IGCSE enviro
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| 🇬🇧 | 🇬🇧 |
| Population density | The number of people in a given area usually in 1000km |
| Efficiency/sustainability of use through durability | Making products that last longer before they are recycled. Manufacturers will in the future be required by law to take back their products when they are finished with. It is hoped this will encourage them to make more durable products that use less minerals and last longer |
| Population distribution | Where populations of people either do or do not live |
| Efficiency/sustainability of use through durability | Making products that last longer before they are recycled. Manufacturers will in the future be required by law to take back their products when they are finished with. It is hoped this will encourage them to make more durable products that use less minerals and last longer |
| Lag phase | The period in population growth when an organism is adapting to its new environment and growth is slow |
| Log (exponential) phase | When the growth rate of a population increases rapidly over time |
| Birth rate | The total number of live births over time |
| Death rate | The total number of deaths over time |
| Factors affecting the birth and death rate | Countries with high death rates tend to also have high birth rates like LEDS, farming communities in LEDC’s that rely on traditional farming practices have high birth rates because more people are needed for manual labour, in MEDC’s most people live in cities and therefore do not need large families and its expensive to raise children in MEDC’, birth control is not widely used in LEDC’s because of cost, lack of access, religious practices and lack of education |
| Migration | The movement of people into (immigration) or out of (emigration) a region, country or other area |
| Factors affecting migration - push from rural to urban | Drought/famine, poverty, desertification, seasonal weather events, sea-level rises |
| Factors affecting migration - pull from rural to urban | Good supplies of food, well-paid jobs, good roads, good hospitals and schools, wide range of work |
| State the problem a country with a high birth rate (LEDC) will experience | There will be a quick rise in population meaning there won’t be enough resources and jobs to sustain good lives for these children. |
| State the problem a country with a low death rate (MEDC) will experience | Too many elders from a low death rate will mean there is not enough of a working population causing the country’s wealth to decrease. |
| Difference between LEDCs and MEDCs | LEDCs - the standard of living tends to be lower, limited access to healthcare, rapid population growth MEDCs - higher standards of living, better access to healthcare, slower population growth |
| Pronatalist policy's | In MEDC's that are experiencing population decline, the government uses various measures to boost birth rates and population growth. To ease the financial burden of raising children, they offer paid maternity leave, free daycare, progressive taxes that decrease with family size, and grants for each child born. |
| Anti-natalist policy's | Governments in LEDCs, facing population growth and financial strain, use two types of policies: mild ones like free contraception and family planning, or stricter ones like China's One Child policy, which limits the number of children per couple. |
| Family planning | People use family planning to control the number and timing of their children. Governments can influence public behaviour by providing or restricting access to contraception, abortion, and IVF. Some offer free contraception, while others impose restrictions. |
| Improved health and education impacts on managing population size | It often ends in a lower death rate, which would typically cause the population to grow. But when people become more aware of contraceptive options through education, family size can be limited. Also, because they prioritize their careers over their personal lives, educated women typically marry later in life and have fewer children due to their later childbearing ages. |
| What is the percent of freshwater on earth and how much of it is available for use | There is 3 percent of fresh water on earth and 1 percent of that is available for drinking, the other percent is locked up in glaciers, icecaps etc |
| Water cycle | Water cycle |
| Aquifer | Water stored in porous rocks underneath the ground |
| Well | A hole bored or dug into rock to reach the water stored there |
| Reservoir | An artificial lake where water can be stored |
| Domestic uses for water | Washing dishes, showering, cooking |
| Agricultural uses for water | Crops, animals drinking water |
| Industrial uses for water | Cooling down equipment, manufacturing products |
| Physical water sacristy | A situation where there physically not enough water for human needs |
| Economic water sacrity | A situation in which there is enough water available, but the money does not exist to extract and/or treat enough of it for human needs |
| Conditions for a dam | High rainfall = less chance of lake drying up Existing river and large catchment system = to supply water to the dam Impermeable surrounding rock = to stop the water from seeping out and draining away Isolated = to minimize impact on human population, settlements, and activity |
| Environmental impacts of a dam | Creation of habitat for wetland species, irrigation, flood control, disrupting the life cycles of fish and other aquatic organisms |
