Environmental Chemistry Flashcards

1
Q

What are nutrients used for?

A

Nutrients are used for energy, growth, bodybuilding, and cell repair.

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2
Q

Why is it important to understand the impact of our actions on the environment?

A

To make informed choices to lower our impact.

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3
Q

What are the two types of nutrients?

A

Organic and Inorganic

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4
Q

What are organic nutrients and what are the four main groups?

A

Organic Nutrients contain carbon. The four groups of organic nutrients are carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and vitamins.

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5
Q

What are Inorganic Nutrients and what are the two main types?

A

Inorganic Nutrients don’t contain carbon, they are minerals or elements, and are found on the periodic table. The two types of nutrients are macrominerals and trace elements.

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6
Q

Explain what the four main groups of organic nutrients do and what are their sources?

A
  1. Carbohydrates - Energy Production - Bread, rice, vegetables, pasta.
  2. Proteins - Building/repair of the body - Chicken, eggs, beans, nuts.
  3. Lipids - Energy Storage - Oil, dairy, meat, nuts, avocado.
  4. Vitamins - many roles - Fruits/vegetables, the sun.
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7
Q

What are macrominerals and trace elements and what is the difference?

A
  1. Macrominerals - 100 mg/day or more
  2. Trace Elements - less than 100 mg/day
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8
Q

What are the important vitamins and what are they responsible for?

A

Vitamin A - needed for healthy eyesight
Vitamin B (several) - responsible for Metabolism
Vitamin C - connective tissue
Vitamin D - bone structure
Vitamin E - healing cuts and bruises
Vitamin K - blood clotting

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9
Q

What are examples of trace elements and what are the responsible for?

A

-Sodium - Nerve impulses
-Potassium - Nerve impulses
-Iron - Red blood cells

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10
Q

What are deficiencies?

A

When a person doesn’t get enough of a nutrient, deficiencies can occur.

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11
Q

Which fertilizer is designed for grass? For potatoes? For roses?
A. 30-8-10
B. 10-5-20
C. 5-15-4

A

A. - Grass because it is high in nitrogen
B. - Roses because it is high in potassium
C. - Potatoes because its high in phosphorus

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12
Q

What are the advantages of fertilizer?

A

-Better yields
-Crops grow faster
-Increase food production
-Improves quality of soil

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13
Q

What are the disadvantages of fertilizer?

A

-Expensive/more work
-Could disrupt the balance of N.P.K. (Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium)
-Reduce biodiversity
-Increase in algal blooms

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14
Q

What are the three categories of a pesticide and briefly describe them.

A
  1. Herbicide - Kills weeds
  2. Fungicide - Kills molds/fungus
  3. Insecticide - Kills insects/spiders/mites
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15
Q

What is DDT?

A

DDT was originally thought to be an amazing advance in medicine. It was proven to be invaluable in the fight against insect borne diseases, and was thought to be 100% safe.

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16
Q

What is a food chain?

A

Shows the transfer of energy from producers to many levels of consumers. Remember, food chains are parts of food webs.

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17
Q

What is biomagnification?

A

Biomagnification is the accumulation of harmful chemicals through a food chain.

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18
Q

What is Biological Control?

A

An alternate form of pesticide/herbicide in which an organism is introduced to control the pest/weed population.

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19
Q

What are the properties of acids?

A

-Dissolve in water (soluble)
-Taste sour
-Neutralize bases
-Turn Litmus Paper red
-Conduct electricity
-pH less than 7

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20
Q

What are the properties of bases?

A

-Dissolve in water
-Taste bitter
-Neutralize acids
-Turn litmus paper blue
-conduct electricity
-Are slippery to touch
-pH greater than 7

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21
Q

What are neutral substances?

A

These aren’t acidic or basic, don’t change the colour of litmus paper, and have a pH of 7.

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22
Q

What is the pH used for?

A

Used to compare the acidity of substances.

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23
Q

What is acid rain?

A

When organic compounds burn, oxides of sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon are released into the atmosphere, where they combine with water and form acid.

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24
Q

Why doesn’t Western Canada have as many problems with acidic lakes?

A

Western Canada doesn’t have as many problems with acidic lakes because they have more limestone than those in Eastern Canada.

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25
Q

What are two ways humans control emissions and briefly describe.

A
  1. Catalytic Convertors - Prevents emissions from cars
  2. Scrubbers - Prevent emissions from factories.
26
Q

What are the similarities between acids and bases?

