Interpreting And Interacting With Earth Systems Flashcards
What pollutant is created from the complete combustion of fuels?
Carbon Dioxide
What effects does carbon dioxide have?
Increases the greenhouse effect
Global Warming
What pollutant is caused from incomplete combustion?
Carbon Monoxide
What effect does carbon monoxide have?
Toxic gas, Cannot be seen or smelt
Prevents oxygen binding to haemoglobin
What is the secondary pollutant created from the incomplete combustion of fuels?
Carbon Particulates
What effects do carbon particulates have?
Global Dimming
Lung Disease
Respiratory Issues
How is sulfur dioxide produced as a pollutant?
Combustion of fuels where sulfur impurities in fuels react with oxygen
What effects do sulfur dioxide have?
Acid Rain
Change Soil pH
Respiratory Issues
How does sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide form acid rain?
They dissolve in water and so get condensed forming rain. They are then precipitated as acid rain
How are nitrogen oxides formed?
Nitrogen oxides are pollutants produced when atmospheric nitrogen reacts with oxygen in hot engines to facilitate the reaction
What are the main greenhouses gases?
Water Vapour (Most Significant)
Methane
Carbon Dioxide
Nitrous Oxide
How do greenhouse gases warm up earth?
The sun emits UV short length radiation that warm up the Earth’s surface
Most of it is remitted as IR long length radiation
Greenhouses gases absorb some of the IR radiation
They then re-radiate thermal radiation in all directions, including back to earth
How are humans putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere?
Deforestation
Burning Fossil Fuels
Cattle Farming
Landfill Sites
Rice Fuels
What are the effects of greenhouse gases?
Sea level rise, Loss of habitats, Extinction of species, Extreme weather conditions, Forest fires, Changing animal migration patterns, Damage to coral reefs, Difficulty growing crops
How are humans reducing greenhouse emission?
Reduce use of fossil fuels
Afforestation
Less Cattle Farming
Recycling
Carbon Capture
What is the current atmosphere made up of?
78% Nitrogen
21% Oxygen
<1% Carbon Dioxide
<1% Other Gases
What was Earth’s old atmosphere made up of?
95% Carbon Dioxide
4% Water Vapour
<1% Oxygen
<1% Other Gases
It was very similar to Mars and Venus’s current atmospheres
What released gases in Earth’s early existence?
Intense volcanic activity released carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water vapour
What increased levels of water in Earth?
As Earth cooled, water vapour condensed and fell as rain forming bodies of water
What increased levels of oxygens in Earth’s atmosphere?
Algae and plants produced oxygen that is now in the atmosphere because of photosynthesis. As plants continued to evolve, oxygen levels increased
What increased nitrogen levels in the atmosphere?
Nitrogen build up was caused by intense volcanic activity. Moreover, ammonia reactions released nitrogen.
How was the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reduced?
Carbon dioxide dissolved in the water
Carbon dioxide was locked into rocks
Carbon dioxide was taken in in photosynthesis
What is potable water?
Potable water is safe to drink and is usually impure. This is because it has low levels of dissolved salts and microbes
What is the first process of making potable water?
Sedimentation is where water is left so that gravity bring larger substances to the bottom which are then filtered out
What is the second process of making potable water?
Filtration is where water is passed through sand or gravel to filter out smaller substances
What is the last process of making potable water?
Sterilisation is where chlorine/ozone/UV light are put through water to kill microbes
What are the two processes used to make potable water from saline?
Desalination and Reverse Osmosis
What is involved in desalination?
Sea water is heated until it boils and the steam produced is pure water which is condensed to make pure water
What is involved in reverse osmosis?
Water is put under high pressure and passed through a membrane; the pores allow water molecules but prevent most ions and molecules from passing through
What are the disadvantages of desalination?
It requires a lot of energy to boil the water and then cool it
The waste water is often very salty and can be difficult to dispose of in a sustainable way that does not harm marine life
What are the disadvantages of reverse osmosis?
Reverse osmosis requires expensive membranes
They produce a large volume of waste water and so has a low efficiency
What are the 3 sources of waste water and what are harmful about them?
Human waste
Industrial waste
Agricultural waste
What are the steps to sewage treatment?
Screening and grit removal to remove large particles
Sedimentation allows tiny particles to settle from still water which produces sewage sludge and effluent (the liquid which remains on top)
The sewage sludge is digested anaerobically by specific bacteria
The effluent is treated with aerobic bacteria to reduce the volume of solid waste
The water then goes through sedimentation letting it sit
