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Class 8 Social Science Ch 1, Natural Resources and Their Use: 8 practice questions with answers

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Here are 8 practice questions on Chapter 1 of the NCERT Class 8 Social Science book, Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), "Natural Resources and Their Use". It opens the book's first theme, on India's land and people in the wider world, so many students search for it as "Class 8 Social Science chapter 1". Every question has a worked answer and the textbook page behind it. They follow the chapter: when part of Nature counts as a resource, the ways of grouping resources, renewable and non-renewable resources, a sum using the book's oxygen figures, the mineral map, groundwater, the Sikkim story, and a set of assertion-reason pairs.

These questions are our own, drafted with AI help. Every number was re-computed by a script and every answer was checked against the chapter, but no practising teacher has reviewed them yet. None of them is a textbook question reworded. If you find a mistake, please tell us.

What the chapter says you need

Facts from Chapter 1 of Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Part 1 for Class 8 (Reprint 2026-27, pages 1 to 19), in our words:

What counts as a resource

Question 1. The chapter gives three conditions for something in Nature to be a resource. For each case, say which condition is not met, or say that all three are met: (a) a store of natural gas lies so deep under the sea floor that no drilling method can yet reach it; (b) a hill holds a little copper, but digging it out would cost far more than the copper would sell for; (c) by an old village custom, nobody cuts the trees on the common grazing land, even though the wood is easy to reach and would sell well; (d) a stream in the hills already turns a small turbine that lights a village.

Answer: (a) technology; (b) cost; (c) cultural acceptance; (d) all three are met. The chapter says a resource must be technologically accessible, its exploitation economically feasible, and culturally acceptable (page 2). (a) is out of reach of present technology, as with the book's petroleum under the ocean. (b) costs too much to extract. (c) can be reached and would pay, but the community does not accept cutting it, so it fails the third condition. (d) is being used, so it is a resource; the book's own picture of a microhydel plant in Himachal Pradesh shows the same idea (page 2).

Question 2. Sort these into the chapter's three groups by use (essential for life, materials, energy): (a) drinking water from a well; (b) marble for a floor; (c) sunlight falling on a solar panel; (d) timber made into a chair; (e) wind turning a turbine; (f) soil in which rice is grown; (g) gold made into a ring.

Answer: essential for life: (a) and (f); materials: (b), (d) and (g); energy: (c) and (e). The chapter groups resources by use: those we cannot live without, such as air, water and the soil that gives us food; those we turn into objects, such as wood, marble and gold; and those that give us energy, such as sunlight and wind (page 4). The same thing can fall in different groups by use: water drunk is a need for life, while flowing water in a turbine is a source of energy (pages 2 and 4).

Renewable and non-renewable

Question 3. (a) Sort these into renewable and non-renewable resources: coal, wind, iron ore, river water, petroleum, timber, copper, sunlight. (b) A forest grows about 500 trees a year. A timber company cuts 800 a year. Using the chapter's idea, is the timber being used as a renewable resource? (c) The chapter says India's coal reserves may last about 50 more years. If a student is 13 today, about how old will they be when that time is up?

Answer: (a) renewable: wind, river water, timber, sunlight; non-renewable: coal, iron ore, petroleum, copper; (b) no, 300 more trees are cut each year than grow; (c) about 63. (a) The chapter lists sunshine, wind, flowing water and timber as renewable, and fossil fuels and metals such as iron and copper as non-renewable, because they form over long periods and cannot be replaced as fast as we use them (pages 5-6 and 8). (b) 800 − 500 = 300 trees a year more than the forest replaces. Timber stays renewable only if the natural rhythm of regrowth is kept, and harvesting faster than the forest grows will use it up (page 6). (c) 13 + 50 = 63; the chapter's point is that coal must be used carefully until cleaner options are widely available (page 8).

Question 4. The chapter gives two figures: a mature tree makes about 275 litres of oxygen a day, and one person needs about 350 litres a day (page 7). Using these figures: (a) how many litres of oxygen a day does a family of 4 need? (b) What is the smallest whole number of mature trees that makes at least that much? (c) A class has 40 students. What is the smallest whole number of mature trees that would make enough oxygen for all of them for a day? (d) Is this oxygen an ecosystem function or an ecosystem service?