| Economic impacts of a dam | Provision of water, access by boat to otherwise inaccessible areas, flooding land |
| Social impacts of a dam | Tourism and leisure, relocating people |
| Reasons for a dam | Jobs, economic growth in industry and for domestic use, water for irrigation and livestock = farming, flood protection downstream |
| Reasons against a dam | Loss of fertile farmland, noise and air (dust) pollution during construction, most jobs are temporary during construction |
| Sources of water pollution | Domestic waste - sewage from urban and rural settlements, industrial processes and agricultural practices |
| Impact of pollution of fresh water | Risk of infectious bacterial diseases like typhoid and cholera, accumulation of toxic substances from industrial processes in lakes and rivers, bioaccumulation of toxic substances in food chains, nutrient enrichment leading to eutrophication |
| Strategies for improving water quality | Improve sanitation, treating the sewage, pollution control and legislation |
| Malaria cycle | Malaria cycle |
| How cholera is prevented | Good sanitation – sewage and water treatment processes in place, good hygiene and cooking of food, boiling and chlorination of contaminated water |
| How malaria is prevented - individually | Avoid being outside when mosquitos are active, wearing clothing that covers most of the body, sleeping under a mosquito net that has an insecticide |
| How malaria is prevented - government | Spraying insecticide inside buildings, draining wetland areas, pour oil on the surface of the water to stop the larvae from breathing and stops them from having larvae |
| How water can be made potable | Boiling and chlorination |
| Rock cycle | Rock cycle |
| Igneous rocks examples | Basalt and granite |
| Sedimentary rock example | Limestone, sandstone, shale |
| Metamorphic rock examples | Marble, slate |
| Geophysics of rock reading | Seismic waves are sent through the Earth’s surface. sensors are at different distances from the source of vibrations . The vibrations create shock waves that are recorded at different patterns depending on what minerals are present in the rock layers. |
| Surface mining | Open-pit, open-cast/open-cut mining. Used when a valuable deposit is located near the surface, often buried below a thick layer of soil and rock (overburden) which is removed first to expose the mineral deposit and stored nearby to be used later for mine restoration. |
| Bench | Benches are open pit mines. The wall of them is kept at an angle which reduces the risk of rock falls. The safe angle of these walls depends on the type of deposit and overburden |
| Strip mining | It is used to mine a seam of mineral. Firstly, the overburden is removed. Strip mining is mainly used to mine coal near the surface. |
| Sub-surface mining | Deep mining, shaft mining, drift mining. Involves digging horizontal, sloping or vertical tunnels into the ground to reach deep deposits, difficult because a supply of fresh air and water drainage must be provided. Also, the dangers of collapsing tunnels. |
| The factors that need to be considered when planning to open a new mine | The costs of exploration and extraction, geology, climate, accessibility, the environmental impact, supply and demand |
| The probable cost of extraction | One tonne of ore is based on whether open-pit or shaft mining is to be used. It is cheaper to extract minerals at the surface. However, deposits of high value can be mined economically if sub-surface mining is required |
| The quality of the deposit | Determines profitability and cost. High-grade ores will yield more of the required mineral than low-grade ores |
| The size of the deposit | Determines the profitability. Small deposits of high-grade ore and high value ores may be worth mining, but small deposits of low-grade and low-value ores that cannot be mined at a profit may be left for when prices increase, or technological advances make it less costly to mine, thereby making them profitable at some point in the future. |
| Transporting the ore | Transportation from a mine to processing plants may be difficult and expensive. Cost of building road/rail or supporting infrastructure could prevent a low-grade/low-value remote deposit from being mined |
| Mining companies pay governments a tax | For extracting minerals and this needs to be fixed into a long-term agreement to avoid rapid rises in tax that could make the mining operation unprofitable |
| Changes in world demand for mineral ores | Will affect price and therefore profit. Changes in supply and demand can increase and decrease profits from working mines making some deposits that could not previously be mined at a profit to become worth mining |
| Ecological impacts of mining | All mining activity will involve the loss of habitats. The plants removed, as overburden are stripped away for surface mining, or land to be used for support infrastructure for sub-surface mining and storage of waste materials, have lost a place to grow, and so have the animals that depend on the plants for food and shelter = a reduction in ecosystem biodiversity. |
| What is environmental impact assessment? | A process by which the probable effects on the environment of a development are assessed and measured. |
