Recall mistakes P1 Flashcards
What toxic chemicals can be found in smoke?
Fluorides, aluminiums, lead, acids and organic compounds such as phenol
What are the effects of smoke (non-living)?
Damage to buildings due to acids and organic solvents, cleaning buildings, depletion of ozone in the stratosphere and cold temperatures
What are the dangers of smog?
Smoke more easily inhaled
How is smoke controlled in transport sources?
DPF trap 80% of smoke, turbo chargers to improve efficiency of combustion
What metals are the catalysts in catalytic converters?
Platinum and palladium
How are hydrocarbons controlled?
Catalytic converters, vapour collection at filling station, activated carbon treatment of vapours causes adsorption
What acids are found within acid rain?
Sulphurous (SO2), sulphuric (SO3), nitrous and nitric
What are the direct effects of acid rain?
Reduced enzyme action, damaging cells inside stomata and root hair cells, fish eggs damaged, exoskeletons dissolve
What are the controls of oxides of sulphur?
Crude oil desulphurisation, coal desulphurisation, wet and dry FGD and natural gas desulphurisation
What are the effects of tropospheric ozone?
Breathing difficulties and asthma in humans, toxic and reduced growth rate in plants
What physiological changes can be caused by thermal pollution?
Increased metabolic rate so less energy for growth, increased rate of egg hatching, introduced species, mobilised toxins and disease resistance reduced
What are the toxic components of oil?
Benzene and xylene
How is waste lubricating oil recycled?
Removal of contaminants, chemical reforming and distillation
What are the different treatments of oil spills?
Booms, skimmers, absorbent materials, detergents, polymerising agents, steam washing and bioremediation
What are the properties of organophosphates?
Highly toxic to insects and mammals, low persistence and cannot bioaccumulate or biomagnify, causes ADHD
What are the properties of neonicotinoids?
High toxicity to insects, lower toxicity to mammals, neurotoxin, relatively persistent and water-soluble
What are the treatment methods for phosphate?
Addition of iron (III) sulphate from liquid effluents to form iron phosphate
Dredging lakes to add iron (III) sulphur to reduce solubility of phosphate
What are the effects of organic nutrient pollution?
Deoxygenation, pathogens and inorganic nutrient release
What do the comminutors do in pre-treatment of organic waste?
Chop up suspended faecal solids to increase the exposed surface area
What is the method of sludge treatment?
Anaerobic microbes digest the sludge in a warm tank for about 4 weeks to kill most pathogens and reduce odours
What happens to the organic matter after sludge treatment?
Landfill, dispersal in the sea, incineration or agricultural use (may contain heavy metals)
What are the processes in secondary treatment?
Aeration, sedimentation or trickling filter beds
What are the processes involved in tertiary treatment?
Removal of phosphates, micro-straining then chlorine
What are the factors of lead pollution that need to be controlled?
Water pipes and solder (Tin zinc copper), petrol additives, electrical solder, lead-based paint, fishing weights and shotgun pellets
What effect can chemical form have on the toxicity of mercury?
Liquid- not easily absorbed through skin or gut
Inorganic- absorbed moderately well in the gut
Organic- absorbed easily through skin and gut and harm placenta
How is iron pollution controlled?
Spoil heap drainage water is collected and passed over mesh screens where the iron becomes oxidised and deposited
What are the features of good landfill sites?
Separation of wastes types, collection of CH4, fences for litter, collection and treatment of leachate, polymer lining to prevent escape of leachate, soil covering to reduce pest problems, impermeable cap once complete, deodorising sprays and dispersal of flammables and separation of reactive chemicals
What are the effects of noise on other living organisms?
Livestock stress and panic injuries, disturbance of breeding birds, reduced feeding success, hearing damage/behavioural changes
How is aircraft engine design improved to reduce noise?
Chevron nozzles, engine hush kits, engine acoustic liners
What are the new technologies in oil recovery?
Directional drilling, subsea production wells, ROVs and AUVs, fracking, tar sands and oil shales
What are the proposed extraction methods for methane hydrate?
Depressurisation, CO2 injection and water heating
What are the extraction techniques for uranium?
Polymer adsorption, phosphate mining and coal ash
What are the advantages of thorium reactors?
Thorium 3x more abundant, less radioactive waste produced and shorter half life of waste
What are the disadvantages of thorium reactors?
Breeding rate slow, expensive, U-233 releases alpha radiation
What are the key features of toroidal reactors?
10x input energy releases, maintains fusion for longer, blanket of lithium for breeding
What are the new solar power technologies?
Multi-junction PV cells, anti-reflective surfaces, concentrating solar power (parabolic reflectors), thermal hybrid systems, transparent PV cells, heliostats and self cleaning panels
What are Kaplan turbines?
Axial flow turbines that rotate to allow for variations in water flow
What are the new wind power technologies?
Blade-tip fins, nacelle brushes, direct drive turbines, helical VAWT turbines and wind assisted ships
What are the new wave power technologies?
Point absorber, overtopping/terminator device, surface attenuator, oscillating wave surge converter and oscillating water column
What factors affect rechargeable battery viability?
