1

a. – Air, water, thermal, noise

b. Air -> Air pollutions occurs when harmful substances or air pollutants are released
into the air. Air pollutants can be in the form solid particles, liquid droplets or gases.
There are two types of air pollution, one is originating from human activity, and the
other originates from the nature itself. Air pollution that originates from human
activities mainly comes from the burning of fossil fuels. When fossil fuels are burnt,
they released a huge amount of unwanted yet harmful substances into the air,
polluting it heavily. Meanwhile, air pollution originates from nature itself are not very
harmful as it is for the good of planet Earth itself.

Water -> Water pollutions occur when harmful substances or water pollutants are
released into the water bodies which are the rivers, lakes, underground water and the
ocean without the proper treatment to remove the harmful compounds. Even though
water pollution also occurs naturally, most of the pollution comes from human
activity itself. Activities such as oil spilled into the ocean, untreated sewage waste
released into the river and others are some of the main reasons why water pollutions
occur. These water pollution not just only affect the ecosystem of the things living in
the water bodies that has been polluted, but humans are also affected by it.

Noise -> Noise pollution occurs when unwanted or undesired sound is made. Noise
pollution comes directly or indirectly from human activity. Normally, heavy activities
such as building construction, traffic noise and others are some of the factors that
contribute to the noise pollution that the world faces today. Noise pollution not just
only affects people but animals and plants too are affected with noise pollution.

Thermal -> Thermal pollution occurs mainly from human activities. One of the
factors causes thermal pollution is when warmed water is discharged from power
plants or other industrial plants into the water bodies such as rivers, lakes,
underground water, and the ocean. Apart of that, thermal pollution also occurs when
hot combustion gases are released from vehicle’s exhaust into the air. Other than that,
the construction of more buildings and road also causes this pollution, as they absorbs
heat and passing it into the air.
c. Air -> Air pollution is very harmful towards people, plants and animals. One of the
main factors is acid rain. Acid rain occurs when an air pollutant, such as sulfuric acid
combines with the water droplets that make up clouds, the water droplets become
acidic. When those droplets fall to the ground as rain or snow, the acidity of the water can
have damaging effects on the environment as it can kill trees and harm animals, fish, and
other wildlife. Acid rain destroys the leaves of plants. When acid rain infiltrates into
soils, it changes the chemistry of the soil making it unfit for many living things that rely
on soil as a habitat or for nutrition. Acid rain also changes the chemistry of the lakes and
streams that the rainwater flows into, harming any aquatic animals. Other than that, air
pollution also will cause humans to suffocate, as a huge amount of unwanted substances
enter their lungs, killing them if they breath in too much of it.

Water -> As these water pollutants are discharged into the water bodies, they contaminate
the water and the environment in it. When this occurs, plants and organisms living in
these water bodies are affected by the water pollutants, potentially killing them. Not only
that, the natural biological communities of the water bodies will be also greatly affected.
Animals that drinks the contaminated water will be infected as they contaminated water
contain harmful substances that will make them ill or possibly, make them die as well.
Apart of that, humans are also affected by this incident. As the water is polluted, it
becomes unsafe for humans to drink it. Sometimes, polluted water looks clear and safe to
be drink. But, in fact it has been polluted, and when people drank it, their body becomes
contaminated with infection originated from unseen water pollution.

Noise -> When noise pollution occurs, it directly and indirectly affects everything
surrounding it, not just only people but plants and animals too. One of the effects of noise
pollution towards human is that, they might get temporary or permanent deafness. Other
than that, a decrease in efficiency in work also will occur. With too much noise disturbs
the rhythms of working, thereby affecting the concentration required for doing a work.
Noise of traffic or the loud speakers or different types of horns divert the attention, thus
causing harm in the working standard. Plants are also indirectly affected with the
pollution. As plants need cool and peaceful environment to live in, noise pollution will
cause poor quality of crops. Animals are affected to noise pollution as well. Noise
pollution will damage the nervous system of the animals.

