Chapter 50 Test Flashcards
List the effects of acid rain.
Attacks nylon, attacks marble statues, causes toxic metals to become motile in the ecosystem, can be reduced in the local area by tail smokestacks.
List examples of nonrenewable resources.
Oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear energy.
Give examples of processes or movements that could increase the earths carrying capacity.
Irrigation, recycling, conservation and green revolution.
Primary treatment for sewage involves ________ and ________, which physically treats water.
Filtration and sedimentation.
Approximately 50% of the billions of tons of solid waste produced in the United States is _______.
Paper.
The new high-yield crops require what that cannot be supplied by subsistence agriculture?
Irrigation, pesticides, fossil fuel energy and fertilizers.
To produce power from fusion, ________ atoms are joined to form _________.
Hydrogen, hydrogen.
Primary treatment of wastewater does involve:
Sedimentation tanks, chemicals such as aluminum sulfate, and mechanical screens.
What are factors characteristic of a city primarily plagued by photochemical smog?
High concentration of nitrogen oxides, significant amounts and PANs, and large numbers of internal combustion engines.
At current rates of clearing and degradation, the disappearance of the tropical rain forest biome may be complete by the year _____.
2035.
If one kind of plutonium isotope is not removed, the wastes from a nuclear power reactor must be kept out of the environment for how many years before they are safe?
250,000.
Nuclear power plants net energy productions is relatively _______.
Low.
After secondary sewage treatment, the water may contain:
Oxygen demanding wastes, pesticides and industrial chemicals, nitrates and phosphates viruses.
Acid rain occurs when _______ released in burning ______ combines with water in the atmosphere.
Sulfur, fossil fuels.
When the burning of fossil-fuels in manufacturing plants gives off particulates and sulfur oxides, we have ______.
Photochemical smog.
The most harmful element in coal that causes serious pollution problems is _______.
Sulfur.
In brown air fog, which substance combines with nitrogen dioxide in the sunlight to form photochemical smog?
Hydrocarbons.
A thermal inversion refers to a layer of ________ air trapped underneath a _________ air blanket.
Cool; warm.
Air pollution ______ visibility, _______ buildings, caused various human ________, and damages plants.
Reduces, corrodes, diseases.
What factors are correlated with a decrease in atmospheric ozone?
Suppression of the immune system, decreased rates of photosynthesis, and increased incidence of skin cancers.
Which processes are generally considered a component of tertiary wastewater treatment?
Absorption of dissolved organic compounds, precipitation of suspended solids, and reverse osmosis.
Fossil fuels will be commercially depleted within the next ________ years.
100.
Which factors are characteristic of a city primarily plagued by industrial smog?
High concentration of sulfur oxides, dependence on fossil fuel for manufacturing, and cold wet winters.
Uses of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) include:
Plastic packaging, aerosol propellants, and refrigeration coolants.
The primary cause of desertification in the world today is ________ or marginal lands.
Overgrazing.
For every million liters of water in the world, only about _____ liters are in a form that can be used for human consumption or agriculture.
6.
The atmosphere above which region is known to have a hole in the ozone layer?
Antarctica.
Name substances that contribute to acid rain.
Waste products from the burning of gasoline, waste products from the burning of coal, and nitrogen fertilizers.
About how many beverage containers sold in the United States each year are nonreturnable cans and bottles, many of which are discarded in public places?
50 billion.
List cities that have and are known for brown fog.
Los Angeles.
The soils in the tropical rain forest are nutrient poor because ________ of organic matter is very rapid.
Decomposition.
The concept of solar-hydrogen energy can accurately be described as:
Sunlight produces electricity which is used to produce hydrogen fuel.
Acid rain increases the mobility of ______ heavy metals, is the major reason for the production of sterile _____ around the world, has a pH ______ 7, and is primarily the result of ______ pollution.
Toxic, lakes, below, industrial.
Landfills should contain _______ solid wastes.
No recycled.
Industrial smog causes air to turn ________. (color)
Gray.
In the United States, how many metric tons of pollutants are discharged into the atmosphere each day?
100,000.
Which acid is the most severe air pollutant?
Nitric acid.
When the burning of fossil fuels in vehicle engines off particulates and nitric oxides, what results?
Smog.
Problems associated with the extraction or use of coal as a large-scale source of energy include:
Production of sulfur oxides, amplification of the general warming trend of the earth, and strip mining in fragile semiarid environments.
Subsistence agriculture does not utilize _______ fertilizers.
Synthetic.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) are pollutants because biogeochemical mechanisms for their removal have not yet appeared in the _____.
Biosphere.
What is the most reliable source of energy for the next few hundred or thousands of years?
Sun.
How many trees are required just to print all the Sunday newspapers in the United States?
500,000.
What percentage of urban wastes are paper products?
50%.
List results or effects of irrigation.
Raised water tables, increased food production, and water logging of soil.
The unequal distribution of acid rain over the United States is closely correlated with burning _________.
Fossil fuels.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has dramatically _________ in the last few decades.
Increased.
Of the earths land, what is the maximum percentage now being used for agriculture?
21%.
For a given crop yield, modern agricultural practices require how many times more energy and mineral resources than is required by subsistence agricultural practices?
100.
The two chemical elements associated with acid deposition are ________ and _________.
Nitrogen and sulfur.
Tropical plants or their products have provided humans with:
Medicines, fuels, spices, resins, dyes, etc.
Acid rain is NOT a serious problem in some areas because of the presence of which substance in the soil?
Carbonate.
Using recycled paper could reduce the air population that results from paper manufacturing by: ______%.
95.
Deforestation results in ______ air temperatures, _______ soil fertility, and _______ rainfall patterns.
Increased, decreased, altered.
The region of the United States most affected by acid rain is the __________.
Northeast.
Air pollution may cause what physical ailments?
Lung cancer, emphysema, bronchitis, and burning eyes.
Carbon dioxide is a pollutant because it cannot be recycled at a rate ______ to its preset production.
Equal.
Transportation-produced smog causes air to turn ________ (color).
Brown.
List examples of particulate wastes.
Smoke, soot, asbestos and dust.
