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Water is the most useful compound known to man. In the home it is used for cooking,
cleaning and transporting waste. In industry it is used for cooling hot machinery, cleaning and
as a solvent.
A simple test for water is that it is able to turn cobalt chloride paper from blue to pink
Water pollution
The main sources of water pollution are industrial wastes, untreated sewage, fertilisers,
detergents, oils, litter and pesticides
1. Metal Industrial Common industrial pollutants include acids, alkalis and metal
compounds wastes compounds. Compounds of lead and mercury make the water toxic.
They can accumulate in the bodies of living things and cause metal
poisoning.
2. Untreated Farm The untreated sewage contains bacteria that can cause diseases in
sewage manure humans and animals.
3. Fertilisers- Farmlands Nitrates and phosphates from fertilisers get washed into stagnant
Nitrates/ water and promote the rapid growth of algae. When these algae die,
Phosphates they are decomposed by aerobic bacteria that used up dissolved
oxygen for respiration. Oxygen supply in water is thus depleted
Detergents- causing death of aquatic organisms such as fish. This process is
Phosphates known as Eutrophication. This makes water smelly and incapable
of supporting life.
4. Nitrates Fertilisers Nitrates can cause nitrate poisoning. They prevent the blood from
used in transporting oxygen properly. Nitrates may cause cancer.
farmlands
5. Litter Homes and Bits of litter are eaten up by fish and small animals cause them to
factories choke to death. It also destroys the beauty of the environment.
Drinking Water
Water drawn from rivers can contain pollutants such as fertilizers, dissolved organic matter,
harmful bacteria and industrial waste that make it unfit to drink.
Water is pumped from river and passes through a screen which removes large bits of rubbish.
The raw water is then transferred to a reservoir.
2. Sedimentation
Raw water is pumped from the reservoir to the raw water mixing chamber.
Chemicals such alum are added to make fine particles coagulate and form solid lumps.
These particles then settle to the bottom of the settling tank. This process is called
sedimentation.
Carbon in the form of powdered activated charcoal is used to remove tastes and odours.
4. Filtration
Water flows from the top of the settling tank and seeps through sand filters to remove any
remaining fine particles of impurities.
5. Disinfection
To obtain potable water, additional chemicals are introduced in the water during treatment.
These include: (i) lime which reduces the acidity of the water
Desalination
The process of removing salts from sea water or salt water is called desalination.
Reverse osmosis is the process by which water flows from a more concentrated solution to a
less concentrated one through a semi-permeable membrane. A pressure is applied to force
water to flow in this manner.
The diagram shows part of the carbon cycle. This includes some of the processes which
determine the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
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(ii) Explain the term respiration and how this process increases the percentage of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere.
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(iii) Explain why the combustion of waste crop material should not alter the percentage of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
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(iv) In 1960 the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 0.032% and in 2008 it
was 0.038%. Suggest an explanation for this increase.
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Question 2
(a) Name two other gases that are in clean dry air.
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Identify three common gaseous pollutants in air and state how each of these pollutants are
produced.
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(ii) Explain how oxides of nitrogen, such as nitrogen dioxide, are formed in car engines.
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(d) Three common pollutants in the air are carbon monoxide, the oxides of nitrogen, NO and
NO2, and unburnt hydrocarbons. They are all emitted by motor vehicles.
Describe how a catalytic converter reduces the emission of these three pollutants.
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