Efficiency of storage cycle, number of cycles, energy density, recharging speed, safety issues, cost per unit of energy stored and self-discharge
What are some types of storage systems?
Vehicle to grid, power to gas, heat energy, high volume storage, molten salt, high thermal mass building materials, kinetic energy and electricity super-capacitors
What are some highly reactive pollutants?
NOx, HCs and O3
What are some teratogenic pollutants?
Mercury and 2,4,5-T herbicide
How is hydrogen sulphide removed from natural gas?
Dissolving it in amine solution or reacting with iron particles
How does crude oil desulphurisation occur?
Distillation using molybdenum catalysts
How is coal desuphurised?
Washing and steaming
How does wet flue gas desulphurisation occur?
Sodium sulphite scrubbing by bubbling through sodium sulphite solution to produce sodium hydrogen sulphite
What tin-based chemical was used in anti-fouling paints?
Tri-butyl tin
How does the atmosphere support life?
Gases for natural processes, absorption of EM from the sun, delaying IR escape, heat distribution, ocean current, transport of water vapour and gases for human exploitation
What are the consequences of GCC?
Ecological changes, changes to the cryosphere, changes in climatic processes, sea level rise, changes in ocean currents and impacts on human society
How does GCC cause changes to ocean currents?
Winds cause surface water to move, evaporation , heating and cooling impacts density of surface water and reduced salinity from meltwater impacts density
What are the impacts of GCC on human society?
Health, food supplies, water supplies and impacts of infrastructure
Why is it difficult to monitor and predict climate change?
Spatial scales and time scales, interconnected systems, natural fluctuation and time delay between cause and effect
What is proxy data?
Estimating a factor that can’t be measured by using a related factor that can be measured, e.g. dendrochronology, growth rings of coral or pollen grain analysis
What are some methods of data collection?
Historic data, proxy data, ice core data, satellite data, monitoring ocean currents and computer models
Why might historic data not be reliable?
Lack of sophisticated equipment, lack of data on global scale, rising temp in a town may be a result of urbanisation and the ‘heat island’ effect
What information can satellite data collect?
Wind velocity, ocean currents, temperature, wave height, ice cover, ice thickness and vegetation cover
What methods are employed to adapt towards climate change?
Flood control, coastal erosion control, managed retreat and urban drainage control (permeable urban surfaces, river flow management, raised buildings and floating houses)
What are the properties of CFCs?
Non-toxic, not flammable, volatile, electrically safe, dissolve grease
What was the chemical behaviour of CFCs from the Rowland-Molina hypothesis?
Persistence, dissociation by UV and release of chlorine, reaction of chlorine and oxygen and similar behaviour of other halides
What are the human impacts on the hydrological cycle?
Deforestation, agriculture (soil compaction/erosion), urban development and global climate change
What are the environmental effects of reservoirs?
Habitat change, wildlife barriers, river regime downstream of dams, sedimentation and microclimates
What rocks can form aquifers?
Chalk, limestone and sandstone
What rocks can form the impermeable base of aquifers?
Granite and clay
What are the dangers of ancient aquifer water?
Saline causing soil salinisation ad irrigation water evaporates leaving the salt behind leading to osmotic dehydration and death
How is aquifer depletion monitored?
NASA operates two GRACE (gravity recovery and climate experiment) satellites which survey whole of Earth in 30 days
What are new sources of water that can be exploited?
Rainwater collection, rivers, reservoirs, estuary barrages, seawater
What features affect the usefulness of a river?
Total annual water flow, flow fluctuations, level of natural contaminants and pollutants from human activities
What is an estuary barrage?
Freshwater reservoir created by building a dam across an estuary where a river enters a sea, but they change important inter-tidal habitats, create obstacles for shipping and can be polluted
What are the methods for sustainable management of water?
Artificial recharge of aquifers, river-regulation reservoirs, inter-basin transfers, unexploited aquifers, afforestation (reduced fluctuation in rivers) and water conservation
What are some of the methods of water conservation?
Low volume uses, recycling used water, pollution control and reduced wastage in maintenance of pipes
What are the water treatment processes?
Sedimentation, screens, aeration, flocculation, filtration, activated carbon filters, sterilisation, pH control, fluoridation, ion exchange and reverse osmosis/distillation
What is the process of filtration?
Slow movement of water through layers of sand and gravel to remove any remaining suspended solids and bacteria
What is the process for activated carbon filters?
Particles of activated carbon are used to remove any organic chemicals such as pesticides as these adsorb into the carbon
What is the process for ion exchange?
Toxic ion such as lead and mercury are removed using ion exchange resins, ions adsorb onto polymer beads
How are minerals of tin, copper, silver and gold deposited?
Hydrothermal deposition from igneous intrusions
How is limestone changed to marble and what other change can occur through this process?
Metamorphic processes
Extreme pressure can change mudstone to slate
How can hematite and magnetite be found?
Proterozoic marine sediments
How are gold, diamonds, tin ore, gravel sand and clay minerals deposited?
Alluvial processes when materials are carried and separated by flowing water
How are halites formed (salt)?
