Chapter C14- The Earth's Resources Flashcards
What five things are the Earth’s natural resources used to make?
What five places on Earth have humans found natural resources to make use out of?
What two things have increased the supply of natural products?
What have chemists also developed?
What are two classifications of natural resources?
What does the chemical industry uses, how and why?
What are finite resources?
So what will happen if we continue to use these resources at current rates?
What are some examples of finite resources?
Homes to live in, provide food, for the energy needed to cook, stay warm and fuel transport
Earth’s crust, oceans, rivers, lakes and atmosphere
The farming of plants and animals
Synthetic alternatives to these natural products
Finite or renewable (or infinite)
Natural resources as the raw materials to make new products
Those that are being used up at a faster rate than they can be replaced
Finite resources will eventually run out
Fossil fuels (including coal, crude oil, and natural gas).
What are renewable resources (or infinite)?
What is an example of a renewable resource?
What are four examples of finite resources used in industry and what is each one used to make?
What are industries doing wherever possible and for what two reasons?
What are two examples of this and how is this achieved?
Why is it that estimates of the time left before fossil fuels run out can only be rough estimates?
Those that can be replaced at the same rate at which they are used up
The crops used to make biofuels
- Metal ores used to extract metals
- Crude oil used to make polymers and petrochemicals
- Limestone to make cement and concrete
- Crude oil to make petrol, diesel and kerosene that we use for transport
Moving towards renewable resources to conserve finite resources and to improve sustainability
- Making plastics from ethane using fermentation instead of crude oil as the raw material
- Using wood chips instead of fossil fuels to fuel power stations, linked to a programme of planting new trees
Because of the uncertainty involved in the calculations.
What are the five stages of the water cycle?
Describe what happens in the following stages of the water treatment process and why:
Reservoir
Settlement
Filtration
Addition of aluminium sulfate and lime
Sludge Collection
What is a pro of the distillation of water?
What are the three cons of the distillation of water?
What does distillation of sea water under low pressure do?
Precipitation; evaporation; condensation; transpiration
As water passes through treatment works, it passes through a screen, made from bars of metal placed close togther to cacth any large objects
In a settlement tank, the sand and soil settle out
The water is passed througfh a special filter made of fine sand and gravel, removing any remaining particles of mud or grit so the water is clean
Aluminium sulfate and lime are added to the water. Small particles of dirt clump together so that they stick to the bottom of the water
The sludge is collected and dumped in a landfill site, forming mud
Large supply of water produces clean water
- Can cost a lot of money as it is expensive
- Lots of energy needed
- have to add minerals to the water
Reduces the boiling point.
What is the definition of a semi-permeable membrane?
What is reverse osmosis the reverse of?
What do you need to do to reverse the process of osmosis?
What is a reverse osmosis membrane and substances does it allow through?
What do you have to do to the reverse osmosis membrane?
How is this then achieved and explain?
What does this then allow?
How does reverse osmosis work and explain?
What is then left behind and where?
What two other words describe desalination?
A membrane that will allow some atoms or molecules to pass but not others
Reverse osmosis is the process of osmosis in reverse
You need to apply energy to the more saline solution
A semi-permeable membrane that allows the passage of water molecules but not the majority of dissolved salts, organics, bacteria and pathogens
Push the water through the reverse osmosis membrane
By applying pressure that is greater than the naturally occuring osmotic pressure in order to desalinate water in the process
Allows pure water through while holding back a majority of contaminents
Works by using a high pressure pump to increase the pressure on the salt salt of the reverse osmosis and forces the water across the semi-permeable reverse osmosis membrane
Leaves behind almost all of the dissolved salts behind in the reject stream
Demineralize or deionize.
In reverse osmosis, what does the amount of pressure required depend on?
What does it mean the more concentration the feed water is?
What does the treatment of water involve the addition of and why?
What is another way of doing this and how?
What is the definition of portable water?
What are the three properties of portable water?
What are the seven main processes involved in the sewage water treatment?
The salt concentration of the feed water
The more pressure is required to overcome osmotic pressure
Addition of chlorine or ozone to sterilise the water by killing microorganisms
Or without adding chemical sterilising agents, by passing ultra-violet light through the water
Water that’s been treated or is naturally safe for humans to drink
In portable water, the levels of dissolved salts aren’t too high; it has a ph of between 6.5 and 8.5; there are no microbes or pathogens swimming around in it
Sewage arrives; screening; primary sedimentation; biological treatment (aerobic digestion); secondary sedimentation; sludge digestion (anaerbic); sterilisation/disinfection of water.
What is the definiton of biosolids (water are they basically)?
What are biosolids?
What are three examples of processes to treat sewage sludge?
What two types of materials is sewage sludge composed of?
What are the different steps to describe what happens to the sewage sludge?
What two things can the sludge be then used for?
What is the definiton of desalination?
What two things does the large scale purification of sea water require?
Biosolids are basically faeces that have come from biological processes
Sewage sludge that have undergone sufficient treatment for stabilization and pathogen reduction
Dewatering; anaerobic digestion; aerobic digestion
Both inorganic and organic materials
It is separated, broken down by anaerobic digestion and dried
As fertiliser and as a source of renewable energy
The process of removing salt from seawater
Large amounts of energy and needs specialised and expensive plant and equipment.
