that form
your skeleton, which gives
shape and support to your
body and protects your
internal organs
brain an organ inside your
skull, made from nerve
cells; it receives messages
from all parts of your body
and sends out messages in
return
C
carbon dioxide a gas
produced by your cells
when they produce energy;
you get rid of it by
breathing it out through
your lungs
cartilage a layer of cells in
a gel-like material; cartilage
reduces friction between
the ends of the bones at
your joints and cushions
your joints
cells the smallest parts of
your body; many cells have
special jobs to do; for
example, a muscle cell is a
cell with a special job
colon the first part of your
large intestine; it squeezes
most of the water out of
the wastes left over after
digestion
compound machine a
machine made up of two
or more simple machines
conservation saving or
reusing resources so they
will be available for the
future; for example,
turning off the lights
when you leave a room
conserves energy
D
digestion the process of
breaking down food into
nutrients for your body
to use
E
ecosystem a system formed
by the interactions of all
the living and non-living
things in an environment;
an ocean and a forest are
both ecosystems
effort force the force that
is needed to push, pull, or
lift an object
environmental impact
the result of an action or
event that damages or
changes an environment;
environmental impacts can
be large or small; for
example, oil leaking into
the ocean can have a large
impact on the water
organisms
equilibrium the state when
the forces acting on an
object are balanced; when
an object is in equilibrium,
the motion of the object
does not change
esophagus a long tube
that runs from your mouth
to your stomach; muscles
squeeze food down your
esophagus
extract to take something
out of something else; for
example, ores are
extracted from the ground
F
force a push or pull that
can change the way an
object moves, stop it, or
hold it in place
friction a force that resists
motion; friction happens
when two surfaces come in
contact with each other
fulcrum the fixed point on
which a lever turns
NEL
253
G
groundwater precipitation
that goes into the ground;
groundwater that is not
brought to the surface will
eventually flow into a
stream, lake, or river
H
harvesting taking any
resource, including water,
from Earths surface
heart an organ that works
like a pump; it pushes your
blood through your whole
body
I
inclined plane a simple
machine with a sloped
surface like a ramp
Indigenous Knowledge (IK)
understandings about the
natural world unique to a
particular group or culture
who have lived for a very
long time in that area; this
knowledge is passed to the
next generation through
stories and songs
K
kidneys organs that filter
blood; they filter out the
wastes and return nutrients
and most of the water back
to the blood
L
large intestine a wide,
short tube connected to
your small intestine; it gets
rid of the wastes in your
body that are left over after
digestion
leaching the process of
carrying substances such as
chemicals into the ground
with groundwater
lever a simple machine
with a straight rod or board
that turns around a fixed
point
ligaments strong, elastic
groups of cells that stretch
and tighten, like rubber
bands; they hold the bones
of movable joints together
liver an organ that helps
break down the fats in food
by putting chemical juices
into your small intestine
load the weight of an
object that is being moved
local environment all the
living and non-living things
in a particular area
lung a spongy organ in
your chest that sits inside
your ribs; your blood picks
