Global Reserves & Potable Water Practice Questions

Question 1

4 marks

Table 1 gives information about four resources used by humans.

Table 1

Resource	Information
Crude oil	Formed over millions of years from the remains of sea creatures
Timber from a managed forest	Two new trees are planted for every tree cut down
Cotton	Grown as a crop and harvested each year
Iron ore	Dug out of rock in the Earth's crust

(a)

Use Table 1 to identify the two finite resources.

/ 2

(b)

Cotton is a natural product used to make clothing.

Name one synthetic material made from crude oil that is used instead of cotton.

/ 1

(c)

Explain why timber from a managed forest is described as a renewable resource.

/ 1

Question 2

5 marks

Tap water in the UK is potable water.

(a)

What is meant by potable water?

/ 1

(b)

Explain why potable water is not pure water in the chemical sense.

/ 2

(c)

Name two sterilising agents that can be used in the production of potable water.

/ 2

Question 3

4 marks

Waste water from homes must be treated before it is released into the environment.

Figure 1 shows some of the stages used to treat waste water.

(a)

Name process A, which removes large objects such as plastic bottles and twigs from the waste water.

/ 1

(b)

Name substance B and substance C produced by sedimentation.

/ 2

(c)

Name the process used to treat substance B.

/ 1

Question 4

3 marks

A company makes rope. Some ropes are made from hemp, which is a plant grown by farmers. Other ropes are made from nylon, which is a polymer produced from crude oil.

(a)

What is meant by sustainable development?

/ 2

(b)

Suggest one reason why making rope from hemp is more sustainable than making rope from nylon.

/ 1

Question 0

5 marks

A country has very little rainfall but a long coastline. The country uses sea water to produce most of its potable water.

(a)

Describe how distillation is used to produce potable water from sea water.

/ 3

(b)

Name the process that removes dissolved salts from sea water by passing it through a membrane.

/ 1

(c)

Give one disadvantage of producing potable water from sea water compared with producing it from a river.

/ 1

Question 0

6 marks

A student analysed three water samples.

Sample A was taken from an estuary.
Sample B was tap water.
Sample C was water that had been distilled in the laboratory.

The student measured the pH of each sample. She then evaporated $50\ \text{cm}^3$ of each sample to dryness in a weighed evaporating basin.

Her results are shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Sample	pH	Mass of empty basin / g	Mass of basin + residue / g
A	6.5	48.20	48.35
B	8.0	48.15	48.17
C	7.0	48.32	48.32

(a)

Calculate the mass of dissolved solids in the $50\ \text{cm}^3$ of sample A.

/ 1

(b)

Calculate the concentration of dissolved solids in sample A in $\text{g}/\text{dm}^3$ .

/ 2

(c)

The student distilled some of sample A.

Describe one test she could do on the distillate, and the result she would expect, to show that it is pure water.

/ 2

(d)

Suggest one reason why the student used a pH probe rather than universal indicator paper to measure the pH.

/ 1

Question 0

6 marks

Most of the world's copper has been extracted from copper-rich ores. Mining companies now use low-grade ores that contain less than 0.5% copper.

(a)

Explain why new methods of extracting copper are needed.

/ 1

(b)

Describe how phytomining is used to obtain copper compounds from a low-grade ore.

/ 3

(c)

Bioleaching produces a leachate containing copper sulfate solution.

Explain why adding scrap iron to this solution produces copper.

/ 2

Question 0

5 marks

Table 1 shows the approximate volume of water stored in four places on Earth.

Table 1

Store	Volume of water / $\text{km}^3$
Oceans and seas	1 340 000 000
Ice caps and glaciers	24 000 000
Ground water	10 500 000
Lakes and rivers	105 000
Total	1 374 605 000

(a)

Calculate the percentage of the Earth's water that is stored in lakes and rivers.

Give your answer to 2 significant figures.

/ 2

(b)

Determine how many times greater the volume of ground water is than the volume of water in lakes and rivers.

Give your answer as an order of magnitude.

/ 2

(c)

Over 97% of the Earth's water is in the oceans and seas.

Suggest one reason why most potable water is still produced from lakes, rivers and ground water rather than from sea water.

/ 1

Question 0

5 marks

Table 1 gives information about three countries.

Table 1

Country	Mean annual rainfall / mm	Coastline	Cost of energy
Arvenia	1250	Yes	High
Kessar	55	Yes	Low (large natural gas reserves)
Tolan	180	No (landlocked)	High

(a)

Which country is most likely to produce potable water by reverse osmosis?

Use two pieces of data from Table 1 to justify your answer.

/ 2

(b)

Suggest why Tolan may choose to produce potable water by treating waste water.

Use Table 1 in your answer.

/ 2

(c)

Suggest one reason why people in Tolan may object to drinking water produced from treated waste water.

/ 1

Question 0

6 marks

A water company supplies two towns.

Town P takes its water from a borehole that reaches ground water.
Town Q takes its water from the sea.

Compare the treatment needed to produce potable water in Town P with the treatment needed in Town Q.

/ 6

Question 0

7 marks

A mining company is deciding whether to extract copper from a low-grade ore by bioleaching instead of by traditional mining and smelting.

Table 1 compares the two methods.

Table 1

	Traditional mining and smelting	Bioleaching
Lowest copper content of ore that can be used / %	0.6	0.1
Energy used per tonne of copper / GJ	90	35
Time to extract the copper from the ore	2–3 weeks	6–24 months
Mass of waste rock moved per tonne of copper / tonnes	350	20

(a)

Calculate the percentage decrease in the energy used per tonne of copper when bioleaching is used instead of traditional mining and smelting.

Give your answer to 3 significant figures.

/ 3

(b)

Evaluate the use of bioleaching instead of traditional mining and smelting to extract copper from this ore.

Use Table 1 in your answer.

/ 4

Atomic Structure & the Periodic Table

Bonds, Structure & Properties of Matter

Quantitative Chemistry

Chemical Changes

Energy Changes

Chemical Change: Rate & Extent

Organic Chemistry

Chemical Analysis

Chemistry of the Atmosphere

Using Resources

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