Atmospheric pollutants

Screenwash is a mixture designed to keep car windscreens clean.

The components in screenwash include glycerol, methanol and water.

Screenwash is made by mixing the components in carefully measured quantities so that the product has the required properties.

What name is given to this type of mixture?

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Glycerol has the formula C₃H₈O₃

How many atoms are there in one molecule of glycerol?

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Incomplete combustion happens when glycerol burns in limited oxygen.

Incomplete combustion produces carbon monoxide gas.

Why can the production of carbon monoxide gas be a problem?

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Complete combustion happens when methanol (CH₄O) burns in excess oxygen.

Balance the equation for the reaction.

Methanol can be produced by the reaction of carbon dioxide with hydrogen.

Describe the test for hydrogen gas.

Give the result of the test.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas.

An increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has led to an increase in average global temperature.

The increase in average global temperature has caused global climate change.

Give two effects of global climate change.

Anhydrous cobalt chloride can be used to test for water.

The word equation for the reaction is:

anhydrous cobalt chloride + water hydrated cobalt chloride (blue) (pink)

Suggest one observation that could be made when water is added to anhydrous cobalt chloride.

The reaction between anhydrous cobalt chloride and water is exothermic.

What type of reaction is the reverse reaction?

The proportions of most gases in the Earth’s atmosphere have not changed much for the past 200 million years.

About one-fifth of the atmosphere is oxygen.

Describe the test for oxygen gas.

Give the result of the test.

Table 5 shows the percentages of some gases in the Earth’s early atmosphere and in the Earth’s atmosphere today.

Explain how the percentages of gases have changed from Earth’s early atmosphere to Earth’s atmosphere today.

You should refer to all three gases in Table 5.

Methane is a greenhouse gas.

Give two ways to reduce methane emissions into the atmosphere.

The percentage of sulfur dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere increased between 1850 and 1980.

Describe how sulfur dioxide emissions are produced.

Give one harmful effect of sulfur dioxide emissions.

Suggest one reason why the percentage of sulfur dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere has decreased since 1980.

The proportions of most gases in the Earth’s atmosphere have not changed much for the past 200 million years.

About one-fifth of the atmosphere is oxygen.

Describe the test for oxygen gas.

Give the result of the test.

Table 1 shows the percentages of some gases in the Earth’s early atmosphere and in the Earth’s atmosphere today.

Explain how the percentages of gases have changed from Earth’s early atmosphere to Earth’s atmosphere today.

You should refer to all three gases in Table 1.

Methane is a greenhouse gas.

Give two ways to reduce methane emissions into the atmosphere.

The percentage of sulfur dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere increased between 1850 and 1980.

Describe how sulfur dioxide emissions are produced.

Give one harmful effect of sulfur dioxide emissions.

Suggest one reason why the percentage of sulfur dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere has decreased since 1980.

Some fractions of crude oil are processed to produce fuel for transport.

Describe how crude oil was formed.

Transport is a source of atmospheric pollutants.

Suggest how sulfur dioxide can be produced by transport.

Give two problems caused by sulfur dioxide as an atmospheric pollutant.

Describe how carbon monoxide can be produced by transport.

Catalytic converters are fitted to car exhausts to reduce the amount of pollution from cars.

Carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) react in a catalytic converter.

Nitrogen and carbon dioxide are produced.

Write a balanced equation for the reaction.

The combustion of fuels is a source of atmospheric pollutants.

Methane is a fuel. Balance the equation for the combustion of methane.

Many fuels are mixtures. Petrol and diesel are mixtures of hydrocarbons. Table 4 shows properties of petrol and of diesel.

Compare the properties of petrol and diesel. Use Table 4.

The gases released when a fuel is burned in car engines may include:

• oxides of nitrogen

• carbon monoxide

• water vapour.

Which chemical element do all these gases contain? Tick (✓) one box.

When diesel burns in car engines, oxides of nitrogen are produced. Where does the nitrogen come from?

When diesel burns, particulates may be produced. What environmental effect do particulates from burning diesel cause?

