2002 Hsc Q21 (1 Viewer)

[smallcattle]

Evaluate the impact of industrial sources of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides on the environment, making use of appropriate chemical equations

its 7 marks... what should i include to cover all the marks

thx

 

[mervvyn]

Atmospheric concentrations of SOx and NOx have been increasing since the industrial revolution in the early 1800s, SOx from the refining of metals and burning of fossil fuels with sulfates in them, NOx from combustion reactions.

S(s) + O2(g) --> SO2(g)
N2(g) + O2(g) --> 2NO(g) etc

SOx and NOx dissolve in water vapour in the air to form sulfuric, sulfurous and nitric acids.

SO2(g) + H2O(l) --> H2SO3(l)
2H2SO3(l) + O2(g) --> H2SO4(l)

NO2(g) + H2O(l) --> HNO3(l)

This lowers the pH of the rain and water bodies where it falls. The impact of this is the death of plant life, like in the Black forest in Germany, as many plants require a certain soil pH to survive. Acid rain also causes aluminium leaching from the soil, which is toxic to plants and to marine life, and hampers the absorption of nutrients from the soil.
Decreased pH also affects marine life adversely, by making the water too acidic, as fresh water should be close to neutral.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, i'll come back to it later.

 

[Tommy_Lamp]

Sulfur Oxides
- Source
- Formation ---> Equations
- Problems
Nitrogen Pxides
- Source
- Formation ---> Equations
- Problems

thats the basic structure of the answer

 

[tina_goes_doo]

Does environment just mean the natural environment or do you include the built environment too?

 

[Paroissien]

I'd say the question is referring to the natural environment, but it couldn't hurt to throw in a little spiel about the effects it has on limestone and such.

 

[za]

u can also say that SO2 is reduced to H2S which is another very poisonous pollutant at reasonably low concentraions.

but i dont know the equation

 

[xiao1985]

u can also say that SO2 is reduced to H2S which is another very poisonous pollutant at reasonably low concentraions.

but i dont know the equation

hydrogen sulfide... =p smells really really bad...

i prolly also concentrate on the industrial... so i woudl say something regardin how tho there are natural sources, the recent rapid increasing respiratory disease rate/acid rain incidence provide strong evidence that industrial sources of sox and nox are responsible for those...

 

[mushroom_head]

Also, the keyword there is evaluate so you'll have to make a judgement about the impacts