up oxygen and gives up
carbon dioxide in your two
lungs
M
membrane the outer part
of a cell that lets needed
materials enter the cell and
lets wastes move out of the
cell
muscles tissues attached to
bones; muscles make bones
move
N
natural resources all the
living and non-living
materials in nature, such as
plants, animals, water,
wind, and minerals
nerve cells specialized cells
that receive messages and
then send the messages to
other nerve cells
nerves bundles of nerve
cells; messages are received
and sent from nerve cell to
nerve cell along a nerve;
nerves send these messages
to and from the brain or
the spinal cord
non-renewable cannot
reproduce or renew itself;
once non-renewable
resources are used, they
are gone forever
nutrients materials that
your body needs to stay
alive and grow; digestion
changes the food you eat
into nutrients
NEL
254
O
organ any part that carries
out special jobs in your
body; organs work together
in systems, for example,
your stomach is an organ
that is part of your
digestive system
oxygen a gas found in the
air you breathe in; oxygen
releases the energy from
the nutrients in your body
cells
P
pulley a simple machine
that has a rope or chain
wrapped around a grooved
wheel; there are three
types of pulleys: a fixed
pulley, a movable pulley,
and a combined pulley
pulse a regular beat
produced when your heart
contracts; you can feel your
pulse in your wrist
R
ramp a sloped surface; a
surface on an angle
raw materials resources
before they are turned into
products humans use; for
example, trees are raw
materials for lumber and
pulp and paper
recycling processing a
product so it can be used
again; for example,
aluminum cans may be
recycled to make new
aluminum cans
reflex an immediate and
automatic body response
to a message; the message
goes only to your spinal
cord, not to your brain
renewable can replace
itself through reproduction,
be re-grown, or can renew
itself naturally; can be living
or non-living
resources any living or
non-living things that
humans use to meet their
needs and wants
S
screw a simple machine
that has an inclined plane
wrapped around a central
core to form a spiral
sense organs parts that
gather information from
outside your body and send
the information to your
brain through nerves;
sense organs include your
skin, nose, tongue, eyes,
and ears
simple machines the six
machines used to make all
other machines: the lever,
wheel and axle, pulley,
inclined plane, wedge,
and screw
skin the largest organ in
your body; it covers and
protects your body and
holds all your systems safely
inside
small intestine a long, thin
winding tube connected to
your stomach; it finishes
the job of breaking food
down into nutrients
soil pollution the state of
soil that has been made
unclean by chemicals and
other harmful substances
solar energy energy that
comes from the Sun; solar
energy can be changed
into heat or electricity
spinal cord a long rod
made of many nerves
attached to the base of
your brain and running
down almost to the end of
your spinal column; nerves
from your body are
attached to the spinal cord
stomach a pear-shaped
organ at the end of the
esophagus; your stomach
mixes up food and breaks
it down into a watery liquid
surface runoff
precipitation that runs
along the surface of the
land until it flows into a
stream, river, lake, or ocean
NEL
255
surface texture the way an
object feels, for example,
smooth, rough, or slippery
T
tendons strong, elastic
groups of cells that stretch
and tighten, like rubber
bands; they attach muscles
to bones
trachea a tube from your
throat to your lungs; air
travels down your trachea
