Earth Science Unit 3 Natural Resources Unit Test

A community is faced with the burden of rising landfill costs. An environmental consultant explains that these costs can be cut in half over a five-year period. The consultant uses the following data from a nearby town to illustrate this point.

What else could the consultant do that would help demonstrate how to solve the community’s problem?

• Provide a computer model that demonstrates the advantages and efficiencies of curbside pickup.

• Read a report that highlights the need to build multiple new landfills to accommodate the number of reusable materials added.

• Present a flow chart showing how to scale this problem to national and global levels.

• Form a focus group that would be able to address all problems in year one of the project timeline.

NGSS HS ESS U3 EOU Passage 1Mineral Use and Extraction

Modern technology, such as rechargeable batteries and hybrid cars, has increased the need for certain minerals and rare-earth elements. Earth’s crust has a rich supply of many minerals and elements, but in some cases extracting them from the ground can be difficult.

A flat layer of phosphates is found in sedimentary rock just beneath Earth’s surface. Which type of mining would be best for this type of resource?

• block cave mining

• strip mining

• room and pillar mining

• hydraulic mining

A design team is discussing how to remodel a city factory to make it as energy efficient as possible. Which statement describes a way the team constrains the project? Choose the correct answer.

• They analyze possible construction methods, such as which materials to use in the renovation.

• They conduct a series of tests to make sure the factory does not pollute local water supplies

• They determine the cost and the time that will be necessary to make the factory energy efficient.

• They identify various features that they want to incorporate into the design to minimize pollution.

Resources are categorized in different terms such as renewable or nonrenewable, limited or unlimited, how they form, and where they are found.

• limited

• unlimited

• renewable

• nonrenewable

• found in specific locations

An engineering team is developing a new type of solar panel that can provide electrical energy more cheaply and efficiently than existing models. Initial tests of a prototype, however, reveal that the ceramic material used in its construction has a lower-than-expected efficiency. Which statement best describes how the researchers could optimize the design?

• Make adjustments to the ceramic material, and retest the design.

• Construct a different design that is expected to have higher efficiency.

• Identify the end goal of what the solar panel must be able to do.

• Use available information, and brainstorm ideas for the solar panel design

Choose the statements that are a positive aspect of petroleum and natural gas extraction.

• Complex path drilling extracts from a single drill well.

• Harvesting these materials can add pollutants to the atmosphere.

• Seismic imaging may be used to identify locations for drilling into deposits.

• Refining petroleum can release gases into the atmosphere.

• Horizontal drilling can exploit a particular rock layer for harvesting.

Which statement accurately describes power plants that use solar energy to those that use energy from burning coal to generate electricity?

• Solar power plants require additional fuels to operate, but coal-fired power plants do not.

• Generating electricity is less expensive using solar energy than energy from burning coal.

• Solar power plants are more expensive to maintain than coal-fired power plants.

• Installation of a solar power plant is more expensive than installation of a coal-fired power plant.

An engineer wants to build a tidal power plant. To protect marine life, her solution is to make sure the plant does not decrease water salinity levels while still remaining powerful. What is a constraint to this solution?

• the speed of the turbine used to generate electricity

• the number of tidal barriers functioning as storm walls

• the amount of water rushing into the bay

• the type of gate opened at low tide

Which correction should be made in the design in order for the plant to function well?

• Pump cool water into the turbine instead of using steam in the turbine.

• Cover the cooling tower so that water vapor cannot escape into the air.

• Send the steam through the condenser before it goes through the turbine.

• Drain the waste water into the ground instead of away from the plant.

Tar sands extraction threatens to contaminate an underlying aquifer. Engineers believe modifying the steam injection process is one solution to this problem. Which would be a constraint to this solution?

• the amount of oxygen used during injection to chemically change bitumen

• the amount of topsoil removed before steam injection

• the amount of fresh water available for use as steam

• the amount of rock that is shifted by the steam injection process