Archives

Fossil Fuels

Coal Coal supplies us with about 28% of all the energy used. It is burned to make water hot and produce steam. The steam, in turn,generates electric power or operates steam engines. In many countries people use coal to heat their homes. Coal mining has caused many problems in the past. Accidents in coal mines kill workers every year and breathing coal dust can lead to lung diseases. Although many factories have installed cleaning filters, coal emits sulphur oxides that pollute our air […]

World of Energy

Energy is another word for power. It makes things move and machines work. Itprovides us with light and we use it to heat and cool our houses and offices, to cook our food, and to transport people and goods. Sources of energy Almost all energy on earth today comes directly or indirectly from the sun. Over millions of years the […]

The Nile River

The Nile River is the longest river in the world. It flows northward from the lakes of Central Africa to the Mediterranean Sea. However, the Nile carries less waterthan many other rivers because it flows through the Sahara desert in the north. 97% of Egypt’s population lives in the river’s valley. Africa’s biggest river drains about 10 percent of the continent. It flows through many countries of eastern and […]

Tsunamis – Killer Waves

On December 26, 2004 a great underwater earthquake near the coast of Indonesia caused the greatest tsunami in history. 280,000 people died and many coastal villages were wiped out. The word tsunami comes from the Japanese : tsu means harbour and nami waves. A tsunami is a series of ocean waves that can travel over hundreds of kilometres at a very high speed. They are hardly seen in the […]

Glaciers

A glacier is a mass of thick ice that stays frozen and can move slowly over land. During the Ice Age, which ended about 10,000 years ago, many parts of the world were covered with glaciers. Almost all of Canada and the northern parts of Europe, like Scandinavia and Siberia were covered with ice. Today, the large ice masses […]

Iceland

Iceland is an island that lies in the middle of the northern Atlantic Ocean. It has a size of about 102,000 square kilometers and lies just south of the Arctic Circle. Iceland is about 1000 km away from the European mainland and about 300 km from the coast of Greenland. Iceland has a long coastline with many fjords andbays. Physical Geography Iceland is a volcanic island. It emerged from […]

The Atmosphere

The earth is surrounded by layers of gases, our atmosphere. They are kept near the earth’s surface by gravity. Our atmosphere filters the sunlight and keeps dangerous rays from reaching our planet. Without such a filter it would get too hot during the daytime. At night itprevents heat from escaping so it does not get too cold. Without an atmosphere life on our planet would not be possible. It […]

Australia – History Timeline

1770 James Cook explored the eastern coast of Australia and named it New South Wales. 1778 Great Britain made New South Wales a colony for prisoners. 1851 Gold was discovered in New South Wales and Victoria.  1901 Australia became an independent country. Its capital was Melbourne. 1927 Canberra became the new capital of Australia 1967 The Australian government passed laws to help the Aborigines and started […]

Where to Go in Australia

The Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the biggest group of coral reefs in the world. It is more than 2,000 km long and lies off the north-eastern coastof Australia. The coral that forms the reef is made up of skeletons of dead water animals called polyps . They are small but often light up in many bright colours. These colourful reefs and the […]

Sydney, Canberra and Other Cities

Sydney Sydney is Australia’s oldest and largest city, home of about 3.7 million people. It is Australia’s most important industrial city and the capitalof New South Wales . Sydney’s harbour is one of the most beautiful in the world. Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are among the famous tourist attractions. Sydney was , at first, a prison colony back in […]