Every card in Resources and environment, Year 8: more practice
The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.
- Which layer of a tropical rainforest has the tallest trees, poking out above the rest?
The emergent layer
HintThink of the trees that stand clear above everything else.
WhyEmergent trees can reach 40 to 50 metres or more. They get full sunshine and strong wind.
- Which is the lowest layer of a rainforest, dark and damp, and covered in leaf litter?
The forest floor
HintLittle sunlight reaches it.
WhyVery little sunlight reaches the floor. Fallen leaves rot quickly there.
- Why do many rainforest leaves have a long pointed 'drip tip'?
To shed heavy rain quickly
HintIt helps with the water that falls every day.
WhyRainforests have rain almost daily. Quick run-off keeps the leaves clear of fungi and algae.
- Rainforest soils are poor in nutrients. Where are most of the nutrients found?
In the leaf litter and the living plants, not deep in the soil
HintHeavy rain washes nutrients out of the ground.
WhyDead leaves rot fast in the heat and are absorbed by roots almost at once, so nutrients move quickly in a loop.
- Which bean crop, mostly grown for animal feed, drives rainforest clearance in South America?
Soy (soya)
HintIt feeds farm animals around the world.
WhyLarge soy farms and cattle ranches are the main drivers of clearance in the Amazon basin.
- Palm oil plantations have cleared large areas of rainforest in which two countries of South-East Asia?
Indonesia and Malaysia
HintBoth are on or near Borneo and Sumatra.
WhyPalm oil is used in food, cosmetics and fuel. Most of it comes from these two countries.
- Why does deforestation add to climate change?
Trees store carbon, which is released when they are burnt or rot, and fewer trees remain to absorb carbon dioxide
HintThink about what gas plants take in from the air.
WhyForests are a carbon store and a carbon sink. Clearing them reduces absorption and releases stored carbon.
- Which fossil fuel gives out the most carbon dioxide when burnt, for the same amount of energy: coal or natural gas?
Coal
HintNatural gas is the cleaner of the two.
WhyCoal releases much more carbon dioxide than natural gas for the same energy.
- Why is solar power less reliable in the UK than a gas power station?
It only produces power when the sun is shining
HintThink about the weather and the night.
WhyGas can run whenever it is needed, whereas solar output varies with cloud and daylight.
- Why does Iceland get so much of its heat and electricity from geothermal energy?
It sits on a plate boundary, so hot rock lies close to the surface
HintThink about volcanoes and the Earth's crust.
WhyIceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Heat from underground heats water, giving steam that turns turbines.
1★ KS3-GEOG-RES-0036
2★ KS3-GEOG-RES-0037
3★ KS3-GEOG-RES-0038
4★ KS3-GEOG-RES-0039
5★ KS3-GEOG-RES-0040
6★ KS3-GEOG-RES-0041
7★ KS3-GEOG-RES-0042
8★ KS3-GEOG-RES-0043
9★ KS3-GEOG-RES-0044
10★ KS3-GEOG-RES-0045
Keep what you learn
Here, nothing is saved. In your child’s own sky every card is scheduled — it comes back just before they’d forget it — and the professor who wrote it is one tap away.