India - People and Economy

A fern is a member of a group of vascular plants that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. Ferns require indirect sunlight, moist soil, and a humid atmosphere. Ferns prefer potting soil with good drainage and high organic content. Hence, option 1 is not correct.

Lichens are a complex life form that is a symbiotic partnership of two separate organisms, a fungus and an alga. They only require an undisturbed surface, time, and clean air. Lichens grow on any undisturbed surface--bark, wood, mosses, rock, soil, peat, glass, metal, plastic, and even cloth. Hence option 2 is correct.

Mosses are non-flowering plants which produce spores and have stems and leaves, but don't have true roots. Moss is very low maintenance and needs virtually nothing except shade and moisture to thrive. Hence option 3 is correct.

A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. Mushrooms can be cultivated hydroponically as fungi. Hence option 4 is not correct.

Source: Class XI Biology NCERT: Chapter 3 - Plant Kingdom

The Isotherms are lines joining places having equal temperature. The figure given below shows the distribution of surface air temperature in the month of January. In general, the effect of the latitude on temperature is well pronounced on the map as the isotherms are generally parallel to the latitude.

The deviation from this general trend is more pronounced in January than in July, especially in the northern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere, the land surface area is much larger than in the southern hemisphere. Hence, the effects of land mass and the ocean currents are well pronounced.

In January, the isotherms deviate to the north over the ocean and to the south over the continent. This can be seen on the North Atlantic Ocean. The presence of warm ocean currents, Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift, make the Northern Atlantic Ocean warmer and the isotherms bend towards the north. Over the land, the temperature decreases sharply and the isotherms bend towards south in Europe. It is much pronounced in the Siberian plain.

Hence, statement 1 is correct and statement 2 is not correct. The mean January temperature along 60° E longitude is minus 20° C both at 80° N and 50° N latitudes. The mean monthly temperature for January is over 27° C in equatorial oceans, over 24° C in the tropics, and 2° C - 0° C in the middle latitudes and –18° C to –48° C in the Eurasian continental interior.

The effect of the ocean is well pronounced in the southern hemisphere. Here, the isotherms are more or less parallel to the latitudes and the variation in temperature is more gradual than in the northern hemisphere. The isotherm of 20° C, 10° C, and 0° C runs parallel to 35° S, 45° S, and 60° S latitudes respectively.

Source Attribution: NCERT: Class XI Fundamentals of Physical Geography

On its path around the sun, the earth's axis always remains inclined to one side. Because of this constant inclination in one direction, the Northern Hemisphere remains inclined towards the sun or faces the sun during one half of the year. Therefore, a larger part of this hemisphere receives sunlight. Every point in this hemisphere takes a longer time to go out of the sunlight, with the result that the days are longer. In contrast, the Southern Hemisphere is away from the sun. It, therefore, has shorter days and longer nights. During the other half of the year, the Southern Hemisphere is inclined towards the sun. Hence, it has longer days and shorter nights.

Source: Old NCERT: Class VI

Bagelkhand or Baghelkhand is a region and also a mountain range in central India that covers the northeastern regions of Madhya Pradesh and a small area of western Uttar Pradesh. Bodhgaya is in Bihar. The Khajuraho group of monuments was built during the rule of the Rajput Chandela dynasty. The building activity started almost immediately after the rise of their power, throughout their kingdom to be later known as Bundelkhand. Vidarbha is the eastern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra, comprising Nagpur Division and Amravati Division. Shirdi is a town and falls under Ahmednagar District in Maharashtra. It is not in Vidarbha region. Tirupati lies in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh.

Source Citation:

• Atlas
• NCERT: Geography Books

The earth’s surface receives most of its energy in short wavelengths. The energy received by the earth is known as incoming solar radiation which in short is termed as insolation. The insolation received at the surface varies from about 320 Watt/m² in the tropics to about 70 Watt/m² in the poles. Therefore, the total amount of insolation received at the equator is roughly about 5 times of that received at the poles. Hence option (a) is not correct.

Insolation is frequently referred to as shortwave radiation; it falls primarily within the ultraviolet and visible portions of the electromagnetic spectrum and consists predominantly of wavelengths of 0.39 to 0.76 micrometres. Radiation emitted from Earth is called long-wave radiation; it falls within the infrared portion of the spectrum and has typical wavelengths of 4 to 30 micrometres. Hence option (b) is not correct.

The atmosphere is largely transparent to shortwave solar radiation. The incoming solar radiation passes through the atmosphere before striking the earth’s surface. Within the troposphere, water vapor, ozone and other gases absorb much of the near infrared radiation. Water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the Earth's atmosphere, and it has strong absorption properties in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. As infrared radiation passes through the atmosphere, water vapor molecules can absorb and re-emit a significant portion of the longwave radiation. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Infrared waves are not part of the visible spectrum of electromagnetic waves in solar radiation. The visible spectrum refers to the range of electromagnetic waves that are visible to the human eye, which includes wavelengths between approximately 400 to 700 nanometers. Infrared waves have wavelengths longer than approximately 700 nanometers. Most of the radiation emitted by a moderately heated surface is infrared. Hence option (d) is not correct.

Source Citation: NCERT: Class XI Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Chapter 9