Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Sustainability
In the long tem, economics is dependent on environmental sustainability. A situation of maximum pollution is
one without the resources that businesses need. Thus, economics and the environment are interwoven, depend-
ent on each other, and the concept of sustainability applies to both. Short-term economic success may come
more easily by polluting and over-utilizing the environment, but businesses that operate in this way will even-
tually create excessive harm to humans and the environment. Therefore, economic goals must be aligned with
environmental sustainability in order for both to continue indefinitely.
Practice
Questions 1-4 refer to the following air pollutants.
A.
Carbon monoxide
B.
Sulfur dioxide
C.
Nitrogen dioxide
D.
Ozone
E.
Particulate matter
1.
Which criteria pollutant contributes to the creation of industrial smog?
2.
Which criteria pollutant is a component of photochemical smog and acid precipitation?
3.
Which criteria pollutant can lead to eutrophication in an aquatic system?
4.
Which criteria pollutant helps to create smog when in the troposphere but protects life from UV radi-
ation when in the stratosphere?
5.
Which of the following best describes the way carbon monoxide interacts in the body to cause asphyxi-
ation?
A.
Carbon monoxide binds with hemoglobin in the bloodstream, displacing oxygen and preventing it
from binding with the hemoglobin.
B.
Carbox monoxide is inhaled into the lungs, where it replaces oxygen.
C.
The carbon and oxygen atoms in carbon monoxide separate, and the carbon bonds with hemo-
globin.
D.
Excess carbon monoxide cannot cause asphyxiation.
E.
Carbon monoxide combines with oxygen and forms a toxic substance in the body.
6.
Endocrine disruption occurs when
A.
Heavy metals bioaccumulate in the body.
B.
An ecosystem is disrupted by the removal of vegetation.
C.
Carbon monoxide replaces a hormone in a molecule within the body, impeding the necessary reac-
tion process.
D.
A toxin replaces a hormone in a molecule within the body, impeding the necessary reaction pro-
cess.
E.
Allergens over-activate the immune system.
7.
Which of the following chemical reactions best represents the process of the creation of acid precipita-
tion?
