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LEARNING SCIENCE Part 1 Universe, Solar System, Earth Indumati Rao C. N. R. Rao JAWAHARLAL NEHRU CENTRE FOR ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, BANGALORE About the Authors Mrs. Indumati Rao has received degrees from the Universities of Mysore, Kanpur and Purdue (U.S.A.) and certificate in Education from Oxford University (U.K.). She has worked for over four decades in the field of education. She has contributed to developing new methods of teaching and teaching aids. Mrs. Rao has worked as a geography expert in many institutions. She has participated in several teacher orientation programs conducted by the Karnataka State. She has authored books in Geography. At present, she is working as the Honorary coordinator of the multimedia group at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. C. N. R. Rao is Linus Pauling Research Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and honorary professor at the Indian Institute of Science. He was at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and has been a visiting professor at University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a member of many science academies including the Indian National Science Academy, the Royal Society, London, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy, French Academy, Pontifical Academy and Japan Academy. He was President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, and is now President of the Third World Academy of Sciences. He has received several medals and prizes which include the Marlow Medal of the Faraday Society, Centenary Fellowship of the American Chemical Society, Einstein Gold Medal of UNESCO, the Centenary Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London and the Hughes medal of the Royal Society. He has published more than 1300 papers in the areas of Chemical Spectroscopy, Molecular Spectra and Chemistry of Advanced materials. He has authored 38 books and has been active in science education. He was awarded the Karnataka Ratna in 2001 by the Karnataka Government. He is the first recipient of the India Science Prize, the highest scientific award recently instituted by the Government of India and the Dan David International Prize for Science (2005). He was recently awarded the “Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur”, the highest civilian award of France (2005). He was also named the `Chemical Pioneer of 2005’ by the American Institute of Chemists, USA. LEARNING SCIENCE Part 1 Universe, Solar System, Earth Indumati Rao C. N. R. Rao With the assistance of Jatinder Kaur Sanjay S. R. Rao JAWAHARLAL NEHRU CENTRE FOR ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, BANGALORE - 560 064. Preface Science has become a part of our lives. Applications of science have provided us many benefits, and a better quality of life. The world today uses a language which has a lot of science in it. Without knowing, we use many words and phrases derived from science. We are also becoming conscious of our environment as well as our economy. Science has much to do with both these aspects. It is, therefore, important to learn the language of science. Children and adults alike have to know the rudiments of science and must be able to use the language of science where necessary. They must be able to apply the lessons learnt from science in daily life. It is for this purpose that we have produced a book entitled “Learning Science” in four parts. The book has the following four parts: Part1: Universe, Solar System, Earth Part2: The world of physics and energy - Learning physical principles Part3: The world of chemistry: Of molecules and materials, Air around us, All about Water. Part4: Biology and life It describes various aspects of science in simple language. It is hoped that this will be useful to school children as supplementary reading material and to all o