CHEMISTRY 2

• How humans use the earth's resources

  • Provide warmth
  • Provide shelter
  • Provide food
  • Provide transport
• Resources produced by agriculture and in the woods


  Example: Cotton
• Modern agriculture allows us to grow enough cotton to meet the needs of the world
• Resources used for fuel

  • Biofuels such as wood chips
• Agriculture helped us to use the earth's resources more efficiently
• Synthetic alternative


  Example: Synthetic rubber produced using crude oil
• Around two-thirds of the rubber used in the world is now synthetic
• Finite resources


  Resources that cannot be replaced as quickly as they are being used
• Finite resources


  • Fossil fuels
  • Metals
• Humans use millions of kilograms of fossil fuels every day, but the way that fossil fuels form is much slower than this
• If we continue using fossil fuels at this rate, they will run out
• Renewable resources


  Resources that can be replaced as quickly as they are used
• Renewable resources


  • Wood
• Renewable resources will never run out
• Human activities need to be sustainable, so that we can meet our needs without preventing future generations from meeting theirs
• Chemistry plays an important role in how we use resources
• How chemistry helps us use resources

  • Artificial fertilizers allow us to grow more food with the land available
  • Provides safe drinking water
  • Processes like phyto mining and bio leaching help us extract metals more efficiently