to your lungs, and carbon
dioxide travels up out of
your lungs
U
unbalanced forces two
forces of unequal strength
that are acting in opposite
directions on an object
V
veins blood vessels that
carry blood back to the
heart; this blood usually
carries carbon dioxide
W
water cycle the natural
recycling of water on Earth
so it can be used over and
over again; water recycles
through evaporation,
condensation, and
precipitation
water pollution the state
of water that has been
made unclean by harmful
substances or organisms
that can make animals and
plants sick
watershed an area of land
that drains into a river or
lake; precipitation that falls
on a watershed either flows
down to the river or lake,
or sinks into the ground
wedge a simple machine
with a thick end and a thin
end; the thin end is used to
lift, hold, or push objects
apart
weight a measure of the
force of gravity on an
object; weight is measured
in newtons (N)
wheel a circular object,
the larger part of a wheel
and axle (a simple
machine) that turns
around a rod
work the result of using
force to make something
move
A
Aboriginal peoples
and cedar trees, 18889
Nisgaa people, 7677
and salmon, 180, 182
use of resources, 159, 167, 176
Adzes, 75
Air pollution, 210, 227
Air sheds, 211
Aluminum cans, 170
Animals, 186, 198
Aquaculture, 181
Archimedes screw, 52
Arms, 64, 65, 121, 129
Arteries, 105
Augers, 52
B
Backhoes, 69, 72
Balance, 142, 143
Balanced forces, 2425
Balls, movement of, 67, 33
Bicycles, 12, 38, 61
Biodegradable, 171
Birds, 91, 198
Bladder, 11011
Block and tackle, 46
Blood, 100, 102, 103, 104,
11011
Blood cells, 106, 123, 132
Blood vessels, 105
Body systems, 85, 87, 118,
13233, 15051
Bone marrow, 123, 132
Bones, 118, 119, 12021,
12223, 12425, 142, 151
Brain, 85, 132, 139, 141, 14245,
148, 149, 150, 151
Breathing, 93, 94, 95, 121, 127,
143, 209
C
Calcium, 119, 12425
Can openers, 60
NEL
256
Index
Canadarm, 64
Canadas Food Guide to Healthy
Eating, 99
Canneries, 182
Canoes, 66, 188
Cans, rolling of, 20-23
Capillaries, 105
Carbon dioxide, 94, 103, 104,
105, 107
Cars, 3031, 61, 204, 227
Cartilage, 123
Carving, 7475
Cedar trees, 18889
Cell membrane, 106
Cells, 87, 88, 92, 94, 100, 101,
104, 105, 106, 107, 119, 122,
123, 130
Chisels, 50
Circulatory system, 101, 11213,
133
Coal, 206, 22425
Colon, 89
Composting, 171, 213
Compound machines, 5961,
6263
carving using, 7475
designing, 8283
in forestry, 7273
history of, 6667
in mining, 6871
Computer chips, 129
Conservation, 16871, 17475,
202, 226
Conveyor belts, 70, 73
Copper, 21415, 22223
Cows, 91
Cranes, 36, 73
D
Dams, 198
Diamonds, 208
Diaphragm, 93, 95, 127
Digestion, 88, 142, 143, 151
Digestive system, 8891, 107,
127, 133
Doorknobs, 43
Doorstops, 51
E
Ears, 141, 149
Ecosystems, 16566, 167, 185,
186
Effort force, 34, 38
changing, 45, 50, 60, 62
with combination of
inclined plane and fixed
pulley, 63
with graders, 67
with inclined planes, 49, 62
levers and, 3941
measuring, 47
with nail guns, 67
with pulleys, 45, 46, 62
screws and, 52
with shovels, 59
with wedges, 50
with wheels and axles, 4244,
63
Energy, 86, 94, 178
renewable resources, 19899
sources of, 226
from Sun, 199
Environment, 160, 185
Environmental impacts, 164,
166, 202, 204, 212, 216, 225,
226
Equilibrium, 24, 26
Esophagus, 89, 91, 151
Excretory system, 11011
Exercise, 99, 108109
Exhaling, 94, 95, 104, 121
Exhaust, 227
Extracted, 208
Eyes, 141, 148, 151
F
Feller bunchers, 72
Fish, 178
Fish wheels, 7677
Fishing, 168, 181
Force, 5
amount of, 7
changing direction of, 38
direction of, 7
load and, 18
movement of, 1619
slope and, 1718
surface texture and, 12,
1415, 17
Forces, 2
balanced, 2425
combining, 2426
machines and, 32
