Using Resources Flashcards
What do we use the worlds natural resources for
Food, clothing, shelter, warmth, shelter
Examples of renewable resources
Solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal
What is potable water
Water that is safe for human consumption
What 2 things must potable water contain not a lot of to be safe to drink
Microbes and salts
How to create potable water from rain water
- Leaves and large stones removed through filter
- Water moves through settlement tank where any sediment goes to the bottom of the tank
- Add aluminium sulfate to make particles clump together
- Water is passed through gravel and sand to remove more sediment
- Sterilization, microbes killed with chlorine or UV light
- Check pH and adjust
Which countries use rainwater for potable water
UK
How to get potable water from sea water distillation
Desalination
1. Heat the sea water to boiling point
2. Steam rises out and condenses in a condensing tube
3. Salt is left behind
Downsides of distillation of sea water
Expensive to boil water
Not all water boils and this is hard to get rid of
How to get potable water from sea water reverse osmosis
Force water through a semi-permeable membrane at high pressure
Ions and microbes are trapped behind the membrane
Downsides of reverse osmosis of sea water
Leaves behind alot of waste water
Membranes are expensive
How is sewage a danger to the rivers
Microbes grow highly in sewage waters and use up all resources
What are the steps in the treatment of sewage water
- Large objects are filtered from the water through screening
- Large paddles swoosh the water and solid sludge sinks to the bottom
- bacteria feed aerobically on the remaining sludge and kill harmful bacteria
- Bacteria removed in secondary sedimentation
- Sterilized using chlorine, UV or ozone
- Biogas tank anaerobically digests sludge
- Used as biofuel or pumped into seas/ river
How to measure the mass of dissolved solids in water
- Take the mass of an evaporating basin
- Placed water in an evaporating basin and record it
- Heat all of the water away
- Measure the new mass of basin and minus the basin prior
What is a life cycle assessment
Assess the environmental impact of a product through its life
Stages in measuring life cycle assessment
- Environmental impact of raw materials needed to make the products and processing them
- Manufacturing and packaging of the product
- Use of product at the end of it’s lifetime
- Disposal of product
Methods of disposal
Incineration
Landfill
Recycle
Negatives of LCA
Biases
What should you measure
Advantages of recycling materials
Fewer mining and resources used
Avoids high energy costs
Avoids greenhouse gases
Disadvantages of recycling materials
Transport of materials
Metals can be difficult to sort
Positive of biological extracting
Doesn’t scar landscape
Negative of biological extracting
Slow
How to extract low grade copper ores
Phytomining
Plants absorb the metal ions in the soil
Plants are harvested and burned
The ash is dissolved in an acid
Copper is extracted by electrolysis or displacement with iron
How to extract copper rich ores
Smelting
Burn copper carbonate so it goes to copper oxide
Add sulfuric acid to get copper sulfate
Displace copper with iron or electrolysis
What is bioleaching and when is it used
Bacteria is used to produce a leachate which is an acidic solution that contains copper ions
Copper is displaced with iron
Low grade copper
When do metals corrode
When exposed to oxygen
What rusts
Iron, steel
How is rusting prevented
Water absobers
Painting
Coating with plastic
Oiling
Galvanising
What is electroplating
Thin layer of metal is applied on top of another to protect from corrosion