Class 7
Chapter 1: The Universe
Q1. What causes the extreme temperatures on the different planets of the solar system?
Ans1. Extreme temperatures on different planets in the solar system are caused by distance from the Sun, and also in some cases by speed of rotation of the planet. If on side is in the shadow (turned away from Sun), the temperatures will plummet downwards to a point where gases (nitrogen) become liquid.
Q2. How have the Hubble and Chandra telescopes helped scientists? Find out more about these telescopes.
Ans2. The Hubble telescope is a space-based observatory which was launched in 1990. Because of its position in space and the clarity there, the Hubble can see more distant objects and also much more detail of the more familiar ones such as our planets. The information is sent back to Earth electronically.
The Chandra telescope was launched on July 23, 1999. It consists of four pairs of mirrors and their support structure. It has found black holes all across the universe and also found proof for the first time of two super-massive black holes. It has also given clues about how the universe has evolved over time and even about the planets in our own neighborhood.
Q3. Briefly explain how solar and lunar eclipses are caused.
Ans3. Eclipses occur when the Sun, Earth, and Moon come in a straight line and the light from the Sun is blocked out.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth comes between the Moon and the Sun and blocks the Sun's rays from striking the Moon; thus the shadow of the Earth falls on the Moon.
Q4. Make a chart showing the major solar and lunar eclipses in the last one year. Collect some photographs for a class display.
Ans4. Students can work in groups to complete this task.
Q5. What is the name of the spacecraft which has now crossed the solar system and has gone into outer space? Find out the date when it was launched.
Ans5. The spacecraft that have gone beyond the solar system are Voyager 1 and 2. These were launched in 1977, from the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida. By 2008, Voyager had travelled more than 10 billion miles into space. It contained a gold-plated CD with 115 messages in 55 different languages, sounds of wind, surf, rain, laughter, a plan of DNA, and an image of a sheet of music.
Fill in the blanks:
1. Distances in space are so huge that we cannot measure them in kilometers and astronomers use ‘light years'.
2. The fastest rocket we have today travels at about 40,000 kph.
3. Most of the billions of stars in the universe are in huge groups called nebulae.
4. Earth has one moon; Mars has two, Jupiter 63, Saturn 60, Uranus 27, and Neptune 13.
5. The Moon goes round the Earth once in 28 days.
True and False:
1. The nearest star is 32,000,000,000 kilometers away, and to reach it would take a voyage of more than 900 years. (True)
2. Our moon seems to shine, but it is only like a mirror reflecting the light of the Sun. (True)
3. A rocket to the Moon has to travel much further because it has to make several circuits around the Earth and gather enough speed to break away from its gravity. (True)
4. Mars used to be the ninth planet of the solar system. (False) Reason: Pluto used to be the ninth planet of the solar system.
5. In astronomy, a ‘moon' is a huge star, usually incredibly hot, with planets revolving round it. (False) Reason: In astronomy, a ‘sun' is a huge star, usually incredibly hot, with planets revolving round it.
Chapter 6: Trade and Commerce
Q1. What is the importance of law enforcement and the legal profession as service industries?
Ans1. Law enforcement and the legal profession are essential for civilized society. The law enforcement investigates wrongdoings and arrests, if possible. The legal profession is there to ensure these people have justice, and are not wrongly punished.
Q2. How do education and health services support a country's development?
Ans2. Modern society is so complex that people must be literate to cope. Many jobs depend on analyzing a whole mass of data and working out a logical solution. Even the humblest jobs still benefit from education.
Health services are essential to help prevent and cure illnesses and to allow people to live longer and healthier, happy lives. Some aspects of medicine treat illnesses and accidents when they have already occurred, while others try to prevent the illnesses happening with vaccinations and health training, even in such simple matters as what foods to eat and what not to eat.
Q3. Explain the role of communication for industrial growth.
Ans3. Role of communication (transfer of information between individuals) for industrial growth:
- Important for growth of business and industry;
- Provides a vast range of information- for example, international and local news, stock market, etc.
- Enables informed decision making.
Q4. Look at the foreign exchange rates in a major newspaper. Make a list of how many rupees you would get for (a) one US dollar (b) one Saudi riyal (c) one pound sterling (d) one Malaysian ringgit (e) one German mark and (f) one euro.
A week (or a month) later look at the figures again and see if the exchange rate is the same. Imagine you had 100,000 rupees to invest in each of the currencies above. Work out how much you would have got in each currency at the beginning and at the end. How much would you have made or lost?
Ans4. Students can work in groups on this activity.
Fill in the blanks:
1. Trading is buying and selling (and sometimes exchanging) goods and services.
2. Retailers buy their stock from the wholesalers and the customers buy their individual product from the retailers.
3. Shares can be bought or sold on the stock exchange.
4. A call center is an example of a service industry.
5. A large supermarket sells different commodities and makes tens of thousands rupees daily.
True and False:
1. A small shop in Karachi, selling groceries - the average daily income is probably about two to three thousand rupees. (True)
2. Goods are sold in bulk to the wholesaler. (True)
3. Banks are small international businesses. (False) Reason: Banks are huge international businesses.
4. Radio and television are also important and effective means of communication. (True)
5. Transport is mainly electronic nowadays, based on Information Technology. (False) Reason: Communication is mainly electronic nowadays, based on Information Technology.
EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF PAKISTAN
Q1. Explain what is meant by the terms balance of payment, trade deficit, and trade surplus.
Ans1. Balance of payment is the record of money payments between one country and other countries incurred due to exports, imports, foreign investments, loans and other cash flows. When imports are higher than exports, the difference calculated is called trade deficit and when exports are higher than imports and this difference calculated is called surplus.
Q2. Work out the difference in the totals of Pakistan's export and import figures for 2006. Is the result a surplus or a deficit?
Ans2. Students can answer this question with reference to the tables given on pages 62 and 65.
Q3. In the table showing imports for 2006, what goods could be included in ‘others'?
Ans3. ‘ Others ‘ would include processed/finished consumer goods such as food items, cosmetics, toys, chemicals, medicines, etc.
Q4. Which is the single largest import? Where does the bulk of this come from?
Ans4. Crude petroleum and its products are the largest imports, as these are needed for transport and energy. These come mainly from the Gulf States, and especially from Arabia.
Q5. Make three columns and under them list:
(i) Imports used for food and drink
(ii) Imports used in industry to increase output and perhaps exports
(iii) Those which are used to improve the lives of people in Pakistan.
Some imports may appear in more than on column.
Ans5. Students can answer this question with reference to table given on page 65.
Fill in the blanks:
1- Exports are goods which are sent out of the country for sale.
2- If the exports are higher than the imports, then the figure that shows the difference is called the trade surplus.
3- If the imports are higher than the exports, the figure that shows the difference is called the trade deficit.
4- On 1 january 2002, euro coins and notes were formally introduced as the official currency of these European countries.
5- On 31 March 2007, Pakistan owed nearly US$ 391,000,000,000 in debts - about US$ 236 for every person in the country.
True and False:
1- India's debt is US$ 165,000,000,000 while even relatively prosperous Malaysia has a debt of US$ 58,000,000,000. (True)
2- The process of making rayon was invented in about 1900. (True)
3- Rice is Pakistan's second largest grain crop at nearly 5,500,000 tonnes a year. (True)
4- Most western countries have very strict laws regarding child labour. (True)
5- In the Pakistan, parents can be jailed if they do not make their children attend school regularly. (False) Reason: Uk
PAKISTAN'S CHRONOLOGY 1970-2008
Q1. What led to the break up of West and East Pakistan? Discuss whether you think the division of Pakistan into two separate parts of Partition was sensible idea.
Ans1. The decision to have two wings was probably a mistake from the beginning: two parts of a country separated by 1600 km of hostile territory, and with completely different outlooks on life and society. The only thing that really they had in common was Islam. Probably two separate states from Partition would have been the best solution.
Q2. What were the policies of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as president, and how did these upset some people in Pakistan?
Ans2. Bhutto's socialist ideas and the increasing rigour with which they were applied uspet most levels of society. His views were quite socialist. He nationalized factories, mines, and other large industrial and commercial businesses, angering the prosperous merchant classes; he took land from large estates to give to the peasants, which infuriated the great aristocratic families; he strenghtened the trade unions and worker's rights, which annoyed all businessmen and industrialists; his autocratic use of the army to put down opposition annoyed everyone.
Q3. Make a time line of the rulers of Pakistan, 1971 to date. Colour the sections of the line where Pakistan has been under military rule in red, and under civilian rule, in blue.
Ans3.
Q4. What are the causes of dispute between Pakistan and India? How did this become much more dangerous in the 1990s?
Ans4. The bone of contention between Pakistan and India has been the question of Kashmir. The earliest conflict with India took place soon after independence, in January 1948. The UN intervened and decided that a plebiscite should take place so that the people of Kashmir had the choice to determine their fate. However, this has not happened even after 62 years and this problem underlies the differences between the two countries and has led to open wars as well as ongoing skirmishes. The most serious were the Siachen conflict and then the Kargil episode in the 1999; the situation is aggravated by the fact that both India and Pakistan have nuclear capability.
Q5. How did Nawaz Sharif give almost dictatorial powers to the prime minister (i.e. himself) at the expense of the president?
Ans5. Nawaz Sharif, as prime minister, forced two amendments to the Constitution: (1) the president could not remove the prime minister from office, and (2) by imposing strict party discipline on MPs so that they could not vote against the leader's views. This ensured that the prime minister could continue to rule without being dismissed by either president or party.
Q6. How did General Musharraf come to power? What important events marked his government (1999-2008)?
Ans6. General Musharraf was out of the country and when his fight was about to land, Nawaz Sharif ordered that no airport in Pakistan should allow it to do so, although fuel was running low, and that the plane should be diverted elsewhere. Since a preceding army chief had also been relieved of his post by Nawaz Sharif, the army command may have expected problems. Musharraf contacted his senior officers, who seized the airport. The flight landed safely, and Musharraf dismissed Sharif.
Fill in the blanks:
1- In December 1971, East Pakistan declared independence as Bangladesh.
2- In 1978 General Zia-ul-Haq became president and imposed Sharia law in the country.
3- Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, returned to Pakistan in April 1986 from exile in the UK.
4- President Yahya Khan resigned on 20 December 1971.
5- President Leghari dismissed Bhutto and her government at the end of 1996.
True or False:
1- Benazir Bhutto was the third female political leader of a modern Islamic state. (False) Reason: First female political leader
2- Pakistan exploded its nuclear bomb at Chaghi, Balochistan, on 28 May 1998. (True)
3- The disaster of 11 September 2001 in New York brought Pakistan into focus as the USA launched attacks on Afghanistan. (True)
4- Shaukat Aziz was elected prime minister in August 2004 and continued to hold office till November 2007. (True)