Earth materials provide many of the resources that humans use. Fossils provide evidence about plants and animals that lived long ago and the nature of the environment at that time. The surface of the earth changes. Some changes are due to slow processes, such as erosion and weathering, and some changes are due to rapid processes, such as landslides, volcanic eruption, and earthquakes. People have always had questions about their world.
Science is one way of answering questions and explaining the natural world.
Scientists and engineers often work in teams with different individuals doing different things that contribute to the results. Tools help scientists make better observations, measurements, and equipment for investigations. They help scientists see, measure, and do things that they could not otherwise see, measure, and do. Objects can be categorized into two groups, natural and designed. Resources are things that we get from the living and nonliving environment to meet the needs and wants of a population.