- Volumetrically, the two principal sources of solid waste in the U.S. are wastes from livestock and from:
Your answer:
growing crops.
mineral extraction and processing.
municipalities.
industry.
- Pollutants may escape from improperly designed landfills:
Your answer:
as gases rising through overlying soil.
dissolved in leachate infiltrating into soil below.
through uptake into plants growing on the site.
in all of the above ways.
- Conventional waste incineration, at moderate temperatures:
Your answer:
is particularly effective for paper and similar flammable materials.
completely destroys toxic organic chemicals and elements.
has the advantage of not producing harmful gases.
all of the above.
- Recycling paper:
Your answer:
is facilitated when large quantities of one type of paper are involved.
may conflict with other objectives, such as heat production fom incineration.
requires source separation of solid waste.
all of the above.
- If a company was practicing the dilute-and-disperse approach to disposal of liquid hazardous wastes, they might use:
Your answer:
a secure landfill.
a deep injection well into permeable rocks overlain and underlain by impermeable rocks.
ocean dumping.
any of the above.
- All of the following have been proposed as means of disposing high-level radioactive wastes except:
Your answer:
high-temperature incineration to destroy the radioisotopes.
disposal within ice sheets (e.g., Antarctica).
disposal into outer space via rocket launch.
disposal into bedrock caverns.
- Residence time is:
Your answer:
the average length of time a substance remains in a reservoir.
the average legth of time atoms of a radioactive element take to decay.
the maximum lenght of time a pollutant remains in the environment.
the average length of time a substance is chemically reactive in a reservoir.
- Point sources of pollution include all of the following exept:
Your answer:
a septic tank leaking sewage.
salt runoff from roads.
wastewater from a factory emitted through a discharge pipe.
a leaking oil supertanker.
- The toxicity of industrial pollutants may go unrecognized because:
Your answer:
they can't be tested for safety on all organisms.
their harmful effects may be slow to develop.
they may be harmful only in some circumstances or concentrations.
all of the above.
- "Biochemical oxygen demand" is the amount of oxygen needed:
Your answer:
by humans to breathe.
by all organisms in a system, both plants and animals.
for aerobic decomposition of organic matter in a reservoir.
to destroy all chemical pollutants in a reservoir.
- Water containing an abundance of nutrients, in which an abundant growth of such plants as algae has occurred, may be termed:
Your answer:
eutrophic.
aerobic.
biochemically depleted.
accumulative.
- The most abundant gas, by volume percent, in the atnosphere is:
Your answer:
nitrogen.
oxygen.
argon.
carbon dioxide.
- The atmospheric residence times of inert gases, such as helium and argon:
Your answer:
can't be estimated because their geochemical cycles are too complex.
are quite short, as these gases are removed by precipitation.
are vitrually infinite.
are strongly controlled by human activities.
- The single largest source of atmospheric pollutants is:
Your answer:
industrial and manufacturing activities.
electricity-generating plants.
transportation.
waste disposal by incineration.
- The atmospheric pollutant of principal concern in discussions of acid rain is:
Your answer:
sulfur dioxide.
nitrogen oxide.
carbon dioxide.
ash from coal burning.
- Which of the following statements is not true?
Your answer:
By the time studies of rain acidity commenced, all air was polluted to some extent.
Rainfall would not be acidic if burning of sulfur-rich coal were stopped.
Rainfall is often more acidic downwind of coal-fired power plants.
The problems caused by acid rain vary in severity with local soil and bedrock properties.
- The importance of most trace elements to health was not recognized until recently for all of the reasons except which one?
Your answer:
Analytical equipment didn't have the sensitivity required to accurately measure minute concentrations until the last quarter century.
Public awareness and health research wasn't focused on this topic.
It is difficult to separate geologic from cultural factors in health studies.
Researchers did not have accesss to government funds to conduct these studies.
- A graph showing beneficial or harmful effects of a trace element as a function of dosage is a:
Your answer:
dose-frequency curve.
potentiometric surface.
dose-response curve.
concentration factor curve.
- In the future, it may be more difficult to spot geochemical influences on health and disease because:
Your answer:
fewer people are consuming only locally produced food and beverages.
we have already made analytical instruments as sensitive as possible so we will gain little new information about element distribution in the future.
as diets are improved, trace elements are no longer necessary.
all of the above.
- Cardiovascular disease death rates are generally higher where drinking water is softer, and vice versa. This correlation:
Your answer:
proves that calcium, magnesium, and other elements in hard water help to prevent heart disease.
shows that soft water lacks some elements needed to prevent heart disease.
indicates that more acidic soft waters are leaching harmful elements from pipes, increasing heart-disease incidence.
suggests all of these possibilities but conclusively proves none of them.
- Lead, mercury and arsenic are examples of __________ (2 words) because of their tendency to accumulate in organisms.
Your answer:
- Decomposition of organic matter requiring oxygen is a (an) _________ process.
Your answer:
- The time required for one half of a substance's radioactive atoms to decay is known as the element's ___________.
Your answer:
- Since phosphates have been largely removed from detergents, the primary source of phosphates which can result in lake eutrophication is _______________.
Your answer:
- ________ chemical compounds are approximately ten times more abundant than all other types of chemical compounds combined.
Your answer:
- What gas is emitted primarily by the burning of fossil fuels and is a very important greenhouse gas?
Your answer:
- Inhalation of what gas will inhibit the absorption and transfer of oxygen throughout your body?
Your answer: