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Why is life possible?

Why is life possible?

The biosphere includes the total sum of living organisms on Earth. Let's see some of the reasons that make of our planet the place where we can live.
1. The Earth has an atmosphere around that allows suitable temperatures for life. 2. It has light from the Sun as a source of energy.
3. It has got water that contains oxygen needed for life and allows life-providing molecules to move around easily. 4. It has an ozone layer in the atmosphere to block ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.
WHY IS LIFE POSSIBLE ON EARTH?
5. It has a gravitational pull that holds everything anchored to the ground. 6. It contains the elements that are combined to constitute living beings: carbon (C), oxygen (O), and nitrogen (N).

Activity 1

1. Listen and write the words.
Now Iknow the reasons why I can live on Earth

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Activity 2

2. Complete the statements with the right words.
The Earth has an around that allows suitable for life. It has from the Sun as a of energy. It has got water that oxygen needed for life and allows life-providing to move around easily.
It has an ozone layer in the atmosphere to ultraviolet from the Sun. It has a pull that holds everything to the ground. It contains the elements that are combined to constitute living beings: (C), (O), and (N).

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Extra activity

Teamwork REVISION GAME

Let's revise some concepts we have already studied.

  • Divide the class into groups of four students.
  • Each group chooses one of these topics: the Earth and the Moon, the geosphere, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere. the Solar system.
  • Prepare as many questions as groups about the chosen topic.
  • If there are some groups that have chosen the same topic, show the teacher the questions to avoid repetitions.
  • In turns ask one question to each group. Thy will have to write down the questions and the answers in their notebooks.
  • Finally check your answers aloud with all the students.

Lynn Margulis

Lynn Margulis was an American biologist.

She was born in Chicago in 1938.

She got an early interest in science and at the age of fifteen she entered a program at the University of Chicago. Later she obtained an MS in Genetics and Zoology at the University of Wisconsin. Then she worked at the University of California and finished her doctoral work at Brandeis University, Massachusetts in 1965.

Her researches explained the origin of mitochondria and chloroplasts as the combination of separate organisms through a symbiotic relationship. She wrote a lot of books in which she tried to interpret scientific concepts for a general audience, for example, Origins of Eucharyotic Cells (1970), Five Kingdoms: An illustrated Guide to the Phyla Life on Earth (1997), The Symbiotic Planet (1998), The Ice Chronicles: the Quest to understand Global Climate Change (2002), etc.

Lynn Margulis was co-director of the Biology Planetary Internship Program for NASA. She was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1938. She received the National Medal of Science in 1999 and the Darwin-Wallace Medal of the Linnean Society of London in 2008.

She died in 2011 in Massachusetts.

Lynn Margulis

Lynn Margulis. Javier Pedreira. Flickr. (CC-BY)
1. Read the text and write true(T) or false (F). Write in your notebooks the reasons why you think the statements are true or false.

Teamwork

2. In groups of three find answers for the following questions. Use the Internet or the school library.
1. When Lynn Margulis was young, she liked science.
2. She worked in more than one university.

a. What is an MS?

b. What is a symbiotic relationship?

c. Can you place in a map all the places that are mentioned in the text?
3. Her researches had to do with fungi.
4. She wrote four books in her life.
5. She wrote her books for scientists.
6. Her book The Ice Chronicle was about the evolution of biology.
7. She was older than 75 when she died

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