Pollution (Unfinished) Flashcards
1
Q
What are the properties of pollutants? How do they affect their impact?
A
- State of matter, can affect how pollutants are dispersed
- Energy form, changes the impact
- Density, changes dispersal rate and radius
- Persistence, how long the impact lasts for
- Toxicity, how badly the pollutant effects organisms
- Specificity, what organisms will be affected by the pollutant
- Reactivity, how bad the pollution will be in tandem with others
- Secondary Pollutants, further effects of pollution
- Adsorption, how easily the pollutant can be captured
- Solubility in water/lipids, how easily the pollutant spreads
- Bioaccumulation, how easily the pollutant can build up
- Biomagnification, how easily pollutants can be passed up the food chain
- Mutagenic Action, how easily pollutant changes DNA
- Teratogenic Action, how easily a pollutant can affect offspring
- Mobility, how easily a pollutant can spread
2
Q
What environmental features can affect Persistance?
A
- light
- temperature
-oxygen level - pH
- Presence of Bacteria
3
Q
What ways can pollutants chemically degrade?
A
- Biodegradation, caused by living organisms
- Photodegradation, caused by light
- Thermal degradation, cause by heat
4
Q
How do we measure the persistence of a pollutant?
A
Environmental half-life
5
Q
How do toxic substances usually cause harm?
A
Damage to proteins, especially enzymes
6
Q
What is the difference between Biomagnification and Bioaccumulation?
A
Bioaccumulation is the build up of a pollutant within a single organism. Biomagnification is the successive build up in a food chain
7
Q
What are common effects of Mutagenic Action?
A
- Gondiac effects on sperm, eggs or embryos resulting in birth deformities
- Somatic effects that are changes in bodily cells including cancer
- Carcinogenic action, which causes cancer
8
Q
What is the difference between Mutagenic and Teratogenic action?
A
Mutagenic affects the DNA of anything, not just unborn offspring while Teratogenic affects the proteins and enzymes that control gene expression. Both can result in birth defects
9
Q
What environmental features can affect dispersal?
A
- Wind and Water currents
- Temperature Inversion
- Adsorbent Materials like clay
10
Q
What is a temperature Inversion?
A
Where cold air is trapped under warm air usually in a valley thanks to low wind velocities
11
Q
What strategies can help to control pollution?
A
- Critical Pathway Analysis
- Critical Group Monitoring
- Control of Emission location
- Control of Emission timing
12
Q
What is Critical Pathway Analysis?
A
A method of predicting the path of dispersal a pollutant would take to see if it warrants further action to prevent, of it it will have minimal effects
13
Q
What is Critical Group Analysis?
A
A way of assessing public risk of pollutants by monitoring the most at risk group in a community
14
Q
What are the 4 principles of Pollution Control?
A
- “Polluter Pays”, the one responsible for the pollution should pay for the prevention and cleaning up
- “Precautionary”, always assume something will cause pollution unless research shows it won’t
- “Selection”, always select the correct method of control
- “Efficiency”, Emissions should be “As Low As Reasonably Achievable” (ALARA) using the “Best Available Technology, Not Entailing Excessive Cost” (BATNEEC)
15
Q
What categories of pollution control are there? Give example of each
A
- Production prevention, such as pre-combustion desulfurization
- Release Prevention, such as Catalytic Convertors
- Post-release Remediation, such as oil clean-up methods
- Alternatives, such as electric vehicles or renewables energy
16
Q
What are the categories of smoke?
A
PM10: particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter
PM5: particulate matter less than 5 microns in diameter
PM1: particulate matter less than 1 micron in diameter
17
Q
What are the main sources of smoke?
A
- Combustion of fossil fuels
- Combustion of biofuels
18
Q
What effects can smoke pollution have on humans and animals?
A
- respiratory diseases
- destruction of lung tissues
- Increased infection risks
- Some carcinogenic chemicals
19
Q
What effects can smoke pollution have on plants?
A
- reduced photosynthesis
- heavy metal pollution
20
Q
What effects can smoke pollution have on non-living objects and the environment?
A
- Building damage from acids
- Temperature reduction (due to albedo decrease)
- Nuclear Winter
- Ozone layer depletion
21
Q
What is smog? Why is it dangerous?
A
Smog is a combination of fog and smoke that is more easily breathed in the smoke, leading to increased impacts.
22
Q
How can smoke pollution be controlled?
A
- Legislation such as the Clean Air Act
- Domestic use of electricity over wood
- Diesel particulate filters on cars
- Electrostatic precipitators that remove airborne smoke particles
- Scrubber, that uses a fine water spray to remove smoke particles
- Coal treatment, which produces smoke-less coal and tar
- More efficient combustion technology
23
Q
What is photochemical smog?
A
Neither smoke or fog despite the name. It is nitrogen monoxide from combustion combining with ozone and unburnt hydrocarbons
24
Q
How and where are most Oxides of Nitrogen released?