measuring, 89
and movement, 3, 47
unbalanced, 2526
Forestry, 7273, 18687
Forests, 18487
Fossil fuels, 205206, 22426
Fresh water, 191
Friction, 1013
Fulcrum, 3941, 42, 59, 65
G
Garbage, 169, 193
Gasoline, 163, 204, 227
Good health posters, 98-99
Graders, 67
Gravity, force of, 6, 8, 26
Green roofs, 213
Groundwater, 191, 209
H
Haida, 75
Hair, 13031
Hammers, 67
Handles, 44, 59, 61
Harvesting
of fish, 18081
of renewable resources,
202203
Heart, 100, 102104, 121, 127
Heart rate, 108109, 143
Hockey players, 138
Hormones, 107
Hydrochloric acid, 90
Hydroelectricity, 198, 224
I
Ice, 11, 191
NEL
257
Inclined planes, 3637, 4849, 62
with conveyor belts, 70
fish wheels and, 76
fixed pulleys and, 63
in sawmills, 73
screws as, 52
wedges and, 50, 51
Inhaling, 93, 95, 104, 121
Interactions, 165
Inuit people, 49
J
Joints, 122, 123
K
Kidneys, 11011
Knives, 75
L
Large intestine, 89
Leaching, 192
Legs, 121, 13638
Levers, 3637, 3941, 42
arms as, 65
on bicycles, 61
on feller bunchers, 72
hammers as, 67
on scissors, 60
shovels as, 59
Lifting, with wheels and axles,
44
Ligaments, 122, 123, 126
Liver, 89
Living resources, 162
Living things, 161, 165, 166,
167, 19497, 216
Load, 18
arms and, 65
with graders, 67
levers and, 3941
with movable pulleys, 46
rolling and, 2023
shovels and, 59
wheels and axles and, 4244
Local environment, 185
Logging, 18486
Longhouses, 188
Lumber, 73, 18687
Lungs, 92, 93, 94, 95, 99, 103,
104, 106, 107, 121
M
Machines, 2, 32, 8081. See also
Compound machines; Simple
machines
choice of, 5657
human bodies as, 85
Magnets, 6
Mars Rover, 64
Mechanical advantage, 34, 38
with compound machines, 59
with conveyor belts, 70
with fixed pulleys, 63
with inclined planes, 49, 63
with pulleys, 45, 46
with wedges, 50
of wheels and axles, 42, 44
Messenger chemicals, 107
Metals, 204
Minerals, 119, 205, 207, 20811,
21415
Mining, 222
of chocolate chips, 21921
of coal, 225
compound machines in,
6871
of copper, 22223
machines, 58
of minerals, 20811
open-pit, 210, 21415, 217
opening and closing mines,
21618
underground, 209
Moon, force of gravity on, 8
Mosquito bites, 150
Mouth, 89, 92, 93
Movement, 57
of bones, 12223
force(s) and, 3, 47, 1619
of human body, 118
of muscles, 143
of wheels and axles, 42
Muscles, 89, 95, 118, 120, 126,
132, 142, 143, 151
cells, 87
computers and, 129
involuntary, 127
tissues, 87
voluntary, 127
Muscular system, 12628
N
Nail guns, 67
Nails, 130
Natural gas, 22526
Natural resources, 161, 162
Nerve cells, 139, 142
Nerves, 139, 140, 141, 148, 151
Nervous system, 65, 138
interaction with other
systems, 15051
parts of, 13941
role-playing, 15455
Newtons (N), 8
Nhaaitk, 7475
Nisgaa fish wheels, 7677
Non-living resources, 162, 178
Non-living things, 161, 162, 165,
166, 167, 216
Non-renewable resources, 159,
204207, 227, 23031
Nose, 92, 93, 141, 148
Nutrients, 88, 89, 92, 99, 101,
105, 107, 119
O
Ocean, 226
Offshore rigs, 226
Ogopogo, 7475
Oil, 22526, 227
Ores, 208, 209, 210, 21415
Organs, 87, 88, 119, 132, 150
Oxygen, 92, 93, 94, 101, 103,
104, 105, 106, 107
P
Packaging, 169
Pancreas, 89
Peat, 206
Pencil sharpeners, 34, 53
Pencils, 24, 25, 208
Petroleum, 163
Phosphates, 194
Plants, 21213
Plasma, 106, 107
Plastics, 213
Platelets, 106
Ploughs, 66
Pollutants, 192, 193, 210, 225
NEL
258
Pollution, 212, 213, 222. See also
Air pollution; Soil pollution;
Water pollution
Polyester, 163
Power boats, 66
Precipitation, 191
Products
copper, 215
forestry, 186-87
Propellers, 53
Pulleys, 3637, 4547
combined, 46
fixed, 45, 46, 62
inclined planes and, 63
in mining machines, 69
movable, 46
in sawmills, 73
Pulp and paper products,
18687
Pulse, 102, 108
R
Ramps, 15, 1718, 2023, 48
