Using Resources | AQA GCSE Chemistry, Higher tier (8462)
Using Resources
- 206 questions
- 13 subtopics
- Paper 2
- Paper 2
Using Resources is examined in Chemistry Paper 2.
It covers using the Earth's resources and sustainable development, producing potable water in the UK, desalination, and analysing water samples, waste water treatment, alternative methods of extracting metals, life cycle assessment, ways of reducing the use of resources, corrosion and its prevention, alloys as useful materials, glass, clay ceramics and polymers, composites, and comparing materials, the Haber process and production and uses of NPK fertilisers.
Sample questions from Using Resources
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Using the Earth's resources and sustainable development
Suggest why an industrial process that uses less energy and makes less waste is described as more sustainable.
Show the answer
It uses up fewer limited resources and causes less environmental damage, so more is left for future generations. -
Producing potable water in the UK
What is removed from water as it passes through filter beds?
Show the answer
Insoluble solids such as grit, sand and other suspended particles. -
Waste water treatment
Explain why sewage is treated in several separate stages rather than one.
Show the answer
Each stage removes a different kind of material, working from large solids through to dissolved organic matter and microbes. -
Alternative methods of extracting metals
Name two ways of obtaining copper metal from a solution of a copper compound.
Show the answer
Displacement using scrap iron, or electrolysis. -
Ways of reducing the use of resources
From which limited raw material are most plastics produced?
Show the answer
Crude oil. -
Corrosion and its prevention
A block of magnesium is bolted to the steel hull of a ship. Explain what happens to the magnesium.
Show the answer
Magnesium is more reactive than iron, so it corrodes instead of the hull and has to be replaced from time to time. -
Glass, clay ceramics and polymers
Name two clay ceramics.
Show the answer
Pottery and bricks. -
Composites, and comparing materials
Why does the melting point of a material matter when it is chosen for an oven door?
Show the answer
Its melting point must be well above the oven temperature so that it does not soften in use.
The 13 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Using the Earth's resources and sustainable development | Human needs met by the Earth's resources, how agriculture supplements natural resources, finite and renewable resources, sustainable development and how chemistry improves agriculture and industry, natural products replaced by synthetic ones, and interpreting data in tables, frequency tables, bar charts and histograms, including orders of magnitude. | 21 |
| Producing potable water in the UK | Potable water and why it is not chemically pure, the low levels of dissolved salts and microbes it needs, why methods vary with local supplies, fresh water from rain, and the UK method of choosing a source, passing water through filter beds and sterilising with chlorine, ozone or ultraviolet light. | 14 |
| Desalination, and analysing water samples | Desalination of salty water by distillation or reverse osmosis and why it is expensive, comparing the treatment of ground water and salty water, why filtering comes before sterilising, analysing water samples for pH, dissolved solids and purity, purifying a sample by distillation, and collecting representative water samples. | 20 |
| Waste water treatment | Where waste water comes from and why it must be treated, what sewage and industrial waste need removed, screening, sedimentation into sludge and effluent, anaerobic and aerobic treatment, and comparing ground, salty and waste water as sources. | 14 |
| Alternative methods of extracting metals | Metal ores and low-grade ores, why new ways of extracting copper are needed, phytomining and bioleaching and their advantages and disadvantages, leachate, obtaining copper from its solutions by displacement with scrap iron or by electrolysis, and when traditional mining is still preferred. | 15 |
| Life cycle assessment | What a life cycle assessment is and its four stages from raw materials to disposal, what can be quantified and why value judgements make it subjective, selective assessments in advertising, and paper against plastic bags. | 14 |
| Ways of reducing the use of resources | Reducing, reusing and recycling to cut the use of limited resources and energy, materials made from limited raw materials such as metals, glass, clay ceramics and plastics, the impacts of quarrying and mining, the difference between reuse and recycling, and how glass, metals, steel and aluminium are recycled. | 14 |
| Corrosion and its prevention | What corrosion is, why iron needs both air and water to rust, barrier coatings such as grease, paint and electroplating, aluminium's oxide layer, sacrificial protection and galvanising, why tin fails once scratched, and rusting experiments. | 14 |
| Alloys as useful materials | Why most everyday metals are alloys, bronze and brass and their uses, gold alloys and carat values, high and low carbon steels, stainless steel and aluminium alloys, and matching the properties of each alloy to uses such as car panels, aircraft bodies, cutlery and silver jewellery. | 16 |
| Glass, clay ceramics and polymers | How soda-lime and borosilicate glass are made and why borosilicate suits laboratory beakers, making clay ceramics such as pottery and bricks, how monomers and conditions decide polymer properties, low and high density poly(ethene), and thermosoftening and thermosetting polymers, their uses and recycling. | 14 |
| Composites, and comparing materials | How low and high density poly(ethene) form from ethene, the structures of thermosoftening and thermosetting polymers, composites with a matrix and reinforcement such as concrete, wood and carbon fibre, and comparing density, strength, melting point, brittleness and conductivity to choose a material for a job. | 14 |
| The Haber process | Ammonia manufacture for fertilisers, the raw materials nitrogen and hydrogen and their sources, the iron catalyst, the compromise conditions of about 450°C and 200 atmospheres, word and symbol equations, separating ammonia and recycling unreacted gases, equilibrium in the reactor, and the trade-offs between rate, yield and energy cost. | 19 |
| Production and uses of NPK fertilisers | NPK fertilisers and the elements they supply, why fertilisers are used, fertilisers as formulations, ammonium salts and nitric acid made from ammonia, ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate, mined potassium salts and phosphate rock, treating phosphate rock with acids to give soluble salts and superphosphates, and laboratory versus industrial production. | 17 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA GCSE Chemistry, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
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