In Japan
Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts
VOLCANOES
In 1943, A farmer in Central Mexico was ploughing his cornfield when his son came running towards him. He had heard a growling sound coming from the ground nearby. When the farmer went to the spot, he saw a cloud of smoke. He ran to fetch his wife and his neighbours and when they reached the field, they found an opening in the ground. In the days that followed, they heard loud explosions and saw chunks of rock bursting high into the air out of this opening and then a boiling hot liquid began oozing from it.
In four months, at the spot where the smoke was seen, there stood a mountain about one thousand feet high. What the farmer had seen was a volcano in action. The story of any volcano, however, begins several kilometres under the ground. The deeper you go into the earth, the hotter it becomes; hot enough to melt even rocks! This molten rock is called Magma. Sometimes this hot, boiling Magma forces its way out through the earth's surface. If the magma comes out with great force, there will be an explosion and solid lumps of rock will be blown out as it happened in Mexico.
The opening on the earth's surface through which the magma comes out, is called a volcano. The Magma that has come out, is called Lava. This Lava which flows out of the volcano hardens into solid rock when it cools. As the Lava oozes out, some of it plies up around the opening. If the volcano keeps erupting, more and more Lava piles up and in course of time, you could have a cone-shaped volcanic mountain standing on the spot.
One such volcanic mountain is Fujiyama in Japan. There are several thousand volcanoes on the surface of the earth but most of them have not erupted for hundreds of years. Sometimes the Lava flows out of a number of cracks in the earth and the lava spreads over the land in thick layers. The Deccan Plateau has been formed in just this way. The plateau contains 520,000 kilometres of Lava which flowed out millions of years ago.
In four months, at the spot where the smoke was seen, there stood a mountain about one thousand feet high. What the farmer had seen was a volcano in action. The story of any volcano, however, begins several kilometres under the ground. The deeper you go into the earth, the hotter it becomes; hot enough to melt even rocks! This molten rock is called Magma. Sometimes this hot, boiling Magma forces its way out through the earth's surface. If the magma comes out with great force, there will be an explosion and solid lumps of rock will be blown out as it happened in Mexico.
The opening on the earth's surface through which the magma comes out, is called a volcano. The Magma that has come out, is called Lava. This Lava which flows out of the volcano hardens into solid rock when it cools. As the Lava oozes out, some of it plies up around the opening. If the volcano keeps erupting, more and more Lava piles up and in course of time, you could have a cone-shaped volcanic mountain standing on the spot.
One such volcanic mountain is Fujiyama in Japan. There are several thousand volcanoes on the surface of the earth but most of them have not erupted for hundreds of years. Sometimes the Lava flows out of a number of cracks in the earth and the lava spreads over the land in thick layers. The Deccan Plateau has been formed in just this way. The plateau contains 520,000 kilometres of Lava which flowed out millions of years ago.
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| A Volcano |
THE BANANA
When Alexander the great invaded India in 326 B.C., he saw bananas for the first time and was greatly impressed by this delicious fruit. The banana is indigenous to the warm, moist parts of North-Eastern India, Burma and other South-East Asian countries. From here it has spread to other parts of the world and has become one of the most important commercial crops in tropical areas.
Almost every part of the banana plant is useful. Ripe bananas are eaten as fruit. Unripe bananas, the inner core of the stem and the cluster of flowers are used as a vegetable. In many parts of India food is served on banana leaves instead of on plates. In fact bananas are cultivated over large areas exclusively for this purpose. Some species of banana also yield fibre and this is used for making ropes and coarse fabrics in the Philippines and Japan.
After a banana plant has borne fruit it withers and another one grows right next to it rising from the underground stem called the sucker. This process continues for many years. Above the ground the plant has a false stem composed of sheaths of leaves.
Hindus consider the banana plant to be auspicious and during religious ceremonies and festivals the stem and leaves are used to decorate the "mandap" or place of worship.
Almost every part of the banana plant is useful. Ripe bananas are eaten as fruit. Unripe bananas, the inner core of the stem and the cluster of flowers are used as a vegetable. In many parts of India food is served on banana leaves instead of on plates. In fact bananas are cultivated over large areas exclusively for this purpose. Some species of banana also yield fibre and this is used for making ropes and coarse fabrics in the Philippines and Japan.
After a banana plant has borne fruit it withers and another one grows right next to it rising from the underground stem called the sucker. This process continues for many years. Above the ground the plant has a false stem composed of sheaths of leaves.
Hindus consider the banana plant to be auspicious and during religious ceremonies and festivals the stem and leaves are used to decorate the "mandap" or place of worship.
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| Bananas |