A
From exhausts where nitrogen and oxygen from the air are drawn in and react under high temperatures
25
Where are unburnt hydrocarbons released?
Usually engine exhausts, fuel evaporation or spilling
26
What negative effects can photochemical smogs have?
- Individual pollutants are either toxic or increase risk of respiratory diseases
- Toxic
- Cause eye irritation
- Difficulty breathing and worsening of respiratory diseases
27
Where are photochemical smogs common?
Areas in valleys where temperature inversions can form with high vehicle use
28
How can photochemical smogs be contolled?
- NOx can be controlled using catalytic convertors in vehicles
- Unburnt hydrocarbons can be prevented by being collected by activated carbon filters
29
What pH is acid rain?
Higher than 5.6
30
What can be the main components of acid rain?
- sulphur dioxide or trioxide
- oxides of nitrogen
- ozone
- hydrogen chloride
31
What effects can acid rain have on non-living things and the environment?
- Corroding metal
- damage to porous rock structures
- metal ion leaching from soil
- mobilisation of toxic ions
32
What effects can acid rain have on living organisms?
- Acids can denature proteins and enzymes
- damage exposed tissues
- dissolve exoskeletons
- change lichen pH
- cause breathing issues
33
What environmental factors can affect acid rain severity and how?
- High soil lime content can neutralise acids
- Fog can increase damage done if acid rain becomes acid fog
- Snow may build up as acidic snow which creates major acidic meltwater flows
34
What methods of desulfurization exist?
- Natural gas desulfurization using iron particle reactions
- Coal can be desulfurized by washing and streaming
- Dry flue-gas desulfurization happens by passing the gases through crushed calcium carbonate
- Wet flue-gas desulfurization bubbles the gases through sodium sulphite
35
How can oxides of nitrogen be controlled?
- Low temperature combustion
- Catalytic convertors
- Urea sprays
36
Why is tropospheric ozone bad?
It is toxic to living organisms and can:
- reduce plant growth
- cause difficultly breathing
- contributes to other pollutants like acid rain
37
What negative effects does carbon monoxide have?
It binds to haemoglobin and prevents it from carry oxygen through the body. It also worsens heart disease
38
How can carbon monoxide be controlled?
Catalytic convertor
39
How can natural processes affect water pollution?
The water cycle naturally removes and purifies water containing pollutants through evaporation
40
What factors can affect the dilution/concentration of pollutants in water?
- The volume of water
- Water residence time
- The amount of pollutant
41
What factors affect the degradation of waterborne pollutants?
- High sunlight or UV levels
- Higher dissolved oxygen speeds up bacterial breakdown of sewage
- Increased temperatures
42
Why can pollution dispersal be both a boon and an issue?
It can spread the pollution to such a degree it becomes harmless, but also makes it harder to control and should it re-amass it can cause damage
43
What are the harmful effects of Thermal pollution?
- Reduction in possible dissolved oxygen
- Denaturing aquatic organism enzymes
- Increased metabolic rates of organisms
- Colonisation and thriving of invasive species
44
What is the main source of thermal pollution and how can it be controlled?
Cooling water used by factories or other industry.
It can be controlled by
- Implementing cooling towers
- Taking only from large water bodies so that temp increase will be spread thin
45
What effects can oil pollution have?
- Toxicity
- asphyxiation and photosynthesis denial
- Drown birds
- Reduction of oxygen able to dissolve into water
- Sense of smell for aquatic organisms effected
46
What operation methods can be used to prevent oil pollution?
- Recycling of waste oil
- Safter and further out shipping routes to prevent beaching
- Better navigation to avoid ship collision
- Filling oil tankers with exhaust not oxygen to prevent explosions
- Tank washing
- Oily waste water disposal
47
What designs can be used to prevent oil pollution?
- Double hulls that protect the oil tanks
- Twin engines to prevent helplessness if one dies
- Separate oil and ballast tanks to prevent contamination
- Oil interceptors that split oil from drainage water
- Bund walls to prevent overflowing of oil containers
48
What methods of treating oil spills are there?
- Booms, which are long floating tubes with a skirt below that prevent oil movement unless the current is too strong
- Skimmers, which rotate to pick up oil
- Absorbent materials
- Dispersants, which break up oil and cause it to split into small biodegradable parts
- Steam washing which can remove oil from beaches by spraying it with hot steam
- Bioremediation, where bacteria break down the hydrocarbons
49
What is MDAF and MDNF for pesticides?
MDNF is the minimum dose that can be used without killing any of a population.
MDAF is the minimum dose that is fatal to the entire population.
50
What effects can pesticides have?
- Inhibiting metabolic processes
- Illness
- Other toxicity effects like sterilisation
51
What are the 4 groups of pesticides?
- Organochlorines
- Organophosphates
- Pyrethroids
- Neonicotinoids
52
What are the properties of Organochlorines? Name an example
- High toxicity to insects
- Low toxicity to vertebrates
- High persistence
- High liposolubility
- Low Water solubility
DDT
53
What are the properties of Organophosphates?