Thermal -> Thermal pollutions occurs in three different places, water, air and soil. In
the water, thermal pollution which is making the water warmer affects the animal and
plants living in it. Most of the animals and plants living in the water couldn’t withstand
the heat of the heat and will eventually die because of it. Even there are animals that can
withstand the heat, heat that is in the water will decrease the amount of oxygen, cause
them to suffocate and die. Meanwhile, in the air, thermal pollution is limited to the head
island effect caused by the cities. Cities trap and radiate heat even more than forests and
field. The warmer air will makes thermal currents in the air which can act as a barrier to
the normal wind patterns. This in turn will affect the rainfall of the city. This will affect
the humans living in it as they can’t stand the heat in the city and will move away from
the city.
Other than that, in the soil, thermal pollution is limited to the impact of climate on the
types of plants that can grow and the reduction of areas which have permafrost. The loss
of permafrost impacts the solidarity of the ground which will impact the animal’s
migration and releases methane from the frozen decomposing organic matter. This will
make the environment to be unbalanced due to the effects of thermal pollution.
2.
a) Thermal pollution is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes
ambient water temperature.

b) 1. In the water, thermal pollution which is making the water warmer affects the animal
and plants living in it. Most of the animals and plants living in the water couldn’t
withstand the heat of the heat and will eventually die because of it. Even there are
animals that can withstand the heat, heat that is in the water will decrease the amount of
oxygen, cause them to suffocate and die.

2. copy toh’s answer

c) If the temperature of the earth increases suddenly, there is a high possibility that all
living organisms including plants, animals and even human will be extinct. Due to the
sudden increase of temperature of the Earth, most of the living organisms won’t be able
to cope with the temperature and will eventually die. Even though humans are the
cleverest species on Earth and they are able to adapt very fast to new environment, but it
will take some times for them to adapt to the high temperature of the Earth. There is a
possibility that humans will be able to adapt themselves eventually, but it might be too
late for them as all of them will die 1 by 1 due to the inability to cope with the high
temperature. Even if there are still organisms that can stand the increase of the
temperature, it would be difficult for them to find food and water to their daily use. There
will be no more safe food to be eaten as many will die and rot. Water will be hard to find
as river and lakes will dry up due to the heat generated from the increase of temperature.

d)
3.
a) Biochemical oxygen demand or BOD is a chemical procedure for determining the
amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to
break down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over
a specific time period.

b)
i. Industrial waste is a type of waste produced by industrial activity. When these
industrial wastes are disposed into the river, they will affect the ecosystem of the river.
Within the industrial wastes that have been disposed into the river, there could be
unwanted substances which have a high potential of

d) Eutrophication is a syndrome of ecosystem responses to human activities that fertilize water

bodies with nitrogen (N) andphosphorus (P), often leading to changes in animal and plant
populations and degradation of water and habitat quality. Nitrogen and phosphorus are essential
components of structural proteins, enzymes, cell membranes, nucleic acids, and molecules that
capture and utilize light and chemical energy to support life. The biologically available forms of N
and P are present at low concentrations in pristine lakes, rivers, estuaries, and in vast regions
of the upper ocean. Pristine aquatic ecosystems function in approximate steady state in which
primary production of new plant biomass is sustained by N and P released as byproducts of
microbial and animalmetabolism. This balanced state is disrupted by human activities that
artificially enrich water bodies with N and P, resulting in unnaturally high rates of plant production
and accumulation of organic matter that can degrade water and habitat quality. These inputs may
come from sewage treatment plants or run-off of fertilizer from farm fields or suburban lawns.
4.
a) Ozone is a molecule containing three oxygen atoms. The usage of the
ozone layer is that it is used to absorb a portion of the radiation from the
sun, preventing it from reaching the planet's surface. Most importantly, it
absorbs the portion of ultraviolet light called UVB. UVB has been linked
to many harmful effects, including various types of skin cancer,
cataracts, and harm to some crops, certain materials, and some forms
of marine life.

b) The ozone layer can be depleted by free radical catalysts, including nitric oxide (NO), nitrous
oxide (N2O), hydroxyl(OH), atomic chlorine (Cl), and atomic bromine (Br). While there are
natural sources for all of these species, the concentrations of chlorine and bromine have
increased markedly in recent years due to the release of large quantities of man-
made organohalogen compounds, especially chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
and bromofluorocarbons.[3] These highly stable compounds are capable of surviving the rise
to the stratosphere, where Cl and Br radicals are liberated by the action of ultraviolet light.
Each radical is then free to initiate and catalyze a chain reaction capable of breaking down
over 100,000 ozone molecules.

c) As the ozone layer is being depleted, more and more UV-B is able to penetrate the
layer and made it way down to the surface of the Earth. With the increase amount of
UV-B, more and more people will get skin cancer as UV-B ray is the main
contribution to skin cancer. Other than affecting on humans, crops will also be
affected by the increase of the UV-B rays. A number of economically important
species of plants, such as rice, depend on cyanobacteriare siding on their roots for the
retention of nitrogen. Cyanobacteria are sensitive to UV light and they would be
affected by its increase.

d)