Carbon monoxide may be produced when diesel burns. Give one reason why carbon monoxide is difficult to detect.

Explain why water vapour and not liquid water is produced when diesel burns.

Sulfur is a common impurity in diesel. Explain why this causes an environmental problem.

The combustion of fuels is a source of atmospheric pollutants.

Methane is a fuel. Balance the equation for the combustion of methane.

Many fuels are mixtures. Petrol and diesel are mixtures of hydrocarbons. Table 1 shows properties of petrol and of diesel.

Compare the properties of petrol and diesel. Use Table 1.

The gases released when a fuel is burned in car engines may include:

• oxides of nitrogen

• carbon monoxide

• water vapour.

Which chemical element do all these gases contain? Tick (✓) one box.

When diesel burns in car engines, oxides of nitrogen are produced. Where does the nitrogen come from?

When diesel burns, particulates may be produced. What environmental effect do particulates from burning diesel cause?

Carbon monoxide may be produced when diesel burns. Give one reason why carbon monoxide is difficult to detect.

Explain why water vapour and not liquid water is produced when diesel burns.

Sulfur is a common impurity in diesel. Explain why this causes an environmental problem.

This question is about the Earth’s atmosphere.

What is used to test for oxygen gas?

Tick (✓) one box.

The Earth’s early atmosphere was very different from the Earth’s atmosphere today.

Figure 2 shows the composition of the Earth’s early atmosphere and of the Earth’s atmosphere today.

The Earth’s atmosphere today contains a small amount of carbon dioxide.

Why has the percentage of carbon dioxide decreased since the Earth’s early atmosphere?

Tick (✓) two boxes.

Oxides of nitrogen are produced when nitrogen reacts with oxygen in car engines.

Figure 3 shows the concentration of oxides of nitrogen in the atmosphere during one day in a city.

Which two times have the highest concentrations of oxides of nitrogen in the atmosphere?

Suggest why there are the highest concentrations of oxides of nitrogen at these times.

This question is about fuels.

Coal deposits were formed from the remains of trees.

Name the process in the leaves of trees that uses carbon dioxide.

How is coal formed after trees die?

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Coal contains small amounts of sulfur.

Name the gas produced when sulfur burns in oxygen.

Give two problems caused by the gas produced when sulfur burns in oxygen.

Figure 4 shows the relative amount of electricity generated from different fuel sources in the UK from 2012 to 2018.

Describe what happens to the amounts of fuels used to generate electricity in the UK from 2012 to 2018.

Cars cause atmospheric pollution.

Figure 2 shows the percentage of cars in the UK using different energy sources.

The percentage of cars using petrol is 54%. Draw the bar for petrol on Figure 2.

Some car emissions contain nitrogen dioxide.

Table 1 shows the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the air in three different areas for 1 week.

Which column of data has the greatest range? Tick (✓) one box.

Explain why the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the air is lower on Sunday.

Calculate the mean value for the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the air in the city centre for the days from Monday to Friday. Use Table 1.

Nitrogen dioxide is removed from car emissions by catalytic converters.

Which two of the following are correct statements about catalysts? Tick (✓) two boxes.

The catalyst in catalytic converters contains platinum. Platinum is an unreactive metal obtained from the Earth’s crust. Complete the sentence. Choose the answer from the box.

Platinum is a.

Emissions from cars that burn fossil fuels contain carbon dioxide. What is used to test for carbon dioxide? Tick (✓) one box.

Industries use the Earth’s resources to produce useful products.

Figure 4 shows the world population and the world production of copper between 1900 and 2020.

How does the change in the world population compare with the world production of copper?

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Copper is produced from copper ore and from recycling waste copper.

The energy needed to produce 1 kg of copper from copper ore is 70 MJ. The energy needed to produce 1 kg of recycled copper is 27 MJ. Calculate the energy saved if 100 kg of copper is produced from recycled copper and not from copper ore.

Producing copper from recycling waste copper reduces emissions of sulfur dioxide. Why is reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide important?