A

-Conduct electricity
-Change the colour of litmus paper
-Soluble in water

27
Q

How do we know if the air we breathe, the land we live on, or the water we drink is polluted?

A

-Lack of living organisms
-Taste it
-How it looks
-Smell it
-Feel it (in lungs or eyes)

28
Q

What is a pollutant?

A

Anything physical, chemical, or biological that may cause harm to living things.

29
Q

What are the different categories of pollutants?

A

Physical, Chemical, and Biological pollutants.

30
Q

What are examples of physical pollutants?

A

-Heat - temperature, hot water pollution
-Restrain living things (pop can rings, nets)
-Garbage

31
Q

What are examples of chemical pollutants?

A

-Acid rain
-Chemicals into the air, water
-Smog
-Pesticides
-Excess fertilizer

32
Q

What are examples of Biological pollutants?

A

-Viruses
-Bacteria
-Parasites

33
Q

What is Pollution?

A

A change in the environment that is harmful to living things.

34
Q

What are concentrations?

A

These show how much of a substance is dissolved in a solution.

35
Q

What are 3 ways to express concentration?

A
  1. Percent
  2. Parts per Million
  3. Parts per Billion
36
Q

20% means?

A

20/100

37
Q

20 PPM means?

A

20/1,000,000

38
Q

20 PPB means?

A

20/1,000,000,000

39
Q

What does PPT mean?

A

Parts per Trillion

40
Q

Define Toxicity.

A

Toxicity is the ability of a chemical to cause harm to an organism.

41
Q

What is the difference between acute toxicity and chronic toxicity?

A

Acute Toxicity occurs when serious symptoms show after one exposure (eg. cyanide). Chronic Toxicity occurs when symptoms show after accumulation over many exposures (eg. Mercury).

42
Q

What does LD50 stand for?

A

Lethal Dose 50. Remember, the lower the LD50, the more deadly.

43
Q

What is the LD50 of Salmonella?
What is the LD50 of DDT?

A

Salmonella: 12 PPM
DDT: 400 PPM in rabbits

44
Q

What is the LD50 of Tetanus Bacteria?

A

LD50=0.000005 PPM

45
Q

What are Persistent Pollutants and what is an example?

A

Accumulate in the environment and, either break down slowly or not at all. Ex. Pesticides, Petroleum Products, Heavy Metals.

46
Q

What are Non-Persistent Pollutants?

A

Do not accumulate in the environment, and break down easily by bacteria or other natural reactions.

47
Q

What is a point source and what is an example?

A

-Immediate source of pollution
-Ex. Smoke stack, drainpipes

48
Q

What is a non-point source and what is an example?

A

-Emissions have to travel
-Ex. Golf courses, fields, construction sites

49
Q

How do Algal Blooms happen?

A

-Fertilizer will run off into water
-Algae will grow rapidly
-Algae will die due to lack of nutrients
-Bacteria increases in numbers to decompose the algae
-Bacteria use up oxygen
-Life in the water dies due to lack of oxygen

50
Q

What does NIMBY stand for?

A

Not in My Back Yard

51
Q

What is Leachate?

A

“Garbage juice”

52
Q

What are sanitary landfills?

A

-Regular garbage dumps
-Use clay or plastic liners

53
Q

What are secured landfills?

A

-Include many layers of gravel or plastic under and over the landfill
-Has toxic waste, Hazardous waste, flammable waste, corrosive waste, and poisonous waste

54
Q

Air pollution in the southern hemisphere is due mostly to what?

A

-Volcanoes
-Forest Fires

55
Q

Air pollution in the northern hemisphere is mostly due to what?

A

-Factories
-Vehicle Emissions
-Human Activity

56
Q

What are the two main sources of water pollution?

A
  1. Runoff
  2. Sewage
57
Q

What are the three stages of sewage treatment and briefly describe them.

A
  1. Primary - large particles removed
  2. Secondary - bacteria produce sludge out of small particles (removed)
  3. Tertiary - effluent moves through ground soil (lagoon)
58
Q

What is an aquifer?

A

Underground reserve of water.

59
Q

What are the four R’s and briefly describe each.

A

Reduce - Use less disposable stuff
Reuse - Reuse materials (plastic containers for food storage)
Recycle - Send a product to be re-purposed (tires into playground covering)
Recover - Obtain useful materials from waste (methane from landfills)

60
Q

What is Bioremediation? What are bioreactors?

A

Using living things like bacteria to clean pollutants. Bioreactors are container tanks that hold these bacteria at the right conditions.