| When is an environmental impact assessment carried out and why | When a company applies for a license to start working, the license application is usually approved if the company has a plan to keep the loss of habitat as small as possible and then to restore the land after mining has finished. |
| Impact of noise pollution | Noise pollution is a problem when large-scale surface mining takes place. The overburden is loosened by explosive charges and then removed by large machines. The noise can disturb the behaviour of many animal species near them. Deep mining usually produces less noise than surface mining. Mining licenses set limits on the levels of noise and working hours of a mine. |
| Impact of water pollution on mines | Can be a big problem that lasts for years. The water that drains through mine waste, or comes directly from mine shafts, can cause changes to the populations of living organisms in streams and rivers. It could be unsafe for people to drink. The water may become acidic and combined with lots of toxic metal ions kills many aquatic organisms. |
| Impact of land pollution | Mine waste will pollute the land surrounding it. The area can be quite small but the toxic nature of the waste means that only a few plants can grow, even years later. When mine waste is stored above natural water courses, the waste pile may collapse and cover more land. Many mining activities release dust particles, which will settle on the vegetation near the mine. Dust reduces plant growth: the leaves of plants need to absorb light energy to perform photosynthesis and dust may prevent this |
| Impact of air pollution | Dust from mining activities may also have toxic effects depending on the chemical components present in the dust. This can reduce or stop plant growth and can be dangerous to human health because breathing in the dust can give lung disease especially to children, it can also be absorbed through human skin. Mining companies provide protective clothing to mine workers. However, many people make a living from small-scale mining without a license, which is illegal. Health problems are likely for these miners. |
| Impact of visual pollution | Evidence of mining activity can often be seen because the landscape is damaged. Large-scale surface mining will create the most obvious visual pollution during the working life of a mine. This type of pollution may only be temporary because careful restoration of the landscape is possible. |
| Reasons why illegal mining without a license is bad | Mining without a license is bad for people as they can inhale the dust particles which can result in death or lung cancer. For the government and environment, mining can be bad as it causes deforestation, soil erosion, and general pollution. It is much harder to hold illegal mining companies accountable for the damage they cause. |
| Economic impacts of mines | Employment and taxes. Mining benefits both local and national economies. Employment increases spending and provides taxes for investment in infrastructure projects. Jobs are created to extract minerals and to supply transport and mining equipment. Some improvements to transport and services, will be required to supply any mining industry (as a condition of their mining license) as well as support the mineworkers and their families. |
| Safe disposal of mining waste | One of the most important aspects of any mining license application within a well-regulated system. Safe storage and monitoring of waste piles to prevent collapse and water pollution must be part of a detailed mining plan. |
| How land restoration can be achieved after a mining | The waste can then be covered by a layer of soil, which may be enriched with fertilizer. An area could then be planted with trees (creates habitats quickly), which will help other plants and animals to come. As time passes, the soil will be improved by the addition of organic matter from plant and animal wastes. This method is often used to manage the waste from coal mining. |
| How bioremediation is used within the mining industry | Many organisms can break down toxic substances into less hazardous substances. This often happens slowly in natural environments. Some microorganisms, such as bacteria found in soils, can absorb pollutants and process them into less harmful substances, this can happen at a faster rate if their environment provides a source of oxygen and nitrogen. Some mine waste does not allow the growth of tree roots, so other methods of restoration must be used, alternatively waste can be removed from a site to a treatment plants. |
| How are nature reserves used after mining | Several tree and herb species are introduced, and as the plant populations grow, they create habitats for many animal species which help to maintain biodiversity. |
| How are reservoirs used after mining | If the rock lining the hole is impervious to water and non-toxic, then it can be allowed to fill with water to form a reservoir or a lake. This water could be used for irrigating farmland or processed to provide clean, safe drinking water for humans. Can be used as a landfill site |
| Sustainable development | The use and development of rock and mineral reserves must consider environmental, economic, and social factors. The goal is to plan and control the reserve to maximize benefits for people, maintain economic growth and stability, and prevent widespread environmental damage. |
| Sustainability | Use that meets the needs of the present without affecting the ability of future generations to meet their needs |
