A chmeistry assignment question need help (1 Viewer)

[allstarr69]

hello i have an assignment in which the question reads:

"Discuss the issues associated with shrinking world resources with regard to one identified natural product that is not a fossil fuel, identifying the replacement materials used and/or current research in place to find a replacement for the named material"

I was wondering if anyone knows of a good and easy one to with where there is lots of information available

Other parts of the assignment are:
1) "Use available evidence to discuss, using examples, the environmental impacts of the use of soaps and detergents"
2) "Use available evidence to determine the criteria used to locate a chemical industry using the Solvay process as an example"

If anyone has any tips on how to get me started on qany of these questions id be really grateful. Thank you

 

[CM_Tutor]

hello i have an assignment in which the question reads:

"Discuss the issues associated with shrinking world resources with regard to one identified natural product that is not a fossil fuel, identifying the replacement materials used and/or current research in place to find a replacement for the named material"

I was wondering if anyone knows of a good and easy one to with where there is lots of information available

Rubber would be a good choice, discussing the styrene butadiene copolymer (an addition polymer) as the alternative. You could talk about how cross-linking can be done, and compare it to the vulcanising rubber with sulfur, as the chemistry is basically the same

Other parts of the assignment are:
1) "Use available evidence to discuss, using examples, the environmental impacts of the use of soaps and detergents"
2) "Use available evidence to determine the criteria used to locate a chemical industry using the Solvay process as an example"

If anyone has any tips on how to get me started on qany of these questions id be really grateful. Thank you

This is covered in the Industrial Chemistry elective, so I'd start with one of the HSC texts, and go from there.

 

[allstarr69]

thanks for the quick reply... I shall get right to it

 

[allstarr69]

hmmm i cant seem to find much info on rubber resources shrinking... is it a big issue?

 

[nick1048]

lol i'd say electricity, but that's fossil fuels. You could always go for steel and refer to the shrinking abundance of iron, but that's perhaps too long termish. A better option would be the lack of pure water, which is a natural resource. However I'm not sure how the second part comes in. Rubber is good although difficult to find info on. But here's a start for u anyways ^_^

 

[allstarr69]

A better option would be the lack of pure water, which is a natural resource. However I'm not sure how the second part comes in.

hehe if we could replace water with some other compund that does the same thing as water id love to know about it

 

[CM_Tutor]

hmmm i cant seem to find much info on rubber resources shrinking... is it a big issue?

I have heard that it was an issue when alternatives were sought - supply was limited, casuing prices to rise (an economic motive to find an alternative), and there were environmental issues associated with rubber production too. I've never really looked at the details, but I do know about the chemistry of the polymerisation, as that was a part of a Uni module on polymerisation.

 

[Xayma]

I have heard that it was an issue when alternatives were sought - supply was limited, casuing prices to rise (an economic motive to find an alternative), and there were environmental issues associated with rubber production too. I've never really looked at the details, but I do know about the chemistry of the polymerisation, as that was a part of a Uni module on polymerisation.

Actually I don't think it was ever an issue with supply, they were just required to be grown in hothouses. The price increased dramatically after the vulcanisation of rubber was found, as the Brazillian rubber manufactures created a stronghold. However, a British man "stole" (ie lied to get them) 70 000 rubber plant seeds which were then grown in hothouses dramatically lowering cost.

 

[CM_Tutor]

Actually I don't think it was ever an issue with supply, they were just required to be grown in hothouses. The price increased dramatically after the vulcanisation of rubber was found, as the Brazillian rubber manufactures created a stronghold. However, a British man "stole" (ie lied to get them) 70 000 rubber plant seeds which were then grown in hothouses dramatically lowering cost.

I stand corrected. I knew that there had been a price rise, and hence an economic motivation, but I could well be wrong on it being supply related.

 

[Xayma]

Im not entirely sure if there were synthetic elastomers available at the time, the cross linking encouraged by sulfur was the reason for the inital price rise (resulting in it being used in tyres), but it might have been more economical to go to the synthetic elastomer laster on. Unless supply couldnt meet demand, which would have just been due to not enough rubber farms available.

 

[allstarr69]

well does anyone here know of anything else I could do?

 

[Xayma]

If you could find a type of plant or its derivative it would probably be easiest, because most arent a result of shrinking resources, its just a simple matter of a cheaper option coming around.

 

[flubber]

hey does any one know if this topic is like going to be big in the trials?
coz i stuff up in it bad
if any one has good advice then please do tell...

 

[allstarr69]

Well thanks ppl for your replies.

Thanks to Ashlee and her syllibus notes I decided to do ivory. She had aLOT of information on that exact dot point so thank you.

However I have no idea about this question

"Use available evidence to discuss using examples the environmental impacts of the use of soaps and detergents"

The book doesnt seem to provide anything on the topic.

If anyonec ould steer me in the right direction on this one id really appreciate it.

 

[Xayma]

Environmental impacts: (NB: Goes off on a tangent but it is justified)

As humans lived together in cities, disease epidemics were common, limiting the size of cities. Soap limited these epidemics particularly in temperate environments. Allowing cities to grow in size eg London during the industrial revolution and ancient Egyption cities (soap like materials described in the Eberus Papyrus)

Larger cities led to the sharing of ideas and due to the excess food production allowed specilisation of people. This lead to an increase in technology of time.
Larger cities also allowed humans to manipulate the environment around the area.

However, an increase in technology lead to the need to refine new materials such as iron in mass quantities and the production of power via the generation of steam/electricity.

Both of these methods used (and still continue to use) "fossil fuels" mainly in the form of coal. Which is generally mined in open cast mining where large areas of land is cleared to mine the soil below.

In addition the burning of these "fossil fuels" (which normally have a high level of sulfur) produce carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, that contibute to global warming and air pollution.

 

[allstarr69]

thanks xayma. I think I also need to include stuff on lakes and rivers being polluted by detergents (algal blooms). Theres one other question though and that will be the end of this really gay assignment:

"Use available evidence to determine the criteria used to locate a chemical industry using the Solvay process as an example"

Any ideas?

 

[allstarr69]

plz help!!!