Five Basic Elements of the World
EARTH, WATER, FIRE, AIR AND SPACE are five basic elements of the world. Vaasthushastra tells our body is also made up of these five elements. These are the fundamental elements giving life to all living beings when they are in balance. For eg. earth and water are very important to supply minerals and fertilizers to the growth of the plants. Similarly sun, the basic source of fire and co2 found in air are very essential for the phenomena of photosynthesis of plants. All human beings and other animals are mostly depending on plants to meet their food necessities. Almost it is clear that we are running our life with the support of these great elements. Let us now see the chemical and physical properties of these elements.
Earth
earth
It is our home planet revolving round the sun and rotating it self has gravitational and magnetic forces. Our earth has a huge diameter of 12,800 Km and its overall density is 5.5 gm/cc. It is understood by our scientists as a huge magnet and the magnetic pole in the northern hemisphere is located on a peninsula in Northern Canada. The opposite magnetic pole in the southern hemisphere lies on the Antartica continent. Earth has four layers. They are earth crust, mantle, outer core, inner core.
Earth crust
It is the upper part of mantle and has thickness of about 8 km to 50 km. Upper part of this earth crust is composed of variety of soils like red soil, black soil, clay, loam and etc., and inner part of the crust is composed of dense rocks. It is also composed of various minerals and ores.
Mantle
This is about 2,900 km thick and filled with hot semi solid molten rocks. The temperature of this zone is about 4000 degree centigrade.
Outer core
This is about 2,100 km thick and composed of liquid iron and other components. The total volume of inner core and outer core is equal to the volume of Mars.
Inner core
Inner core is very hot solid iron and has diameter of 2,500 km. Solid iron and ilquid iron found in both inner and outer cores of the earth is giving rise to it's over all density as 5.5 gm/cc.
Water
Water
About 71% of total surface of earth is covered by water. Out of which 95% of all the water is in the ocean and rest in gaciers and also as fresh water. Water is a common chemical substance that is essential to all living beings. Commonly water refers only liquid form, in solid form it is called as ice and in gaseous state it is called as water vapour, in cloud form it is called as condensate water vapour. The other names of water are aqua, hydrogen hydroxide and dihydrogen monoxide. The density of water in liquid form is 0.998 gm/cc and in solid form it is 0.92 gm/cc. The boiling point of water is directly related to barometric pressure. For example, on the top of Mount Everest it boils at 68 degree centigrade compared to 100 degree centigrade in sea level.
Fire
Fire
Fire is the heat and light energy released during a chemical reaction. Depending on the reactants and impurities within, the colour of the flame and the intensity of the fire will vary. Sun is the most vital source of light and fire. It is very difficult to imagine a world without sun. The temperature prevailing in the earth by sun shine is giving life to water, wind and all other living beings. Without sun we can not imagine blowing wind, flowing water, running river, falling cascades, waving seas and drinking water.
Air
Air is the vital element for our survival. The air on the earth is various mixture of gases like Nitrogen 78.08%, Oxygen 20.94%, Argon 0.93%, Co2 0.03% and etc., It is also essential for plants ( Co2 ) to produce food in the presence of sun light. The density of air is 1.2 kg/cubic metre
Space
Astronomically it is defined as the empty parts of the universe. This is the area out side the atmosphere of any celestial body. Obviously it is true that space is the thing where earth. water, fire and air are filled in.
