Untitled Deck

Question 1

What are Earth’s resources used by humans for?

Answer 1

Warmth, shelter, food and transport.

Question 2

What do natural resources, supplemented by agriculture, provide?

Answer 2

Food, timber, clothing and fuels.

Question 3

What are finite resources?

Answer 3

Resources from the Earth, oceans and atmosphere that are limited and will run out.

Question 4

What are renewable resources?

Answer 4

Resources that are replenished naturally.

Question 5

What is sustainable development?

Answer 5

Development that meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Question 6

Why does chemistry play an important role in sustainable development?

Answer 6

It improves agricultural and industrial processes and helps develop new products.

Question 7

Give examples of natural products supplemented or replaced by agricultural products.

Answer 7

Natural timber replaced by farmed timber; natural fibres replaced by cotton.

Question 8

Give examples of natural products replaced by synthetic products.

Answer 8

Wood replaced by plastics; natural rubber replaced by synthetic rubber.

Question 9

Be able to distinguish between finite and renewable resources.

Answer 9

Finite resources are limited and will run out; renewable resources are replenished naturally.

Question 10

Why is water of appropriate quality essential?

Answer 10

It is essential for life.

Question 11

What is potable water?

Answer 11

Water that is safe to drink.

Question 12

Why is potable water not pure water in the chemical sense?

Answer 12

It contains dissolved substances.

Question 13

What must potable water contain low levels of?

Answer 13

Dissolved salts and microbes.

Question 14

How is potable water produced in the UK?

Answer 14

Selecting an appropriate source of fresh water; passing the water through filter beds; sterilising.

Question 15

Name sterilising agents used in potable water treatment.

Answer 15

Chlorine; ozone; ultraviolet light.

Question 16

When is desalination required?

Answer 16

When fresh water supplies are limited.

Question 17

How can desalination be carried out?

Answer 17

By distillation or by processes that use membranes such as reverse osmosis.

Question 18

Why does desalination require large amounts of energy?

Answer 18

Because distillation and reverse osmosis are energy-intensive processes.

Question 19

Be able to distinguish between potable water and pure water.

Answer 19

Potable water is safe to drink; pure water contains only H₂O molecules.

Question 20

Be able to describe the differences in treatment of ground water and salty water.

Answer 20

Ground water requires filtration and sterilisation; salty water requires desalination.

Question 21

Be able to give reasons for the steps used to produce potable water.

Answer 21

Filtration removes solid particles; sterilisation kills harmful microbes.

Question 22

What produces large amounts of waste water?

Answer 22

Urban lifestyles and industrial processes.

Question 23

What must sewage and agricultural waste water have removed?

Answer 23

Organic matter and harmful microbes.

Question 24

What may industrial waste water require removal of?

Answer 24

Organic matter and harmful chemicals.

Question 25

First stage of sewage treatment.

Answer 25

Screening and grit removal.

Question 26

Second stage of sewage treatment.

Answer 26

Sedimentation to produce sewage sludge and effluent.

Question 27

What happens to sewage sludge?

Answer 27

Anaerobic digestion.

Question 28

Final stage of sewage treatment.

Answer 28

Aerobic biological treatment of effluent.

Question 29

Be able to comment on the relative ease of obtaining potable water from waste, ground and salt water.

Answer 29

Ground water is easiest; waste water requires more treatment; salt water requires desalination and the most energy.

Question 30

Why are alternative copper extraction methods needed?

Answer 30

Copper ores are becoming scarce and lower grade.

Question 31

What is phytomining?

Answer 31

Plants absorb metal compounds; plants are harvested and burned to produce ash that contains metal compounds.

Question 32

What is bioleaching?

Answer 32

Bacteria produce leachate solutions that contain metal compounds.

Question 33

How can copper be obtained from solutions of copper compounds?

Answer 33

By displacement using scrap iron or by electrolysis.

Question 34

Be able to evaluate alternative biological methods of metal extraction.

Answer 34

Consider environmental impact, energy use, cost and effectiveness.

Question 35

What is a life cycle assessment (LCA)?

Answer 35

An assessment of the environmental impact of a product at each stage of its life.

Question 36

What stages are assessed in an LCA?

Answer 36

Extracting and processing raw materials; manufacturing and packaging; use and operation during lifetime; disposal at end of life including transport and distribution.

Question 37

What can be quantified fairly easily in an LCA?

Answer 37

Use of water, resources, energy sources and production of some wastes.

Question 38

Why is allocating numerical values to pollutant effects less straightforward?

Answer 38

It requires value judgements.

Question 39

Why is LCA not a purely objective process?

Answer 39

Because some environmental impacts cannot be measured precisely.

Question 40

What is a selective or abbreviated LCA?

Answer 40

An LCA that evaluates only certain stages of a product’s life.

Question 41

Why can selective LCAs be misused?

Answer 41

They can be used to reach predetermined conclusions for advertising.

Question 42

How does reducing use, reuse and recycling reduce environmental impact?

Answer 42

It reduces the use of limited resources, energy consumption, waste and environmental damage.

Question 43

Why does quarrying and mining cause environmental impacts?

Answer 43

They damage landscapes and ecosystems.

Question 44

How can glass be reused or recycled?

Answer 44

Glass bottles can be reused; glass can be crushed and melted to make new products.

Question 45

How are metals recycled?

Answer 45

By melting and recasting or reforming into different products.

Question 46

Why does recycling sometimes require separation of materials?

Answer 46

The amount of separation depends on the material and the properties required of the final product.

Question 47

How can scrap steel reduce the use of limited resources?

Answer 47

Scrap steel can be added to iron from a blast furnace to reduce the amount of iron extracted from ore.

Question 48

Be able to evaluate ways of reducing the use of limited resources.

Answer 48

Consider environmental impact, energy use, cost and sustainability.