2.3 THE WIDER IMPACT OF CHEMISTRY

IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY OF PAST PAPER QUESTIONS FOR THIS TOPIC OR ANY OTHER TOPIC PLEASE EMAIL ME (space is provided on the main page of my blog)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GO THROUGH THE QUESTIONS WITH ME, PLEASE VISIT MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Hi everyone! Today's unit is pretty short and easy. And when I say easy, I mean REALLY easy. Most of it is just self explanatory. You also get some math calculations. But they are simple in this unit. You may need to use the equations from unit 1.3 which is Chemical Calculations. I put up a new video on my youtube channel where you can see some example questions on this.

From this topic, you basically need to know what's going on on Earth today. What problems we encounter? And more importantly how we are trying to tackle these problems. You need to realise that the levels of carbon dioxide rise and we need to come up with ways to lower this level and even eliminate.

Let's just get into it:

We are firstly going to look at what's going on in the world today. There are some good things but also some bad things. We're going to start with the good things:

- there are way more factories and industries these days, therefore more people can get jobs and they don't need to rely on benefits. Overall, they have better lives;

- these factories and industries are built near the resources they need. This ensures no further money and time and energy is needed to transport them;

- also, people are more aware of the dangers of factories today. There is a greater realisation of how to provide a safe environment for people living near factories.

On the other hand, some bad things happen in today's world. I am sure there are a lot however, the main one that we are going to focus on today and is related to our topic is:

- all these factories release massive amounts of carbon dioxide which creates a danger to our life and the life of our planet;

---

The other big problem that we encounter is the energy problem. The increasing population, more electricity needed and expanding industries cause our energy supply levels to decrease. Therefore, we need to be able to create as much energy as possible and as efficiently as possible. These are the ways we generate energy right now and how they impact our planet:

1. FOSSIL FUELS - We mainly get energy from fossil fuels but this is not a non-renewable resource, so it will run out and we need to make sure to replace this with a renewable source. The formation of fossil fuels takes millions of years. And our usage is at a greater rate than producing new fossil fuels. Furthermore, we release a great amount of carbon dioxide during combustion of fossil fuels. Which as we said before, is not safe and can cause a lot of issues. Therefore, now that we are more aware, we are trying to avoid it.

2. NUCLEAR POWER - There is also a nuclear power. This has worked for a long period now. However, it is dangerous to people, animals and plants due to radioactive emissions. Also, radioactive waste is an issue because it ought to be stored somewhere. Of course, someplace where it is not bad for people.

3. SOLAR POWER - Solar power is another way that we get energy. More and more people have them on their houses. This is a renewable source because we are always going to have sun. This is a good method of producing energy.

4. CARBON NEUTRALITY - Carbon neutrality does not create energy itself but it definitely helps us lower the levels of carbon dioxide when we create energy by burning fossil fuels. How this works is that we replant trees to match the amount of fossil fuels burnt. This means that the carbon dioxide that has been released during the burning of fossil fuels will be consumed by trees in photosynthesis. This is something that will massively decrease the levels of carbon dioxide, however, this doesn't solve our problem of running out of fossil fuels.

---

Lastly, we are going to have a look at Green Chemistry.

GREEN CHEMISTRY - This means making all the chemicals, products and energy that we need with as little impact on the environment as possible.

To do this we:

1. Use catalysts - they lower the activation energy, this means a lower temperature can be used which saves energy and money.

2. Use renewable energy sources - using renewable materials such as sun, wind, water, etc. to provide energy.

3. Save energy - trying to use as less energy as possible and using renewable sources instead of fossil fuels.

4. Create high atom economy - this means a major part of products being used and only a minor part of the waste.

5. Use biodegradable products - this means to use products that can be reused at the end of their life.

As you can see this topic is very short and self-explanatory. Although I didn't provide you with any examples of questions here. I just posted a youtube video with a couple of past paper questions. Go on and check that out! And for now, this is all. See you in the next post which should be up very soon.

PS. Please remember, I am only a student, and as anyone, I can make mistakes. If you think you can see one, don't hesitate and comment (either here on on my youtube channel) Thank you!