Jurong Secondary School

Secondary 3E Pure Chemistry 6092 (2018)

Air Worksheet 2 (Self-read topic) – Data-Based Questions

Name: ( ) Class: Date:

Read the topic on Air (TB Chapter 20: The Atmosphere and Environment pages 389 to 410). Answer the
following questions on foolscap paper.

1 The graphs show the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the estimated
global mean temperature over a period of 120 years.

Graph A Graph B

(a) How does the information from the graphs support the idea that carbon dioxide is a
greenhouse gas?
(b) What evidence is there from these graphs that global warming might not always be
related to the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

2 The diagram shows the carbon cycle. The numbers are the relative amounts of carbon
transferred per year.

(a) What are the two main processes releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere?
(b) What are the two main processes removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere?
(c) Comment on the balance between these processes.
(d) Describe two factors which might upset the balance of the carbon cycle.

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3 Since 1975, cars have been installed with catalytic converters to convert harmful pollutants into less
harmful emissions before leaving the car exhaust pipe. Most of the cars are powered by burning petrol
which is a mixture of hydrocarbons in the car engine. As a result, the pollutants are mainly carbon
monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and unburnt hydrocarbons.

(a) Which pollutant is least likely to be produced when the petrol is just ignited in a cold car
engine? Explain your answer. [2]
(b) Recent innovation in the automobile industry includes the use of gold to improve the
efficiency of oxidation process in catalytic converters.
(i) Why does the use of gold improve the efficiency of the catalytic converter? [1]
(ii) The catalytic converter contains a very small amount of gold.
Do you expect the amount of gold to change after the catalytic converter is used for
a few years? Explain your answer. [1]
GESS 2015 Prelim P2 Qn A3

4 In recent years, the build-up of greenhouse gases has been one of the greatest environmental
concerns. Table 3.1 compares the effects of some of these greenhouse gases.

overall contribution to
heat trapping effectiveness percentage abundance of
gas increased global warming
compared to CO2 gas / dm3
(%)
carbon dioxide 1 50 0.03
methane 30 18 0.00017
ozone (ground
2 000 14 0.000004
level)
CFCs 10 000 to 25 000 12 0.000004
Table 3.1

(a) (i) Draw a dot-and-cross diagram to show the bonding in CFCl 3, showing only the
valence electrons. [2]
(ii) State whether CFCl3, has a high or low boiling point. Explain your answer with
reference to the bonding in CFCl3. [2]
(b) Describe the trend between the gases’ heat trapping effectiveness and their contribution to
global warming. [1]
(c) Though CFCs are thousands of times better at absorbing heat than carbon dioxide, their
effect on global warming is low compared to carbon dioxide. Suggest why. [1]
(d) Flue gases containing acidic gases are produced in power stations as oil and coal are
burnt to produce electricity. Sulfur dioxide is one such pollutant.
(i) A certain chemical can be lined on the chimneys of power stations to reduce the
amount of sulfur dioxide released.
Suggest the name of the chemical. [1]
(ii) Construct a balanced chemical equation to represent the reaction that takes placed
in d(i). [1]
AES 2015 Prelim P2 Section B Qn 3(OR)
5 (a) In 1894, the scientist W. Ramsay, carried out the following experiments starting with 100 cm 3 of
air.
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 The 100 cm3 of air was passed through solution X to remove traces of acidic gases. Then the air
was bubbled through concentrated sulfuric acid to remove water vapour. The remaining gases
were treated with excess of hot copper and the volume decreased from almost 100 cm 3 to 80
cm3. The gases that did not react with hot copper were heated with magnesium. 1 cm 3 of gas Y
remained and a white solid Z was formed. Solid Z reacted with water to form only magnesium
hydroxide and ammonia.

(i) Name the ion, in solution X, which reacts with acidic gases. [1]
(ii) Give the formula of solid Z. [1]
(iv) Most gases are identified by a chemical test.
Why must gas Y be identified using a physical property? [1]

(b) Table 4.1 shows some properties of gases in dry air.

melting point in boiling point in percentage (%) in

gas in dry air density in kg/m3
°C °C air
nitrogen 1.2506 −210 −196 78.08
oxygen 1.4290 −219 −183 20.95
carbon dioxide 1.977 −57 −57 0.033
helium 0.1785 −272 −269 0.00052
neon 0.8999 −249 −246 0.0019
argon 1.7837 −189 −186 0.934
krypton 3.74 −157 −153 0.00011
xenon 5.86 −112 −108 0.0000087
Table 4.1

In 1895, Lord Rayleigh isolated nitrogen from dry air by removing the other known gases,
oxygen and carbon dioxide.
He then discovered that nitrogen from dry air had a different density to pure nitrogen produced
from chemical reactions.
He concluded that nitrogen extracted form dry air was mixed with another gas. The density of
nitrogen extracted from dry air was higher than the density of pure nitrogen.