Raw materials, 186, 215
Reaction time, 14647
Reclamation, 217
Rectum, 89
Recycling, 170, 191, 214
Reducing, 169
Reflex actions, 144
Reflexes, 14445
Renewable resources, 159,
17679, 178, 19899, 202203
Resources. See also Non-
renewable resources;
Renewable resources
conservation of, 16871
and environment, 160
impact of use, 16466
processing of, 182
recycling, 170
reducing use of, 169
reusing, 170
use of, 23233
Respiratory system, 9295, 133
Reusing, 170
Ribs, 95, 121, 123
Robotic arms, 64, 65, 129
Robots, 6465
Rocks, 208, 210, 214, 217
Roller coasters, 3, 23
Rollers, 42
Ruminating, 91
S
Saliva, 89
Salmon, 18083
Salt water, 191
Sawmills, 73
Scissors, 60
Screws, 3637, 5253
on bicycles, 61
on can openers, 60
on scissors, 60
Sense organs, 140, 141, 14849,
151
Senses, 14849
Shovels, 59, 68
Sight, 148
Simple machines, 32, 3638, 58,
7475
Skateboarding, 4
Skeleton, 119, 132
Skin, 118, 13031, 132, 133, 141,
148
Skull, 120, 122, 131, 139
Slope
force and, 1718
rolling and, 2023
Small intestine, 89
Smell, 148
Smoking, 99
Snakes, 91
Snowboarding, 4
Snow person, 33
Soaps, 195
Soccer, 5, 6
Soil pollution, 192, 21213
Solar energy, 199
Sound, 149
Spinal column, 120, 123, 140
Spinal cord, 139, 140, 141
Spirals, 52, 53
Spring scales, 8, 9
Stomach, 87, 89, 91, 151
Sun, the, 178, 199
Surface runoff, 191
Surface texture
force and, 1415, 17
friction and, 1112
Sweat, 110, 131
T
Tailings, 214, 217
Taste, 148
Taste buds, 148
Teeth, 51, 89
Tendons, 126
Terrarium, 166
Tissues, 87
Toboggans, 26
Tongue, 89, 141, 148
Totem poles, 188
Touch, 148
Trachea, 92, 93
Tracks, 73
Trees, 178, 18489
Tugboats, 27
Turning, with wheels and axles,
43
NEL
259
U
Ulus, 49, 50
Unbalanced forces, 2526
Urine, 111
V
Veins, 105
W
Wastes
body, 89, 94, 105, 106, 107,
11011, 193
from ore processing, 214
Water, 89, 94, 107, 111, 178,
19093, 198
Water cycle, 191, 205
Water pollution, 193, 19497,
21213
Watersheds, 192
Waterslides, 13
Wedges, 3637, 4951, 5051
on can openers, 60
with hammers, 67
power shovels and, 69
on scissors, 60
screws as, 52
shovels as, 59
Weight, 8
Wells, 4344
Wheelbarrows, 36
Wheels and axles, 3637, 4244
on bicycles, 61
on can openers, 60
with conveyor belts, 70
effort force and, 63
on fish wheels, 76
on forestry machines, 73
Wind, 178
Windpipe. See Trachea
Work, 2, 32, 33
Y
Yeltatzie, John, 7475
Front Cover
Gunter Marx Photography/Corbis Canada
Table of Contents
iv-v Pixtal/[Link]; vi-vi Tony Freeman /
Photo Edit; viii-ix David Nunuk/
[Link].
Preface
1 Al Harvey/[Link].
Unit A
2-3 Pixtal/[Link]; 4 A. Ramey / Photo
Edit; 5 top Ed Bock/Corbis Canada; inset Brand X
Pictures / Alamy; bottom Joseph De Sciose/
Nonstock/[Link]; 8 top left ESA/ PLI/Corbis
Canada; bottom left Digital image 1996 CORBIS;
Original image courtesy of NASA/Corbis Canada;
10 David Young-Wolff / Photo Edit; 11 left Rick
Gomez/Masterfile; right Bernhard Edmaier /
Science Photo Library; 13 left Alec Pytlowany/
Masterfile; right Richard T. Nowitz/[Link];
17 top Eric Fowke / Photo Edit; bottom David
Young-Wolff / Photo Edit; 18 top Mark Richards /
Photo Edit; 23 EuroStyle Graphics / Alamy; 24 Roy
Ooms/Masterfile; 26 [Link]; 27 Chris
Cheadle/[Link]; 28 top left to
bottom left Brand X Pictures / Alamy; Joseph De
Sciose/Nonstock/[Link]; Dave Starrett; Alec
Pytlowany/Masterfile; Dave Starrett; Mark Richards
/ Photo Edit; Eric Fowke / Photo Edit; 29
MATTHIAS HIEKEL/EPA /Landov; 35 Ann
Giordano/Corbis Canada; 36 Dale Wilson/
Masterfile; 37 clockwise top left to bottom left
Corbis Canada; David Young-Wolff / Photo Edit;
Manor Photography / Alamy; [Link] s.r.o. /
Alamy; Tony Freeman / Photo Edit; 40 top Ole
Graf/zefa/Corbis Canada; centre Bill Aron / Photo
