Quick Review Flashcards - Click to flip and test your knowledge!
Question
What is the difference between point and non-point sources of pollution?
Answer
Point sources are direct and easy to monitor, whereas non-point sources are indirect and difficult to control.
Question
How is noise pollution defined in terms of its effect on human activity?
Answer
It is unwanted sound that interferes with normal activities like sleeping or conversation and produces unpleasant effects.
Question
What specific driving behaviour in congested areas is a major source of noise pollution?
Answer
The repeated hooting of horns by impatient drivers.
Question
Why do small-scale industries in industrial cities often cause significant annoyance to residents?
Answer
They are often located within residential zones, specifically on ground floors.
Question
How do modern planned cities like Chandigarh manage industrial noise compared to older industrial cities?
Answer
Industrial areas are kept away from residential areas and separated by a wide green belt.
Question
Which source of noise pollution is generally considered far worse than noise originating from factories?
Answer
Construction sites.
Question
What characteristic of construction equipment makes it a major noise source?
Answer
The equipment used is inherently noisy.
Question
Identify three common social or religious occasions in India where loudspeakers contribute to noise pollution.
Answer
Religious functions, births, and marriages.
Question
Why is noise made by jet planes more disturbing than noise from older propeller-driven aircraft?
Answer
Jet noise is of a much higher pitch.
Question
During which phase of flight is aircraft noise at its maximum level?
Answer
Take-off, when the engine delivers maximum thrust.
Question
What are the primary sources of high-frequency noise during an aircraft's landing operation?
Answer
The air compressor and the turbine blades.
Question
Name three examples of household domestic gadgets that produce indoor noise pollution.
Answer
Mixer-grinders, pressure cookers, and vacuum cleaners.
Question
Which specific agricultural tools are identified as noise sources during usage?
Answer
Tractors, thrashers, harvesters, tube wells, and powered tillers.
Question
What type of military activity can produce sonic booms that may shatter window panes?
Answer
The flight of military airplanes.
Question
What is the general definition of air pollution?
Answer
The contamination of air by pollutants like dust, smoke, and harmful gases that adversely affect living beings and the environment.
Question
Term: Primary Pollutants
Answer
Definition: Pollutants emitted directly from sources that are found in the atmosphere in the form they were emitted.
Question
Give three examples of primary air pollutants.
Answer
Ash, smoke, and oxides of sulphur.
Question
Term: Secondary Pollutants
Answer
Definition: Pollutants formed in the atmosphere through chemical interactions between primary pollutants and atmospheric constituents.
Question
Name three examples of secondary air pollutants.
Answer
Ozone, Peroxyacetyl Nitrate (PAN), and ketones.
Question
List three examples of gaseous air pollutants.
Answer
Carbon dioxide ($CO_{2}$), Nitrogen oxides ($NO_{x}$), and Sulphur Oxides ($SO_{x}$).
Question
Term: Particulate Air Pollutants
Answer
Definition: Non-gaseous substances such as suspended droplets, solid particles, or mixtures of both in the air.
Question
What are two examples of natural sources of air pollution?
Answer
Volcanic eruptions and forest fires of natural vegetation.
Question
Which source is responsible for more than $80$ per cent of total air pollution?
Answer
Vehicles.
Question
In major metropolitan cities like Delhi, vehicular exhaust accounts for $75$ per cent of which specific pollutant?
Answer
Carbon monoxide ($CO$).
Question
How are photochemical oxidants like ozone produced in the context of vehicular pollution?
Answer
They form when gaseous hydrocarbons react with nitrogen oxide in the presence of sunlight.
Question
Why is the smoke emitted by cement factories considered a potential health hazard?
Answer
It contains small particles of dust, carbon, metals, and other solids that get mixed in the air.
Question
What is the chemical result of sulphur dioxide ($SO_{2}$) combining with oxygen and water in the atmosphere?
Answer
It forms sulphuric acid ($H_{2}SO_{4}$), which leads to acid rain.
Question
Why does air pollution from coal and fossil fuels typically increase in cities during winter months?
Answer
The use of these fuels increases to heat homes due to the severe cold.
Question
The combination of smoke and fog that reduces visibility and creates health hazards is known as _____.
Answer
Smog
Question
Which agricultural practice aggravates smog severity in cities like Delhi?
Answer
Stubble burning in neighbouring agricultural areas.
Question
What are the common health symptoms caused by exposure to smog?
Answer
Asthma, bronchitis, shortness of breath, and eye and nose irritation.
Question
Name four gases emitted during the open burning of garbage.
Answer
Carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter.
Question
How does biomass burning like forest fires contribute to acid rain?
Answer
It produces Nitrogen dioxide ($NO_{2}$), which is soluble in water and falls as nitric acid.
Question
Domestic wastewater mixed with plastic, detergents, and human faecal material is collectively known as _____.
Answer
Municipal waste
Question
Term: Eutrophication
Answer
Definition: The process where nutrient enrichment (from phosphates) in water bodies promotes the rapid growth of algae.
Question
What is a negative consequence of the rapid multiplication of aquatic weeds in water bodies?
Answer
They interfere with fishing, navigation, and irrigation.
Question
Identify three heavy metals that commonly pollute water through industrial discharge.
Answer
Cadmium, mercury, and chromium.
Question
List three common sources of lead ($Pb$) that can enter the water supply.
Answer
Mining/smelting of ores, lead plumbing, and disposal of lead-zinc batteries.
Question
In what specific industrial sector is Manganese ($Mn$) widely used?
Answer
The manufacturing of steel.
Question
What is the most common and dangerous form of mercury found in aquatic environments?
Answer
Methyl mercury.
Question
How much higher can the concentration of mercury be in fish compared to the surrounding water?
Answer
As high as $5000$ times.
Question
What are the three main categories of soil pollution sources?
Answer
Chemical fertilisers, biomedical waste, and pesticides.
Question
Which three primary plant nutrients are found in chemical fertilisers?
Answer
Nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.
Question
How does the dumping of domestic sewage and hospital waste contaminate soil and affect health?
Answer
It introduces pathogens that affect human health.
Question
What is a serious health-related pollution problem in third-world countries involving soil?
Answer
Intestinal parasites.
Question
How do pesticide residues affect the soil over time?
Answer
They change the chemical properties of the soil and accumulate permanently.
Question
What is the primary natural source of radioactive pollution?
Answer
Cosmic rays from outer space.
Question
How do X-rays cause harm to living organisms at a cellular level?
Answer
They pass through genetic cells and affect chromosomes, resulting in mutations.
Question
What are the two components of a nuclear power establishment that serve as sources of radiation?
Answer
Fuel elements and coolants.
Question
Name two specific radioactive substances used for fission in nuclear weapons.
Answer
Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239.
Question
Describe the pathway by which radioactive particles from the air eventually cause soil pollution.
Answer
Particles are carried by wind and brought down to earth by raindrops.
Question
How do radioactive isotopes from wastewater in rivers and lakes eventually reach human beings?
Answer
Aquatic organisms absorb them, and they accumulate through the food chain.