Question 1 Medium
A paper bag needs 1.5 MJ to make. It is used 3 times. How much energy is this for each use? Give your answer in MJ.
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Answer: 0.5 MJ
- Share the impact between the uses.
- 1.5 ÷ 3 = 0.5 MJ per use.
Life cycle assessments, recycling and getting metals sustainably: GCSE Combined Science Chemistry practice questions
A second set of questions on life cycle assessments, recycling and getting metals sustainably. They are different from the ones on the topic page. Try each, then open the answer and compare your working.
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Question 2 Medium
Name one resource whose use can be measured in an LCA.
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Answer: water
- LCAs record resources used.
- Water, energy and raw materials can be measured.
Question 3 Hard
Which living things are used in phytomining?
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Answer: plants
- Phyto means plant.
- Plants take up the metal compounds.
Question 4 Hard
Which living things are used in bioleaching?
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Answer: bacteria
- Bio means living, and the living things are microbes.
- Bacteria make the leachate solution.
Question 5 Hard
In phytomining the plants are burned. What does the ash contain?
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Answer: metal compounds
- The plants absorbed the metal compounds.
- These stay in the ash after burning.
Question 6 Hard
Copper can be obtained from a solution of copper compounds by displacement. What is added to the solution?
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Answer: scrap iron
- A more reactive metal displaces copper.
- Scrap iron is cheap and more reactive than copper.
Question 7 Hard
A new aluminium can needs 8.0 MJ. A can made from recycled aluminium needs 5% of this. How much energy does the recycled can need? Give your answer in MJ.
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Answer: 0.40 MJ
- 5% = 0.05.
- 0.05 × 8.0 = 0.40 MJ.
Question 8 Hard
What kind of judgements are needed to put numbers on the effects of pollutants in an LCA?
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Answer: value judgements
- The harm done by pollutants is not simply measured.
- It needs value judgements.
Quick checks
Short questions with options. Choose one before you open the answer.
Check 1
What does LCA stand for?
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Life cycle assessment.
Check 2
What are the four stages of a life cycle assessment?
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Extracting and processing raw materials, manufacturing and packaging, use and operation, and disposal.
Check 3
Is transport included in an LCA?
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Yes, transport and distribution are counted at each stage.
Check 4
Which things in an LCA are easy to measure?
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Use of water, resources and energy, and the amount of waste produced.
Check 5
Why is an LCA not purely objective?
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Giving numbers to the effects of pollutants needs value judgements.
Check 6
How can a selective LCA be misused?
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A company can leave out stages to make its product look better, for example in advertising.
Check 7
What is meant by reuse?
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Using a product again, for example washing and refilling a glass bottle.
Check 8
What is meant by recycling?
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Processing used materials to make new products.
Check 9
How are metals recycled?
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By melting and recasting, or reforming into different products.
Check 10
How can glass be recycled?
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Crushed and melted to make new glass products.
Check 11
How does recycling steel reduce iron extraction?
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Scrap steel is added to iron from the blast furnace, so less iron ore is needed.
Check 12
Give two advantages of recycling metals.
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It saves ore and energy, reduces landfill and reduces damage from mining.
Check 13
Give two disadvantages or costs of recycling metals.
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Collecting, transporting and sorting cost money and use energy.
Check 14
What is the effect of mining and quarrying?
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They damage the environment.
Check 15
What is phytomining?
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Growing plants that absorb metal compounds, then burning them to get ash containing the metal compounds.
Check 16
What is bioleaching?
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Using bacteria to make a solution (leachate) containing metal compounds from the ore.
Check 17
How can copper be made from a leachate solution?
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By displacement using scrap iron, or by electrolysis.
Check 18
Why are phytomining and bioleaching useful?
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They can use low-grade ores and avoid digging up large amounts of rock.
Check 19
What is a disadvantage of phytomining?
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It is slow and needs a lot of land.
Check 20
How do you compare two products fairly in an LCA?
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Use the data from each stage and divide by the number of uses.
Check 21
Why is a paper bag used three times better than one used once?
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Its impact is shared over three uses.
Check 22
What is a finite resource?
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A resource that will run out because it cannot be replaced as fast as we use it.
Check 23
Why are copper ores becoming scarce?
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The best ores have been used, so only low-grade ores are left.
Check 24
Why does recycling aluminium save energy?
Show answer
Melting scrap needs far less energy than extracting aluminium from its ore.
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