Use the information above to explain why. [2]

(c) Minimising air pollution is essential for health and for the environment.

(i) Low sulfur fuels are being introduced. Ordinary diesel contains 500 ppm of sulfur but
low sulfur diesel contains less than 50 ppm.
Why is this an advantage to the environment? [2]

(ii) Catalytic converters reduce pollution from motor vehicles, as shown in Fig. 4.2.

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 Fig. 4.2

Rhodium catalyses the decomposition of the oxides of nitrogen.

2NO  N2 + O2
Two other pollutants are carbon monoxide and unburnt hydrocarbons.
How are they converted into less harmful substances? [2]
MSHS 2015 Prelim P2 Qn B10 OR

6 Read the following newspaper article and answer the following questions.

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(a) State the three main contributors of air pollution in Singapore. [1]
(b) With reference to the article, determine the main measure taken to reduce air pollution form
vehicles. [1]
(c) Compare the levels of pollutants reported in 2011 to the targets which have been set for
Singapore for 2020.
(i) Name the pollutants which Singapore has already kept to within the limits set for 2020. [1]
(ii) Which pollutant has Singapore kept to within the annual mean target but not the 24-hour
mean target? Suggest a possible reason for this difference? [2]

(d) Fig. 5.2 shows how the concentration of three air pollutants in Singapore varies with time.
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 Concentration / ppm

0.5
Hydrocarbon
0.4 s

0.3
NO2 O3
0.2 Fig. 5.2

0.1
(i) Which of the pollutants is not mentioned in the newspaper article? [1]
(ii) Describe and explain the trends in concentrations of the three pollutants over the day. [2]
4 6 8 10 12 14
Time of the day / h
(e) One method of reducing air pollution is the installation of catalytic converters into vehicles. The
diagram below shows a simplified catalytic converter.

Insulation mat
Stainless steel can
From engine

To exhaust silencer
Ceramic support

(i) Why is it important that the can is made of stainless steel? [1]
(ii) Describe, with the aid of chemical equations, how the unburnt hydrocarbons, carbon
monoxide and nitrogen monoxide are converted into harmless gases. [3]
OSS 2015 Prelim P2 Qn B1

7 The Earth’s atmosphere contains many gases.

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Carbon dioxide and oxygen are two gases in Earth’s atmosphere that are essential to living things. Fig.
6.1 shows how the percentages of these two gases and one other gas in the Earth’s atmosphere have
changed over the past five thousand million years.

Fig. 6.1

Another gas that is present in the Earth’s atmosphere is ozone, O3.

Ozone is an atmospheric pollutant in the lower atmosphere and its amount is monitored on a regular
basis by environmental chemists. The amount of ozone in the lower atmosphere can be determined by
reacting air samples with excess aqueous potassium iodide.

O3 + 2KI + H2O  I2 + O2 + 2KOH

The resulting amount of iodine formed can be estimated through titration with aqueous sodium
thiosulfate, using a starch indicator.

2Na2S2O3 + I2  Na2S4O6 + 2NaI

However, ozone is beneficial higher up in the atmosphere. Fig. 6.2 shows how both the world’s CFC
production and the amount of high level ozone at the South Pole have changed over the last 24 years,
from 1990 to 2014.

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 Fig. 6.2

(a) Use information from Fig. 6.1 to answer the following questions.
(i) Identify gas 3. [1]
(ii) Describe how the percentages of carbon dioxide and oxygen have changed. [2]
(iii) Suggest an explanation for the changes that have taken place in carbon dioxide and
oxygen percentages, identifying the process involved. [3]
(b) (ii) Describe what an environmental chemist would expect to see at the endpoint of the
titration with aqueous sodium thiosulfate. [1]
(c) Use information from Fig. 6.2 to answer the following questions.
(i) Describe how the world’s production of CFCs has changed over the last 24 years. [1]
(ii) What evidence, if any, is there to indicate a link between the world’s CFC production
and the amount of high-level ozone in the atmosphere at the South Pole? [2]
BHSS 2015 Prelim P2 Qn B8

End of Worksheet 

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