Using resources - Paper 2

Question 1

What do we use the earth’s resources for? [4]

Answer 1

1. Warmth
2. Shelter
3. Food
4. Transport

Question 2

Where do natural resources come from?

Answer 2

Agriculture

Question 3

What do natural resources provide us with?

Answer 3

Food, clothing and fuels

Question 4

What are finite resources?

Answer 4

Non-renewable resources.

Have a limited supply that will eventually run out.

Question 5

Where do we get our finite resources? And how do we use them?

Answer 5

Earth, oceans and atmosphere

They are processed to provide energy and materials

Question 6

What are renewable energy resources?

Answer 6

Sources of power that quickly replenish themselves and can be used again (only includes plants/wood if they continue to be re-planted.)

Question 7

What is potable water?

Answer 7

water that is safe to drink

Question 8

Why is potable water not ‘pure’?

Answer 8

It contains dissolved substances, although to be safe it must have sufficiently low levels of dissolved salts and microbes

Question 9

How is potable water produced?

Answer 9

1. An appropriate source of fresh water is selected from rivers or lakes.
2. The water is passed through filter beds to remove insoluble solids.
3. The water is then sterilised, to kill microbes (sterilising agents include:ozone, UV light or chlorine)

Question 10

What happens if the water collected to be made into potable water is salty water?

Answer 10

Desalination is required by either:
1. Distillation

2. Reverse osmosis

Question 11

Disadvantages of both distillation and reverse osmosis?

Answer 11

Both are very expensive

Question 12

How is the correct quality of water produced?

Answer 12

1. Water is passed through a mesh screen to remove large bits.
2. Chemicals are added to make solids and microbes stick together to form sediment and sink
3. There is then anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge.
4. The water is then sterilised with chlorine to kill any microbes left.

Question 13

Benefits of obtaining potable water from groundwater?

Answer 13

it is relatively cheaper and easier to obtain

Question 14

But why may salt water be a better options to obtain potable water?

Answer 14

Seawater is a plentiful raw material, so is good for countries with little fresh water.

Question 15

2 new ways of extracting copper from low-grade ores?

Answer 15

1. Phyto-mining
2. Bioleaching

Question 16

What do phyto-mining and bioleaching avoid?

Answer 16

They avoid the traditional mining methods

Question 17

How does phyto-mining work?

Answer 17

It uses plants to absorb metal compounds, during its growth.

Plants are harvested and then burned to produce ashes that contains the metal compounds, which was initially found in the soil.

Question 18

How does bioleaching work?

Answer 18

Bioleaching uses bacteria to produce leachate solutions that contain metal compounds

The metal compounds can be processed to obtain the metal

Question 19

What are the five factors considered when assessing the environmental impact of products?

Answer 19

1. Extracting and processing raw materials
2. Manufacturing and packaging
3. Use and operation during its lifetime
4. Disposal at the end of its useful life, including transport and distribution at each stage

Question 20

Ways of reducing the use of resources : Glass bottles

Answer 20

1. Glass bottles can be crushed and melted to make different glass products
2. Other products cannot be reused and so are recycled for a different use

Question 21

Ways of reducing the use of resources : Metals

Answer 21

Metals can be recycled by melting and recasting or reforming into different products

Question 22

What is corrosion?

Answer 22

The destruction of materials by chemical reactions with substances in the environment.

Question 23

How can corrosion be prevented?

Answer 23

Metals can be recycled by melting and recasting or reforming into different products

Question 24

Why are pure metals mixed with small amounts of other metals?

Answer 24

Pure metals alone are too soft

So, they are mixed with small amounts of other substances, to make them harder for everyday use.

Question 25

How are soda-lime glasses made?

Answer 25

By heating a mixture of sand, sodium carbonate and limestone

Question 26

How is borosilicate glass made?

Answer 26

From sand and boron trioxide.

It melts at higher temperature than soda-lime glass.

Question 27

How are clay ceramics made?

Answer 27

By shaping wet clay and then heating it in a furnace

Question 28

Properties of low density polyethene

Answer 28

1. Weaker forces of attraction
2. Low melting point
3. Soft

Question 29

Properties of high density polyethene:

Answer 29

1. Higher forces of attraction
2. Higher melting point

Question 30

Structure of thermosoftening polymers?

Answer 30

They are made of individual, tangled polymer chains, which are easily separated and are melted by heat.

Question 31

Properties of thermosoftening polymers?

Answer 31

1. Weak intermolecular forces btwn the chains
2. The chains are easily separable.
3. Low amounts of thermal energy is needed to break the chains.

Question 32

What is the haber process used for ?

Answer 32

To manufacture ammonia, which is used to produce nitrogen-based
fertilisers

Question 33

What are the raw materials used in the Haber process?

Answer 33

Nitrogen
Hydrogen

Question 34

To be used in the Haber process, where are nitrogen and hydrogen extracted from?

Answer 34

Nitrogen comes from air
Hydrogen comes from natural gases.

Question 35

Method of how the Haber process works?

Answer 35

1. The purified gases are passed over a catalyst of iron at a high temperature (about 450 °C) and a high pressure (about 200 atmospheres).
2. Some of the hydrogen and nitrogen reacts to form ammonia.
3. The reaction is reversible so ammonia breaks down again into nitrogen and hydrogen
4. On cooling, the ammonia liquefies and is removed.
5. The remaining nitrogen and hydrogen are recycled

Question 36

What does it mean if the Haber process is in dynamic equilibrium?

Answer 36

The forward and backward
reactions keep going once equilibrium is reached.

Question 37

Word equation for reaction that occurs in the Haber process

Answer 37

Nitrogen + Hydrogen ⇋ Ammonia

Question 38

Chemical equation for reaction, which occurs in the Haber process

Answer 38

N2 + 3H2 ⇋ 2NH3

Question 39

What does the chemical equation, N2 + 3H2 ⇋ 2NH3, suggest?

Answer 39

There are less moles of gas
on the product side (2 compared to 4), this means you would increase
pressure to move equilibrium to the right so more ammonia is produced

Question 40

What does the chemical equation, N2 + 3H2 ⇋ 2NH3, suggest about the temperature?

Answer 40

The forwards reaction is exothermic, so a low temperature would be favour the forward reaction. So, more ammonia is produced.

Question 41

However, why are the optimum conditions, such as high pressure and low temperatures, not used?

Answer 41

High pressure would require too much energy.

Low temperature would slow down the rate of reaction.

Question 42

What substances are used as fertiliser, to improve the agricultural productivity?

Answer 42

Compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium

Question 43

What do NPK fertilisers have?

Answer 43

Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Question 44

How can the substances for an NPK fertiliser be produced?

Answer 44

• Ammonia can be used to manufacture ammonium salts and nitric acid
• Potassium chloride, potassium sulfate and phosphate rock are obtained by mining, but phosphate rock cannot be used directly as a fertiliser
• Phosphate rock is treated with nitric acid or sulfuric acid to produce
  soluble salts that can be used as NPK fertilisers