Question

Which of the following is an inexhaustible resource?
A.Soil
B.Fossil fuels
C.Minerals
D.Solar Radiation

Answer 1

Hint: Inexhaustible sources are renewable sources of energy, i.e., sources of energy that do not get exhausted with time and can be replenished. Out of the above four only one is inexhaustible.

Complete answer:
Solar radiation, or sunlight, in general is an inexhaustible resource. This is so because it is a resource that will not get exhausted in the future ( a few hundred years ) . They are unlimited in nature. For example , air, water, sunlight, biomass are inexhaustible sources of energy.
Exhaustible sources of energy , on the other hand, are sources of energy that deplete and will get exhausted in the near future ( few hundred years ) .
In our question soil, fossil fuels and minerals are all found on Earth but get depleted and do not get replenished in time and hence are exhaustible resources. But solar radiation is a source which does not get exhausted and hence is a renewable or inexhaustible source of energy. Coal, petrol, etc are also exhaustible since they are found in reserved quantity in the Earth’s crust and take thousands or more years to get replenished. Hence it is important to use them in limited quantities otherwise our future generations will face severe shortage of these exhaustible sources of energy and hence need of the hour is to shift to inexhaustible sources of energy such as sunlight which can be stored in the form of chemical energy in batteries using solar cells. They convert solar energy to chemical energy and thus can be used for various other purposes.

So, The correct answer is (D).

Note: Do remember that exhaustible sources of energy get exhausted in a few hundred years and take thousands or even millions of years to get replenished.