Describe what three things happen in dewatering?
Describe what happens in anaerobic digestion and what is therefore produced?
What temperature is the sludge kept at and for how long?
Describe what happens in aerobic digestion and what is therefore produced?
What temperature is the sludge kept at and for how long?
What are most metals found as in the Earth and for what reason?
What are only very few metals found as?
What are ores?
What is malachite?
What are the two advantages of using a displacement reaction as a method of extracting a metal?
What is the disadvantage of using a displacement reaction as a method of extracting a metal?
Air drying on sand beds; belt pressing (filtration) and centrification
The anaerobic bacteria feed on the sludge, producing methane and carbon dioxide
Sludge is held in the absence of air for 15 to 60 days at temperatures of 68 to 131 F
Aerobic bacteria feed on the sludge, producing carbon dioxide
Sludge is agitated with air or oxygen for 40 to 60 days at temperatures of 59 to 68 F
Found as compounds in the Earth’s crust because they are reactive
Found by themselves
Rocks that contains the metal compounds
Copper carbonate ore
- The metal is readily available
- A relatively easy process
Need quite a lot of energy to extract the metal.
What is the process of smelting?
What does this process sometimes involve?
What is the advantage of using the process of smelting to extract copper?
What are the disadvantages of using the process of smelting to extract copper?
What is the problem with the final amount of copper produced from the reaction?
What is process of electrolysis used for in copper?
What process occurs the following places in the electrolysis of copper:
Anode
Cathode
The burning of a copper ore with hot air
The use of carbon in the reaction
Waste products are produced but aren’t enough to be called impurities
- Needs a lot of energy
- Pollution
- Acid rain because sulfur forms sulfur dioxide
The molten copper is still not pure enough to be useful
The use of electricity to purify copper
At the anode, oxidation of copper
At the cathode, the reduction of copper (pure copper).
Describe the process of phytomining in detail?
Describe the process of bio leaching in detail?
What are two advantages of bio leaching?
What are two advantages of using phytomining?
What are the five processes that are used to extract copper?
What are the three advantages of landfill disposal?
How does landfilling do this last advantage mentioned?
What are the four advantages of incineration disposal of sludge?
When companies plant crops in soil which contains a very small amount of copper and then burn the plants roots which contain the absorbed copper
When bacteria absorb copper compounds. They then produce solutions called leachates, which contain copper
It’s a very clean method and works with very small amounts of copper
Uses low grade copper ores and very little energy
Displacement reactions, smelting, electrolysis, phytomining and bioleaching
- Landfilling is the simplest solution
- Prevents the release of any sludge-borne pollutants or pathogens
By concentrating the sludge into a single location
- Reduces the volume of the material to be disposed of -Completely destroys pathogens
- Decomposes most organic chemicals
- Recovers the small amount of heat value contained in sewage sludge.
What is a disadvantage of incineration disposal?
What does land application seek to do?
What does land application of biosolids do?
What does organic matter provide and to where?
What are the three options for dealing with sewage sludge?
Incineration releases carbon dioxide and possibly other volatile pollutants
Beneficially reuse the organic matter and plant nutrients in biosolids
Returns those materials to the soil so they can be used to produce another crop
Numerous benefits to the soil and is valuable particularly in soils where organic matter has been depleted
Landfill disposal; incineration disposal; land application.
What is the definition of lifecycle analysis?
What are the five stages of a product’s lifecycle calculated during lifecycle analysis?
What are the three steps for carrying out a lifecycle analysis?
Helping to work out the impact of products on people and the environment
Extracting metals; processing; transporting; using; disposing of the product
- Listing all the energy and material inputs and all the outputs into the environment
- Evaluating the potential environmental impacts from these inputs and outputs
- Interpreting the results to help make decisions about using one material, process, product or service over another.
How is aluminium extracted from aluminium oxide?
What does this process require huge amount of?
What two things does recycling of aluminium save and why?
Why is the process of recycling copper more difficult?
What has to happen to impure copper from recycling for it to be used in electrical wiring?
How can high quality copper wires be recycled?
How are metals usually recycled by?
What are often the three advantages of recycling metals?
At high temperatures using electrolysis
Requires huge amounts of electrical energy
Recycling saves energy and therefore money, since recycling aluminium does not involve electrolysis
Because it is often alloyed with other metals
It has to be purified
By melting and/or reusing it
By melting them and then casting them into the shape of the new product
It uses much less energy than is needed to mine and extract new metals; conserves the finite amount of each metal in the earth; and cuts down on the amount of waste getting sent to landfill.
How is iron extracted from its ore (in detail)?
What is much of the energy in the production of steel from its iron ore supplied by?
What does recycling of steel therefore save?
What other advantage is there of using less energy?
By using a blast furnace which is used at a high temperature using carbon
The burning of fossil fuels, such as natural gas to heat the air entering a blast furnace
The short supply of the non renewable fuels
Reduction in pollution problems