Evaporites if a bay of an ancient sea becomes isolated, water evaporates leaving crystallised minerals
How are limestone and chalk sedimentary deposits produced?
Shells of marine organisms
What are the different survey techniques for mineral exploitation?
IR spectroscopy, gravimetry, magnetometry, seismic surveys, resistivity, trial drilling and chemical analysis
What factors affect mining viability?
Ore purity, chemical form, overburden and hydrology, depth, COOG, transport costs and market economics
What are the impacts of spoil disposal?
Aesthetics, stability, drainage, lack of nutrients, pH, contamination, heavy metals, toxic leachate and flammable materials
What are the improvements in exploratory techniques?
Better remote sensing image resolution and portable field equipment
How is iron displacement used?
Iron displaces copper irons in solution, meaning copper can be extracted as solid copper metal
Wha are some natural polymers used in polymer adsorption?
Lignin and chitin
What do polymetallic nodules do?
Exploit previously inaccessible deposits, (manganese nodules), metal-rich nodules found on the seabed and are currently not exploited due to costs, this owuld disturb the seabed
What is ionisation in the nitrogen cycle?
Lightning and meteor trails providing energy fpor N2 and O2 to react to produce NOx
How do humans impact the nitrogen cycle?
Haber process, agriculture and pollution
What are some sustainable management methods of the nitrogen cycle?
Control of combustion processes, control of NOx release, management of biological wastes, eutrophication, organic fertilisers and management of soil processes
What are the main processes of the phosphorus cycle?
Absorption by roots, decomposition, sedimentation and mountain building and weathering
What is the most soluble form of phosphate?
It is mined as calcium phosphate then converted to ammonium phosphate
What are the human impacts and sustainable managements for the phosphorus cycle?
Mining of phosphate rocks and fertiliser use
Biological waste fertilisers and crop breeding to increase efficiency of absorption of phosphate
How do humans impact the carbon cycle?
Changes in photosynthesis, changes in aerobic and anaerobic respiration, carbonic acid concentration in the sea, methane release from fossil fuels, combustion and biomass movements
How do human activities affect soil fertility?
Aeration by ploughing and drainage, soil nutrient levels, irrigation, soil compaction and pH control
What human activities increase the rate of soil erosion?
Vegetation removal, soil compaction, ploughing, overgrazing and reduced soil biota
What are the effects of accelerated soil erosion?
Desertification, sedimentation in rivers and reservoirs, reduced productivity and increases atmospheric particulates
What are the features of fertile soil?
Water content, soluble materials, air content, dead organic matter, pH, soil biota, soil texture, soil structure and soil depth
What are some essential soil biota?
Mycorrhizal fungi, detritivores, decomposers, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria
What are the methods to reduce soil erosion?
Long-term crops, zero-tillage cultivation, contour ploughing, tied ridging, terracing, rows of stones, windbreaks, multi cropping, increasing soil organic matter, livestock management
How can vehicles be designed to conserve energy?
Bulk transport, solid wheels, aerodynamic shape, regenerative braking, fuel combustion efficiency, design for end of life and lighter materials
What are the different schemes for harnessing geothermal power?
Low temperature schemes: geothermal springs or geothermal aquifers
High temperature schemes: geothermal steam systems and hot dry rock systems
What are the new geothermal technologies?
Low temperature fluids:n new turbine technologies use liquids which boil at lower temperatures such as butane or pentane, allowing lower temp rocks to be used
What are some methods for measuring pollutants?
Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Coliform count and biotic indices
What is biological oxygen demand?
1 litre of water is left for 5 days at 20C in the dark to measure the level of deoxygenation that occurs
What is chemical oxygen demand?
The amount of oxygen needed to oxidise all inorganic and organic substances within the water
What are the characteristics of ideal species for biotic indices?
Different sensitivities to pollution, are easy to identify, easy to find, normally present, usually common and are generally distributed
What is E.coli a sign of in water?
Faecal contamination
What are the effects and control of cadmium?
Brain damage and paralysis, lung cancer, kidney failure and skeletal collapse due to bone decalcification
Restricting and banning use, disposed of as hazardous waste or recycles
What are sources of cadmium?
Disposal of cadmium-nickel batteries, drainage water from mines and incineration of plastics and paints
What are the uses of ionising radiation?
Industry, healthcare, agriculture, scientific research and nuclear fission and fusion
How are dioxins produced in incineration?
Reaction of organic wastes and chlorine at high temp (separate and immediately cool effluent gases)
How is asbestos waste handled?
Double wrap in heavy duty polythene bags
How are cyanide wastes handled?
Incineration to produce CO2 and NO2
What are some sources of railway noise?
Wheel vibration, engine noise (sound absorbing suspension) braking squeal
What are some sources of road traffic noise?
Wheel noise, engine noise and vehicle air turbulence (improved aerodynamics)
What are some sources of industry noise?
Stamping machines (alternative process), mining (baffle mound) and air compressors (silencer)
What are some examples of over-exploited rivers?
Rivers flowing into the Aral Sea, River Nile and Rivers of Tibet
What are some examples of over-exploited aquifers?
High Plains Aquifer, North China Plain and Malta