Copper is used to make coins. A coin of mass 8 g contains 75% copper. Calculate the mass of copper in the coin.

Iron and glass are both produced from the Earth’s resources. Some processes can reduce the use of limited resources. Draw one line from the description of the process to the name of the process. Description of process Name of process

Life cycle assessments are used to assess the environmental impact of producing iron nails and glass bottles. There are four stages, A, B, C and D, in a life cycle assessment. The stages are not in the correct order.

Stage A Disposal Stage B Extracting and processing raw materials Stage C Manufacturing and packaging Stage D Use and operation

What is the correct order of stages A, B, C, and D ? Tick (✓) one box.

Atmospheric pollution is emitted by cars.

Some car emissions contain nitrogen dioxide.

Describe how nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is produced in the engine of a car that burns fossil fuels.

Table 3 shows the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the air in three different areas for 1 week.

The mean value for nitrogen dioxide in the air for the whole week in the city centre

Calculate the value (X) for the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the air in the city centre on Sunday.

Each value in Table 3 has an uncertainty of ± 2 micrograms per m³.

Explain why this uncertainty is most significant for countryside data.

Nitrogen dioxide is removed from car emissions by catalytic converters.

In a catalytic converter nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) reacts to produce nitrogen and oxygen.

Complete the equation for the reaction.

You should balance the equation.

The catalyst in a catalytic converter contains platinum.

Platinum is a finite resource.

What is meant by a ‘finite resource’?

Emissions from cars contain carbon dioxide.

Explain why carbon dioxide emissions during use and operation are not the total carbon footprint for a car.

Refer to the stages of the life cycle assessment of a car in your answer.

This question is about pollutants.

Waste water has harmful substances removed before being released into the environment. Complete the sentences. Agricultural waste water requires the removal of harmful

Industrial waste water may require the removal of harmful

How is sewage sludge treated before being released into the environment? Tick (✓) one box.

Hydrocarbons are used to make polymers. Polymers are used to make plastic bags. In one year 8.0 billion plastic bags were used. The next year there was a charge for plastic bags and only 1.3 billion plastic bags were used. Calculate the percentage decrease in the number of plastic bags used.

Oxides of nitrogen are pollutants formed in car engines.

Give one problem oxides of nitrogen cause.

Figure 3 shows the mass of oxides of nitrogen produced from car engines from 1986 to 2016.

Suggest why the mass of oxides of nitrogen produced from car engines increased and then decreased.

This question is about atmospheric pollutants from fuels.

Fuel burns in a car engine.

Describe how oxides of nitrogen are produced in a car engine.

Table 3 shows the carbon footprint during the manufacture and use of three cars.

Evaluate the carbon footprint of the cars.

Use information from Table 3.

This question is about atmospheric pollutants from fuels.

Fuel burns in a car engine. Describe how oxides of nitrogen are produced in a car engine.

Table 1 shows the carbon footprint during the manufacture and use of three cars.

Evaluate the carbon footprint of the cars. Use information from Table 1.

This question is about hydrocarbons and crude oil.

Hydrocarbon fuels are produced from crude oil. Describe how crude oil is separated into fractions.

Butane is a hydrocarbon.

Two equations for the combustion of butane are:

Why are different products formed?

One other product of the combustion of butane is carbon monoxide. Balance the equation.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Describe the greenhouse effect in terms of the interaction of short and long wavelength radiation with matter.

Figure 1 represents an atom of sulfur.

Complete Table 1

Sulfur is in Group 6 of the periodic table.

Complete the electronic structure of the sulfur atom represented in Figure 2

Sulfur reacts with oxygen to produce sulfur dioxide.

Complete the word equation for this reaction.

What effect is caused by sulfur dioxide?

Tick one box.

Figure 3 shows the mass of sulfur dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere between 1984 and 2014

A student said:

‘the mass of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere decreased every year between 1984 and 2014’

Is the student correct?

Use data from Figure 3 to justify your answer.

Figure 4 shows the percentage of sulfur dioxide released by human activities.

Calculate the percentage of sulfur dioxide released by industry.