| Efficiency/sustainability of extraction | Mine wastes are reprocessed to remove remaining valuable materials. Improved machine performance and increased use of computer data analysis have also boosted extraction efficiency. |
| Efficiency/sustainability of use through recycling | Makes an important contribution to the sustainable use of rocks and minerals. Many manufactured goods (cars, steel cans, plastics, glass bottles), are recycled. Most metals can be recovered and refined back to clean metals to be used by industries again. |
| Efficiency/sustainability of use through substitution | Means that it may be possible to find substitutes for the use of relatively scarce materials |
| Efficiency/sustainability of use through new technologies | Using engineering solutions to make products so that less is used for the same purpose |
| Efficiency/sustainability of use through durability | Making products that last longer before they are recycled. Manufacturers will in the future be required by law to take back their products when they are finished with. It is hoped this will encourage them to make more durable products that use less minerals and last longer |
| Why energy demand is increasing | Increasing population size, increasing industrialization and urbanization, improvements in standards of living and expectations |
| Non-renewable energy sources examples | Oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear power |
| Renewable energy sources examples | Geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal, wave, wind, solar, biofuels |
| How coal is formed | Dead plant material buried deep underground under layers of sediment which compresses it to form peat then with more compression lignite, then more compression to form coal. |
| How oil and natural gas are formed | Small marine organisms die and get compressed beneath layers of sediments. The oil and gas formed over millions of years is held within porous sedimentary rock and trapped below a layer of impermeable rock. |
| How is most electricity generated | Electromagnetic induction, where kinetic energy is transformed into electrical energy using a generator. The wire is rotated using a turbine, which is made to turn using an energy power source. This is typically done by passing steam or liquid through the turbine blades, causing a shaft connected to the generator to move, generating electricity. |
| How hydroelectric power generates electricity | Water flowing from a dam spins the blades of a turbine. The turbine is connected to a generator by a shaft, and as the shaft spins, it turns the generator to produce electricity. |
| How a thermal source for hydroelectric power generates electricity | A heat source heats water in a boiler to produce steam. The steam moves through turbine blades, causing them to spin. The turbine is connected to a shaft that turns copper coils in a generator, generating electricity. |
| How electricity is generated from a geothermal source | Cold water is pumped into hot rocks, where it heats up and returns to the surface. This hot water heats a second water supply via a heat exchanger, producing steam that drives a turbine connected to a generator, generating electricity. The water is then recycled for continuous use. |
| How wind can be used to generate electricity | Addition of a gearbox maximizes the rotation of the shaft as it enters the generator. The brake will slow down or stop the rotor blade in very windy conditions to prevent the blade being damaged. |
| How solar power can be used to generate electricity | Solar energy uses photovoltaic cells to generate electricity. Although each cell produces a small amount of power, combining cells into panels and grouping panels into arrays can produce significant electricity. |
| How tidal power can be used to generate electricity | Tidal energy uses the natural rise and fall of water levels. As levels drop, water is held back by a tidal barrage (small dam that releases water back through a turbine) and then released through a turbine, generating electricity with a generator. The power generated depends on the tide level changes throughout the day. |
| How wave power is used to generate electricity | Uses a turbine and generator to generate electricity but use smaller differences in water levels that are caused by wind action. Power is produced by channelling the energy of waves at sea instead of tides, may stop in calm weather |
| Economic factors when deciding which power source to use | The supply of energy is expensive, and the demand is constantly increasing. If demand is high, price increases. This is why it is beneficial to use local supplies, meaning there is a lower transport price. |
| Social factors when deciding which power source to use | Depends on the local area. However, the energy business can cause displacement of people, due to flooding from hydroelectric power dams. This can change political relationships due to the supply and demand for oil from other countries |
| Environmental factors when deciding which power source to use | Many renewable sources don’t produce CO2 emissions. Biofuels produce CO2 when combusted, but plant growth uses it in photosynthesis. Fossil fuels are a major contributor to CO2 emissions. Other impacts are pollution, changes to the ecosystem due to extraction of fossil fuels, and the visual impact. |
| Advantages of fossil fuels | Extraction provides jobs, plentiful supply in some locations |
| Disadvantages of fossil fuels | Limited supply, CO2 and toxic gases and released when burnt |