Answer: (a) 1,400 litres; (b) 6 trees; (c) 51 trees; (d) the trees making oxygen is an ecosystem function; people breathing it is an ecosystem service. (a) 4 × 350 = 1,400 litres. (b) 1,400 ÷ 275 ≈ 5.09, so 5 trees (1,375 litres) fall short and 6 trees (1,650 litres) are enough. (c) 40 × 350 = 14,000 litres; 14,000 ÷ 275 ≈ 50.9, so 50 trees (13,750 litres) fall short and 51 trees (14,025 litres) are enough. (d) The chapter calls Nature's own workings, such as trees producing oxygen, ecosystem functions, and the benefits people get from them ecosystem services (page 7). The figures vary with the kind of tree and with a person's activity and size (page 7), so these are rough answers.

Where resources are, and what that means

Question 5. Fig. 1.11 in the chapter (page 9) maps four minerals: coal, oil, iron ore and bauxite. Name the mineral the map shows at each place: (a) Jharia; (b) Mumbai High; (c) Bailadila; (d) Koraput; (e) Neyveli; (f) Kudremukh; (g) Katni; (h) Ankleshwar. Then give one benefit and one cost the chapter links with setting up industries near such resources.

Answer: (a) coal; (b) oil; (c) iron ore; (d) bauxite; (e) coal; (f) iron ore; (g) bauxite; (h) oil. Benefit: jobs and new townships for local people; cost: people may be displaced from their homes. These are read from the map's legend (page 9). The chapter's point is that the minerals are spread unevenly (page 9). Industries near resources create jobs, townships grow round them, and modern facilities reach the area; but people in resource-rich areas have been moved from their homes, which can lead to conflict (pages 9-10).

Question 6. A made-up village sits on an underground water store. Each year rain puts back about 60 units of water, and the village's pumps take out 100 units. (a) By how much does the store fall each year? (b) If nothing changes, by how much will it have fallen after 5 years? (c) Give two causes the chapter names for over-pumping in Punjab. (d) Give two remedies the chapter mentions.

Answer: (a) 40 units a year; (b) 200 units; (c) thirsty high-yielding wheat and paddy, and free power; (d) any two of water harvesting, reviving ponds and tanks, cutting wasteful use, and treating and reusing water. (a) 100 − 60 = 40 units. (b) 5 × 40 = 200 units. This is what the chapter describes: extraction faster than the water table refills builds up a deficit, so water costs more to pump and finally runs out (page 12). (c) From the 1960s farmers in Punjab grew high-yielding varieties of wheat and paddy that needed more water than traditional seeds, and free power led to over-pumping (page 13). Almost 80% of Punjab's area is now classed as over-exploited (page 14). (d) The remedies are on page 12.

Question 7. Read the chapter's Sikkim caselet (pages 16-17). (a) Why did the family's yields fall at first when they gave up chemical inputs? (b) Name three things the family did instead. (c) In which year did Sikkim become a 100 per cent organic state? (d) Suppose a Sikkim farmer earned ₹1,20,000 a year before the change, and her income rose by the state's average of 20 per cent. What would she earn now? (e) Give two other gains the chapter reports for Sikkim.

Answer: (a) the soil was still recovering from years of chemical use; (b) compost, pest repellents made from neem and garlic, and growing several crops through the year; (c) 2016; (d) ₹1,44,000; (e) any two of more biodiversity (helpful insects and birds came back), more tourism, and higher prices for its crops. (a) and (b) are on page 16 and the top of page 17. (c) In 2016 all of Sikkim's farmland was certified organic (page 17). (d) 20% of ₹1,20,000 is ₹24,000, and ₹1,20,000 + ₹24,000 = ₹1,44,000. The 20% is an average for the state, so a real farmer's rise could be more or less (page 17). (e) Local biodiversity flourished, visitors came to see the model, and the family could sell cardamom, ginger and vegetables at premium prices (page 17).

Question 8. For each pair, choose: (A) both true, and R explains A; (B) both true, but R does not explain A; (C) A true, R false; (D) A false, R true.

Answer: Pair 1 (A); Pair 2 (D); Pair 3 (B); Pair 4 (A). Pair 1: this is the "paradox of plenty", and the chapter gives R as the usual cause (page 11). Pair 2: India does have large coal reserves (page 8), but coal is non-renewable however much there is, because it forms over very long periods (page 8), so A is false. Pair 3: both are true (page 15), but the guidelines are a response to the pollution, not its cause. Pair 4: the chapter links the melting to rising temperatures caused by several factors, including fossil-fuel-driven industry and cutting forests (page 6).

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Sources

All opened and read on 3 November 2026. Page numbers are the printed page numbers of the textbook, which match the PDF pages of this chapter.

The facts are from the textbook pages above. The questions, the made-up forest, village and income figures, and the worked answers are our own, and every number was re-computed by script. This guide is general information; follow your teacher and your school's syllabus.

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