The Natural World
•Renewable Resources
•Nonrenewable
Resources
•Inexhaustible Resources
Try to imagine a world without the natural
resources we use to fuel our cars, light
our homes and pave our highway.
Natural resources run our cars, rocket
ships, video games, factories, and
practically our entire lives.
All forms of transportation-walking,
riding a bus, riding your bike or
horse, or driving a car-use energy.
However, some forms use energy
that can be renewed, and some use
energy that can’t be renewed.
We can divide all sources of energy
and materials into three categories:
inexhaustible, renewable, and
nonrenewable.
What is a resource?
Resource: Natural materials that are
considered valuable.
Inexhaustible
Resources
Inexhaustible Resources:
Resources that have no practical
limits, such as solar or
hydrothermal energy.
Inexhaustible resources, such
as sunlight, cannot be used
up. Water is considered
inexhaustible because the
Earth will always have the
same amount of water
Renewable Resources
Renewable Resources:
•Resources that can be replaced over
a relatively short time period, such as
fresh water, hydroelectric power, or
living resources.
•Renewable Resources are
resources that can grow again and
will last (as long as they are not
overexploited).
Air, wood, cotton,
food, water, land,
trees, fish, fertile
agriculture, soils,
crops and wildlife
are renewal
natural
resources.
Non-renewable Resources
Non-renewable
Resources: Resources
that accumulate over such
a long period of time that
they must be considered
as fixed, such as minerals
or fossil fuels.
Non-renewable Resources
include minerals and fossil
fuels.
For example, fossil fuels,
which are the remnants of
prehistoric organisms, take
millions of years to form.
Aluminum, tin, copper coal,
oil, and natural gas are
examples of non-renewable
resources.
These exist in limited quantities and can’t
be replenished by natural processes
within the foreseeable future.