Important Questions for Chapter: Environmental Issues

Ans: Polyblend is made by mixing two or more polymers, mainly plastic waste.

Ans: Vetia and Calotropis are used as windbreakers in agricultural fields

Ans: Pathogenic microbes, Biodegradable organic matter, and dissolved salts are the major impurities that can be identified in domestic wastewater.

Ans: Pollutants are the substances due to which pollution is caused in the environment

Ans: In 1987, the Air Prevention and Control of Pollution Act was amended in order to include noise as a form of air pollution.

Ans: Methane, Carbon dioxide, and chlorofluorocarbons are the three gasses that contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Ans: Scrubber method is used to remove pollutant gases from the exhaust.

Ans: CNG is a better fuel than diesel as it makes less pollution and is also a renewable fuel.

Ans: The Antarctic air is isolated from the rest of the world due to the natural circulation of the wind. This is known as a polar vortex. It always occurs near the poles. The polar vortex is weakened during the summers and gets stronger in the winter.

Ans: The aging process of water is increased due to the presence of human and industrial waste by the introduction of detergents, fertilizers, sewage, and other nutrient sources into the ecosystem. This is known as cultural eutrophication.

Ans: Reforestation is a process that involves the restoration of the forest which was earlier removed due to deforestation or clearcutting. It helps in the preservation of biodiversity in the ecosystem.

Read More: Forest Conservation

Ans: The main issues of the environment include -

1. Depletion of the ozone layer
2. Changes in the climate
3. Loss of Biodiversity
4. Pollution
5. Global Warming
6. Overpopulation
7. Deforestation
8. Desertification
9. Waste disposal in the environment

Ans: The water will turn septic if the oxygen levels drop to zero. This can be caused due to the presence of fertilizers in aquatic bodies.

Read More: Aquatic Ecosystem

Ans: Sulphur dioxide gas is removed from the exhaust using the scrubber method. This can be done by using a spray of lime or water to remove the gas.

Ans: Sewage water consists of dissolved salts such as phosphates, nitrates, and other nutrients, organic compounds as well as hazardous metal ions.

Ans: The three categories of waste are as follows - 

1. Recyclable
2. Biodegradable
3. Non-Biodegradable

Ans: The 4 main gases that majorly contribute to air pollution are as follows - 

1. Carbon Dioxide
2. Carbon Monoxide
3. Nitrogen Dioxide
4. Sulfur Dioxide

Ans: Primary and secondary pollutants can be explained as below - 

Primary Air Pollutant:

When the pollutants are emitted directly from a source into the environment, it is known as Primary air pollutants. This source can either be natural, either volcanic, or a sandstorm or it can be caused by any activity influenced by humans like a vehicle or industrial emissions.

Primary Air Pollutants consist of pollutants like Carbon monoxide, particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, and sulfur dioxide.

Secondary Air Pollutants

The physical or chemical interaction of the primary air pollutants themselves or with the other atmospheric components, it results in the formation of Secondary Air Pollutants. Examples of Secondary air pollutants are secondary particulate matter and photochemical oxidants.

The primary air pollutant can directly impact the human respiratory system like sulphur dioxide or it can affect indirectly when sulphur dioxide interacts with the particles of the water and result in acid rain. Acid rain can severely affect the ecosystem. Whereas, secondary air pollutants are morand e stable and inert having a limited polluting effect. 

Ans: The consequences of deforestation are as given below - 

1. Habitat is destructed which causes a loss of biodiversity
2. The concentration of Carbon dioxide gets increased in the environment
3. The hydrological cycle is disturbed by deforestation
4. Deforestation causes soil erosion and in extreme cases, this leads to desertification 
5. Disturbed hydrological cycles
6. Increased greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere

Ans: Hybrid Vehicle Technology is used to run vehicles on a dual mode like petrol or compressed natural gas. Since CNG is a green and clean fuel hence it helps in the reduction of environmental pollution. The usage of this technology also conserves petrol and other fossil fuels.

The advantages and disadvantages of Hybrid Vehicle Technology are as follows:

Advantages:

The advantages of Hybrid Vehicle Technology are as follows - 

1. HVT is environmental friendly
2. They are less dependent on fossil fuels
3. They are built from light materials
4. Hybrid vehicle technology has smaller engines

Disadvantages:

The disadvantages of Hybrid Vehicle Technology are as follows - 

1. It has less Power
2. The technology can be expensive
3. The maintenance cost of hybrid vehicle technology is significantly higher
4. The replacement of batteries in Hybrid Vehicle Technology can be costly

Ans: The measures that can be adopted to control air pollution are as listed below - 

1. Stop the undesirable and excessive burning of vegetation.
2. Separating pollutants and harmful gasses.
3. To minimize atmospheric pollution, use Electrostatic precipitators and filters in the factories.
4. Reducing Agricultural sprays
5. Combustible solid wastes should be burnt with the help of incinerators.
6. To reduce the pollutants at ground level, tall chimneys should be used.
7. Change pollutants to harmless products before releasing them into the environment.

Ans: Waste can be defined as an unwanted or unusable material. Any substance which is primarily used is discarded after that. After the first usage, it becomes worthless, defective, and of no use. 

Waste can be reduced by the use of the following methods:

1. Using reusable bags and containers
2. Stop wasting food, plastic, money, energy, time, etc.
3. Save paper
4. Recycling of things
5. Start composting

The list of wastes is as follows:

1. Leftover of tiffins
2. Sewage
3. Food
4. Disposable crockery
5. Papers
6. Clothes
7. Polythene bags
8. Aluminum Foil or can

Wastes that can be reduced are:

1. Papers
2. Clothes
3. Leftover of tiffins

Wastes that can not be reduced are as follows:

1. Aluminum Foil or can
2. Polythene bags
3. Disposable crockery

Ans: Waterlogging is caused due to the presence of excess water in a plant’s root zone. It causes a decrease in the oxygen that is available for the roots. This can affect the growth of plants and their production. Under excessive conditions, it can also lead to the death of the plant. 

Waterlogging is associated with soil salinity problems which are caused due to irrigation as follows:

1. Soil waterlogging is caused due to irrigation without sufficient water drainage
2. The salt is drawn to the soil’s surface due to waterlogging
3. Soil starts to accumulate at the roots of the plants and also forms a thin layer on the surface of the soil.
4. An increase in the concentration of salt in the soil is harmful to agriculture.

Effects of waterlogging 

The effects of waterlogging can be described as follows - 

1. Poor Aeration of the soil
2. The pH of the soil is altered
3. Soil temperature changes
4. Nutrients present in the soil get affected by waterlogging

Prevention of Waterlogging

Waterlogging can be prevented in various ways:

1. Controlling the loss of water
2. Disposing of the rainwater
3. Mulching
4. Preventing the loss of water
5. Growing plants on raised beds
6. Installing proper drainage systems