woodchurch science

a very important subject and one we take for granted. here’s a few links to get you started:
sewage treatment, water pollution (easy guide), waste water made clear.

ensure you cover the following topics in your presentation:
screening
sedimentation
biological filters
disinfection
sludge disposal
and try to find some good photographs to illustrate your work…image search

here’s a link to the copper mine that was seen in the ‘rocket science’ program. the company is called nevada copper. you can download a copy of their information booklet here.

making 2bn tonnes of cement globally every year pumps out 5% of the world’s CO2 emissions – more than the entire aviation industry, so any innovations which will reduce this must be welcomed. british scientists (hooray!) have developed a new type of cement that ‘eats CO2′. you can read all about it here.

try this flash for revision. it helps you understand (a) what goes in, (b) what happens inside and (c) all the equations.

the year 10 separate science group visited stanlow refinery today. here’s some interesting information about it, as well as some aerial photos. someone asked what will happen when all the oil runs out and stanlow has nothing to do. here’s shell’s answer – shellrenewables.com. here’s a handy flow chart showing how stanlow works.

flue gas desulphursation systems are used to remove sulphur dioxide. “wet scrubbers” are the most widespread method and can be up to 99% effective. a mixture of limestone and water is sprayed over the flue gas and this mixture reacts with the SO2 to form gypsum (a calcium sulphate), which is removed and used in the construction industry.

this site gives a printable explanation of the process of converting vegetable oil into biodiesel. the printout is not that easy to find so here’s the link

many plants produce useful oils which can be converted into consumer products including processed foods. vegetable oils can be hardened to make margarine. biodiesel fuel can be produced from vegetable oils. a printable explanation (pdf file) of the process can be downloaded from this website: greenfuels

if you are studying chemistry in year 10 then you will know that oil is not just for energy. you will learn that scientists are developing new plastics and so-called ’smart’ materials.

kettles that change colour and signs that glow-in-the-dark are two recent examples of products becoming ‘smarter’ as a result of new materials. colour-changing thermochromic pigments are now routinely made as inks for paper and fabrics – and incorporated into injection moulded plastics. a new type of phosphorescent pigment, capable of emitting light for up to 10 hours, has opened up entirely new design opportunities for instrumentation, low-level lighting systems etc. more examples can be found here, here for power boots, stunners and minority report stuff and here for more news on new materials.

the discovery channel charts the rise of the oil industry. here’s a (very brief) excerpt:

the united states has about 5 percent of the world’s population, but the 21 million barrels of crude oil that it consumes each day amounts to nearly a quarter of the world’s usage.
numbers, however, don’t convey the full magnitude of america’s dependence upon oil.