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10. Using resources

Using the Earth's resources

6 lessons
10.1 Finite resources, sustainability and recycling Natural, synthetic, finite and renewable resources, what sustainable development means, and how reducing, reusing and recycling materials such as metals and glass saves resources and energy. AQA Edexcel OCR 10.2 Potable water The difference between potable and pure water, how fresh water is treated to make it safe to drink, how sea water is desalinated by distillation or reverse osmosis, and why water for chemical analysis must be pure. AQA Edexcel OCR 10.3 Waste water treatment How sewage and agricultural and industrial waste water are treated by screening, sedimentation, anaerobic digestion of sludge and aerobic treatment of effluent, and how the ease of obtaining potable water depends on its source. AQA OCR 10.4 Required practical: analysing and purifying water AQA required practical: testing the pH of water samples, finding the mass of dissolved solids by evaporation, and purifying salty water by distillation, with how to check the purity of the distilled water. AQA 10.5 Phytomining and bioleaching Why new ways of extracting copper from low-grade ores are needed, how phytomining uses plants and bioleaching uses bacteria, and how copper is then obtained by displacement with scrap iron or by electrolysis. Higher only AQA Edexcel OCR 10.6 Life cycle assessments The stages of a life cycle assessment from raw materials to disposal, how to compare products such as paper and plastic bags, and the limitations of life cycle assessments including value judgements and bias. AQA Edexcel OCR

Using materials

3 lessons
10.7 Corrosion and its prevention What corrosion and rusting are, the conditions needed for iron to rust, and how corrosion is prevented by barriers, sacrificial protection, galvanising and electroplating. Separate only AQA Edexcel OCR 10.8 Alloys Why alloys are harder than pure metals, the composition and uses of bronze, brass, gold alloys, steels and aluminium alloys, carat values of gold, and how the composition of an alloy is matched to its use. Separate only AQA Edexcel OCR 10.9 Ceramics, polymers and composites How soda-lime and borosilicate glass and clay ceramics are made, how low and high density poly(ethene) differ, the structures of thermosoftening and thermosetting polymers, what composites are, and how to choose materials using their properties. Separate only AQA Edexcel OCR

The Haber process and fertilisers

2 lessons
10.10 The Haber process How ammonia is made by the Haber process from nitrogen and hydrogen, the conditions used (450 °C, 200 atmospheres, iron catalyst), recycling of unreacted gases, and (Higher) why the conditions are a compromise between rate, yield and cost. AQA Edexcel OCR 10.11 NPK fertilisers Why plants need nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, how ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate and phosphate fertilisers are made from raw materials, and how the laboratory preparation of ammonium sulfate compares with industrial production. Separate only AQA Edexcel OCR