Edit; right Jason Hosking/zefa/Corbis Canada; 48
left NOVASTOCK / Photo Edit; centre Photofusion
Picture Library / Alamy; right MedioImages Fresca
Collection / Alamy; 49 left B&C Alexander/
[Link]; right B&C Alexander/[Link];
50 Raymond Gehman/Corbis Canada; 51 top
NEL
260
Credits
Norman/zefa/Corbis Canada; bottom Andrew
Alden; 52 2006 Witte Museum, All Rights Reserved;
53 left Dennis MacDonald / Photo Edit; top centre
NOVASTOCK / Photo Edit; bottom centre Al
Harvey/The Slide Farm; 54 top left Corbis Canada;
bottom left David Young-Wolff / Photo Edit; centre
left Manor Photography / Alamy; centre right Tony
Freeman/Photo Edit; right [Link] s.r.o. /
Alamy; 58 f1 online / Alamy; 64 left Reuters/Corbis
Canada; right Maximilian Stock Ltd. / Photo
Researchers, Inc.; 65 left Permission granted by
Yosef Bar-Cohen, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory;
right Courtesy of Will Craig; 66 top left Glenbow
Archives ND-8-404; top right Gunter Marx
Photography/Corbis Canada; bottom left British
Columbia Archives H-04742; bottom right Don
Weixl / [Link]; 67 top left
City of Vancouver Archives A19251; top right
Photodisc/[Link]; bottom left Canadian
Museum of Civilization Corporation VII-C-446;
bottom right Thinkstock / Alamy; 68 left British
Columbia Archives B-04832; right British Columbia
Archives C-09585; 69 Al Harvey/The Slide Farm;
70 Courtesy of Port of Vancouver; 71 bottom Ohio
Historical Society; 72 left Photo courtesy of John
Deere; right City of Vancouver Archives A08077;
73 left Chris Cheadle/[Link];
right Ron Niebrugge / Alamy; 74 top 2006 Kelowna
Art Gallery Artist-in-Residency project funded by the
Audain Foundation and RBC Foundation, photo
courtesy of Kyle Poirer; bottom Alice Gro;
75 top right Canadian Museum of Civilization
Corporation VII-A-248; top left Canadian
Museum of Civilization Corporation VII-B-1074;
bottom right Canadian Museum of Civilization
Corporation VII-B-551; bottom left Canadian
Museum of Civilization Corporation VII-B-592 a,b;
76 Chris Cheadle/[Link];
77 Chris Cheadle/[Link]; 78
bottom left Photodisc/[Link]; bottom centre
Courtesy of John Deere; bottom right Chris
Cheadle/[Link]; 79 top
Gunter Marx Photography/Corbis Canada; 80 inset
British Columbia Archives A-06106; top Al Harvey/
The Slide Farm.
Unit B
84-85 Tony Freeman / Photo Edit; 86 David Young-
Wolff/Photo Edit; 88 Amy Etra / Photo Edit; 91 top
Corbis Canada; centre LESZCZYNSKI, ZIGMUND /
Animals Animals - Earth Scenes/[Link];
bottom Lester Lefkowitz/Corbis Canada; 92 Alec
Pytlowany/Masterfile; 94 David Young-Wolff /
Photo Edit; 100 David Young-Wolff / Photo Edit;
102 M. Humberland/ Science Source/Photo
Researchers; 106 left Dr. Gopal Murti /
Visuals Unlimited; centre James A. Sullivan,
[Link]; right NIBSC / Science Photo
Library ; 108 Nelson Photo; 112 Al Harvey/The
Slide Farm; 114 top right M. Humberland/
Science Source/Photo Researchers; 118 Lawrence
Migdale / PIX; 119 Courtesy of Bone Clones;
120 right Courtesy of Skulls Unlimited; left David
Young-Wolff / Photo Edit; 121 top imagebroker /
Alamy; bottom Pasieka / Science Photo Library;
123 Stephen Marks/The Image Bank/Getty Images;
126 David Young-Wolff / Photo Edit; inset
Anatomical Travelogue / Photo Researchers, Inc.;
128 Myrleen Ferguson Cate/Photo Edit; 129 top
Rick Friedman Photography; bottom Motor Lab,
University of Pittsburgh; 130 right Steve Skjold /
Photo Edit; 134 top left Courtesy of Bone Clones;
top right Pasieka / Science Photo Library; centre
David Young-Wolff / Photo Edit; 138 Dennis
MacDonald / Photo Edit; 142 David Bassett /
Photo Researchers, Inc.; 145 Gary Houlder/
Corbis Canada.
Unit C
158-159 David Nunuk/[Link];
161 Al Harvey/The Slide Farm; 164 DESMOND
BOYLAN/Reuters/Corbis Canada;165
Thomas Kitchin & Victoria Hurst/
[Link]; 166 DK Limited/
Corbis Canada; 168 [Link]; 169 Picture
Arts/[Link]; 171 Dick Hemingway Editorial
Photographs; 172 centre Al Harvey/The Slide
Farm; bottom DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters/
Corbis Canada; 173 top Dick Hemingway Editorial
Photographs; 176 Vince Streano/Corbis Canada;
177 left Thomas Kitchin & Victoria Hurst/
[Link]; centre Alan & Sandy
Carey/zefa/Corbis Canada; right Gunter Marx
Photography/Corbis Canada; 178 top Paul Hardy/
Corbis Canada; bottom left John E. Marriott/
[Link]; bottom right Chris
NEL
261
Cheadle/British [Link]; 179 top left
Keith Douglas/BritishColumbia [Link]; bottom
left Dan Lamont/Corbis Canada; right Gunter
Marx Photography; 180 Brandon D. Cole/Corbis
Canada; 181 top right Gunter Marx Photography;
centre right Al Harvey/The Slide Farm; bottom left
Natalie Fobes/Corbis Canada; 182 Gunter Marx
Photography/Corbis Canada; 184 Gunter Marx
Photography/Corbis Canada; 185 left Neil
Rabinowitz/Corbis Canada; right Christopher J.
Morris/Corbis Canada; 186 left Kevin
Schafer/Corbis Canada; right Kennan Ward/Corbis
Canada; 188 left O. Alamany & E. Vicens/Corbis
Canada; right Ann Johansson/Corbis Canada; 189
top left Edward S. Curtis Collection/Northwestern
University Library; bottom left Edward S. Curtis
Collection/Northwestern University Library; right
Jeremy Koreski/[Link]; 194
John Sohlden / Visuals Unlimited; 198 Gunter
Marx Photography; 199 left Gunter Marx
Photography; right Andrew Lambert Photography /
Science Photo Library; 200 bottom left Neil
Rabinowitz/Corbis Canada; bottom right Kevin
Schafer/Corbis Canada; 201 top left Gunter
Marx Photography; top right Jeremy Koreski/
[Link]; bottom left
Thomas Kitchin & Victoria Hurst/
[Link]; bottom centre Alan &
Sandy Carey/zefa/Corbis Canada; bottom right
Gunter Marx Photography/Corbis Canada; 204
Kevin R. Morris/Corbis Canada; 208 left E. R.
Degginger / Photo Researchers, Inc.; centre
David Hoffman Photo Library / Alamy; right
Corbis Canada; 210 Keith Douglas/
[Link]; 211 Al Harvey/
The Slide Farm; 212 left Corbis Canada; right
Gunter Marx Photography/Corbis Canada; 213 left
Courtesy of Terri Meyer Boake, School of
Architecture, University of Waterloo; right Roger
Ressmeyer/Corbis Canada; 214 Paul Souders/
Corbis Canada; 216 Gunter Marx Photography;
217 Courtesy of Fording River Operations, Elk
Valley Coal Corporation; 218 top Gunter Marx
Photography; bottom Neil Rabinowitz/Corbis
Canada; 224 left Photodisc/[Link]; right
Corbis Canada; 225 Al Harvey/The Slide Farm;
226 Ron Watts/[Link]; 227 left Mehau Kulyk /
Photo Researchers, Inc.; top right JOHN HILLERY/
Reuters/Corbis; bottom right Automobiles
Peugeot; 229 top Al Harvey/The Slide Farm;
bottom left Gunter Marx Photography; bottom
right Neil Rabinowitz/Corbis Canada.
Skills Handbook
234 top Lyle Ottenbreit.
Additional Photography
Ray Boudreau
Dave Starrett
NEL
262
Back Cover
Top Pixtal/[Link]; middle Tony
Freeman / Photo Edit; bottom David
Nunuk/[Link].
Text Permissions
44 Adapted from Power of Science Simple
Machines Kit. Copyright 2000 Learning
Resources, Inc. 219 Adapted from Cooking Mining,
Women in Mining, [Link]
Women in Mining Education Foundation.