- Neurotoxic
- Low persistence
- Low liposolubility
- Low specificity
- High toxicity to mammals
- Possible carcinogen
54
What are the properties of Pyrethroids?
- High insect toxicity
- Low mammal toxicity
- Low persistence
- High fish toxicity
55
What are the properties of Neonicotinoids?
- Neurotoxic
- High insect toxicity
- Low vertebrate toxicity
- High persistence
- High water solubility
- Especially toxic to bees
56
How can pesticide pollution be reduced?
- Restrictions on use
- Non-persistent pesticides
- Specific pesticides
- Application timing
- Use of alternative pest control
57
What are examples of inorganic nutrients?
- Phosphates in sewage
- Nitrates from fertiliser
58
What effects can inorganic nutrients have on living organisms?
- May be toxic
- May react with haemoglobin
- May be carcinogens
59
What effects can inorganic nutrients have on the environment? What is the name for this?
Cultural Eutrophication, is the process of providing too many nutrients to an aquatic habitat depleting oxygen by growing too many plants or algae that can have negative consequences
60
How can inorganic nutrients be controlled?
- Reduced nitrate fertiliser use
- Reduced ploughing before heavy rain
- fast-release fertilisers
- reduce cultivation of high nitrogen plants
- reduce reliance on inorganic fertilisers
61
What is organic nutrient pollution?
Process involving animals and plant products producing organic nutrients that are then released
62
What effects can organic nutrient pollution have?
- Eutrophication or similar process
- Spread of pathogens
63
How can the effects of organic nutrient pollution be reduced?
- Banning of sewage discharge
- Sewage treatment
64
What are the 5 groups of sewage treatment?
- pre-treatment
- primary treatment
- secondary treatment
- tertiary treatment
- sludge treatment
65
What does pre-treatment do? Give an example
Removes large solid objects like paper or grit.
Examples:
- Metal grill or sieve 'screens' that trap suspended objects
- Grit traps
66
What does primary treatment do? How does it work?
Separates organic matter from the sewage by sedimentation tanks
67
What is sludge treatment?
It is the process of dealing with the sediment built up in sewage work sedimentation tanks by:
- Adding it to landfill
- Dispersing it into the sea
- Incineration
- Agricultural use as fertiliser
68
What does secondary treatment do? What methods are used?
Removes and destroys the remaining organic matter.
- Aeration tanks that allow bacteria to break down the organic matter by mixing in oxygen using paddles
- Secondary Sedimentation tanks, self explanatory
- Trickling filter beds that spray the sewage through lumps of solid material allowing for bacteria, algae and fungi to digest the organic matter
69
What is tertiary treatment?
Additional removal of phosphates and bacteria for release into ecologically sensitive discharge points.
- Phosphates are removed by iron(III) reactions
- Micro-strainers remove most bacteria and UV is used to remove the rest
70
How is acid mine drainage produced?
Sulphides in spoil heaps undergo reactions with oxygen to produce metal oxides and oxides of sulphur, which combine with drainage water to produce sulphuric acid
71
How can acid mine drainage be prevented?
passing the drainage water through limestone beds to neutralise the acids
72
How does BOD monitoring work?
Biological oxygen demand monitoring works by monitoring the oxygen levels of water to see how much deoxygenation has been caused by pollutants
73
How does Coliform count monitoring work?
E.coli can be tested for in water as evidence of faecal contamination as it is the most common gut bacteria
74
How do Biotic Indices work? What features do they have?
Biotic indices are organisms that can be used to indicate the quality of an environment
- Range of sensitivity to pollution
- Easy to identify
- Easy to find
- Common
- well distributed
75
What are the largest sources of lead pollution?
Lead acid batteries of lead construction materials
76
What are the effects of acute lead exposure?
- brain damage
- paralysis
- death
- liver and kidney failure
77
How can lead pollution be controlled?
- Replacing lead water pipes
- Replacing lead petrol additives
- Replacing lead paint
- Replacing lead fishing weights
- Replacing lead shotgun pellets
78
What are the sources of mercury pollution?
- Disposal of mercury batteries, lights or thermometers
- Chemical production plants that use mercury to make chlorine
- Combustion of coal
79
What are the effects of mercury? How do they vary with chemical form?
- Liquid is not easily absorbed through the skin or gut
- Inorganic compounds can be absorbed in the gut
- organic compounds are easily absorbed by skin or gut
- gaseous mercury can easily be inhaled
All are very toxic
80
How can mercury pollution be controlled?
- Replacing mercury equipment
- Removed using activated carbon filters
- Ion exchangers
81
What are sources of Cadmium pollution?
- Old cadmium batteries
- incineration of cadmium paints or plastics
- drainage water from cadmium mines
82
What effects can cadmium have?
- Brain death
- Paralysis
- Lung cancer
- Kidney failure
- Skeletal collapse
83
How is cadmium pollution controlled?
- banning
- responsible disposal into hazardous waste sites
