Locating Places on the Earth Class 6 Notes Social Science Chapter 1

Class 6 Social Science Chapter 1 Notes Locating Places on the Earth

→ Globe: Globe is a true model of the Earth in miniature form. It is exactly a true representation of the Earth. The latitudes and longitudes on a globe are very important in plotting the position on the earth’s surface.

→ Atlas: An atlas is a book of maps.

Locating Places on the Earth Class 6 Notes Social Science Chapter 1

→ Scale of a Map: The actual distance between two points represented on the map depends on the scale that the map is using.

→ Frigid Zones: Beyond the Arctic Circle in the North and the Antarctic Circle in the South, the Sun does not rise much above the horizon. Therefore, sunrays are always slanting and provide less heat; as a result, this zone is very cold.

→ Parallel of Latitudes: All parallel circles from the Equator up to the poles are called parallel of latitudes. There are four important parallels of latitudes.

→ Tropic of Cancer: It is at an angular distance of 23 1/2° N from the Equator. On 21st June, the Sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer.

→ Tropic of Capricorn: It is at an angular distance of 23° 30′  S from the Equator. On 22nd December, the Sun is over this latitude.

Locating Places on the Earth Class 6 Notes Social Science Chapter 1

→ Arctic Circle: It is at α distance of 661° N from the Equator. On 21st June, this parallel receives 24 hours daylight.

→ Antarctic Circle: It is at a distance of 66 1/2S from the Equator. On 22nd December, this parallel receives 24 hours daylight.

→ Local Time: Local time is the real time of a place according to its corresponding longitudes.

→ Grid: The network of the parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude on the globe is known as Grid.

→ Plan: A plan is a drawing of a small area on a large scale. There are certain things, which cannot be shown on a map, for example, the length and the breadth of a room. In such cases, we can refer to plans.

Locating Places on the Earth Class 6 Notes Social Science Chapter 1

→ Symbols: Maps can be easily drawn with the help of symbols like colours, letters, shades, pictures, etc. Symbols represent different features like buildings, roads, bridges, trees, railway lines, temples, etc., and also, they make it easier to read the maps.

→ Longitudes: They are the angular distance and are measured East or West from the Prime Meridian: at Greenwich. They are North-South lines that encircle the earth and are used as references in mapping land. Globe is divided into 360 longitudes.

→ Prime Meridian: The meridian which passes through Greenwich, where the British Royal Observatory is located, is called Prime Meridian. We can count 180° Eastwards as well as 180° Westward from it. The value of the Prime Meridian is 0° longitude.

→ Longitude and Time: Longitude and time are closely related to each other. As the earth rotates from the West to the East, the places East of Greenwich will be ahead of Greenwich time and those to the West will be behind it.

Locating Places on the Earth Class 6 Notes Social Science Chapter 1

→ Standard Time: There is α difference in the time between different regions of India. Therefore, to maintain uniformity in time throughout the country, it is necessary to adopt the local time of some central meridian as the standard time.

→ Standard Meridian in India: India has its standard time at 82 1/2° E meridian, which passes through Mirzapur.

→ Estuary: The place where a river meets the sea.

→ The Survey of India, a government body, has fixed a set of symbols for maps of India (or parts of India).

Learning Objectives

  • Learn to identify the specific location.
  • Learn to identify an absolute location on Earth’s surface
  • Student will be able to find location on map and it helps to read the map accurately.
  • Learn to identify which line divides the earth into correct hemispheres.
  • To develop basic skills in map reading.

Locating Places on the Earth Class 6 Notes Social Science Chapter 1

Introduction

The spherical Earth is composed of fire, water, land and air. It is situated in space. All living things, both aquatic and terrestrial, are encircling it.
While visiting a city for the first time. We refer to the map of the city.
Locating Places on the Earth Class 6 Notes Social Science Chapter 1 1
What is a Map?
Maps: A plane representation of the Earth’s surface or a part of it drawn on a flat surface according to a scale is called a map. Maps are of different types and each type indicates different things. Many maps are put together to make an Atlas.

A Map and its Component
Components of a Map: The three main components of a map are:

(a) Distance
(b) Direction
(c) Symbols.

(a) Distance : Scale is the ratio between the actual distance on the ground and the distance shown on the map.

Locating Places on the Earth Class 6 Notes Social Science Chapter 1

(b) Direction

1. There are four major directions: North, South, East and West. They are called cardinal points.
2. We can locate any place more accurately with the help of intermediate directions like:

  • North-East (NE)
  • South-East (SE)
  • South-West (SW)
  • North-West (NW)

3. We can find out the direction of a place with the help of a magnetic compass.

(c) Symbols

  • The conventional symbols give a lot of information in a limited space.
  • Blue colour is used for showing water bodies, brown for mountains, yellow for plateau and green is used for plains.

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Kinds of Maps

  • Maps provide more information than a globe. They are of different types.
  • Maps showing natural features of the earth such as mountains, plateaus, plains, rivers, oceans, etc., are called physical or relief maps.
  • Maps showing cities, towns and villages and different countries and states of the world with their boundaries, are called political maps.
  • Maps that focus on specific information, such as road maps, rainfall maps, maps showing distribution of forests, industries, etc., are known as thematic maps.

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Mapping the Earth

The North and South Poles are easily identified on a globe, which is a sphere with a map drawn on it. Rotate the globe to reveal the two poles’ fixed points at the top and bottom, which are the Earth and the Moon, the planet Mars, the stars, and constellations in the sky.

Locating Places on the Earth Class 6 Notes Social Science Chapter 1

The Equator is located halfway between the two poles; observe the circle that indicates it. Latitude and longitude together are the two coordinates of a place.

The four important parallels of latitude are:

  • Tropic of Cancer (23 1/2° N)
  • Tropic of Capricorn (23 1/2° S)
  • Arctic of Circle (66 1/2° N)
  • Antarctic Circle (66 1/2° S)

The parallels of latitude and the meridians of longitude together constitute a grid for the globe; they are also called grid lines.

Fundamental Facts
As you can see on the globe of meridians of longitudes, 180° W and 180° E are the same longitude; this longitude is noted 180° omitting the letter W or E.

Understanding Time Zones

  • Torrid zone receives the maximum heat.
  • Temperate zone has moderate temperature.
  • Frigid zone has cold climate as the sunrays are always slanting.

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  • The earth rotates 360° in about 24 hours.
  • At any place, a watch can be adjusted to read 12 o’clock when the Sun is at the highest point in the sky. This is known as Standard Time.
  • The local time of various places is different, so it is necessary to adopt the local time of some central meridian of a country as the Standard Time.

Locating Places on the Earth Class 6 Notes Social Science Chapter 1

  • 82 1/2° E is treated as the Standard Meridian of India. The local time at this meridian is known as the Indian Standard Time (IST).
  • India located East of Greenwich at 82° 30° E, is 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead of GMT.
  • Some countries have a great longitudinal extent and so they have adopted more than one standard time zone to accommodate the differences in local time across various regions.
  • While the Prime Meridian was fixed at Greenwich, the opposite line – at approximately 180° longitude – is called the International Date Line.

Class 6 Social Science Notes

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