THE EARTH IS LIKE AN APPLE

WHAT YOU NEED

1 apple
1 knife
1 worksheet

BACKGROUND

The earth is an enormous place. But only a tiny part of it provides a place to live and food to eat for all people. We'll use an apple to help us see what the earth's made of.

Normally we would never eat anything we use for science experiments. Check with your teacher to see if you can eat the apple when you're done.

HANDLE THE KNIFE CAREFULLY.

WHAT YOU DO

1. Cut the apple in half. Put half aside in the box labeled "water" on the worksheet.

2. Look at the remaining half. Describe how the inside of the apple resembles the layers inside the earth. In what ways is it similar? In what ways is it different?

_____________________________________________________________________________

3. Cut the apple half into pieces that are each 1/4 of the apple. Set one 1/4th aside in the box labeled "water" on the worksheet. The 3/4ths of an apple now in this box represents the oceans of the world. The remaining 1/4th represents that part of the earth that is land.

4. Slice this land in half, giving you two 1/8th world pieces. Set aside one 1/8th piece in the box labeled "inhospitable". This represents land that is inhospitible to people: deserts, swamps, the polar areas, and other places where people cannot live. The remaining piece represents the land area where people can live.

5. Now slice this habitable land into four pieces, each of which is 1/32nd of the earth. Set aside 3 of the pieces on the worksheet in the box labeled "habitable". These pieces cannot produce food because they are too rocky, too wet, too cold, or the soil is too poor. Or, they have been used for highways, shopping centers, or other structures.

6. Carefully peel the remaining 1/32nd piece. Put the apple in the "habitable" box and the peel in the "food producing" box. This tiny bit of peel represents the surface, less than 5 feet deep, that produces all of the food for all of the people on earth! Erosion, pollution and overdevelopment are threatening this precious resource. We must protect the environmental quality of our land, air and water!

QUESTIONS

What things can you think of that can pollute the soil?

_____________________________________________________________________________

Pick one of the items you listed and describe how we might prevent it from polluting the soil.

_____________________________________________________________________________