Enviro 17 and 18 test

When scientists discover the existence of an emerging infectious disease such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), they must take immediate steps to determine the cause of the disease and the method of transmission. These initial steps would include which of the following?

Acquiring recent medical and travel histories of the disease victims

Which of the following best describes the action of an endocrine disruptor?

An endocrine disruptor blocks the receptor protein binding site of a hormone so that the cell cannot receive a signal.

West Nile virus was identified in the Western Hemisphere during the summer of 1999 and was associated with human, equine, and avian deaths. This virus is acquired by

Being bitten by an infected mosquito

Which of the following are direct products of the use of hydrocarbon fuels in automobile engines?

CO2, NOx, and VOCs

Which of the following best describes a natural process that adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere?

Carbon dioxide is released from the interior of Earth during volcanic eruptions.

Catalytic converters reduce which of the following pairs of pollutants in car exhaust?

Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons

In the figure above, the letters A, B, and c represent the different thermal layers present in an inversion. Which of the following shows the correct sequence of thermal layers as one moves vertically upwards from the surface of Earth?

Cool sea breeze → Warm → Cool

Which of the following human activities is most closely associated with depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer?

Disposal of refrigerators and air conditioners

Stratospheric ozone depletion is most likely to result in which of the following?

Disruption of photosynthesis in plants

Which of the following characteristically produces non-point-source pollution?

Erosion from agricultural land

Recent studies have found that fine particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less can have negative human health effects. Which of the following correctly links a negative human health effect to an anthropogenic source of fine particulate matter?

High rates of respiratory disease from power plant emissions

Important factors that contribute to smog formation in the Los Angeles basin include which of the following? 1. Ample summer sunshine 2. Sea-level elevation 3. High concentration of automobiles

I and III only

In 1950 the pH of the pond water was 8.2, but by 2000 the pH had decreased to 5.2. Which of the following changes would also be expected in the pond over the same time period? 1. Increased levels of dissolved oxygen 2. Increased levels of heavy metals 3. Increased number of fish species

II Only

True statements about ozone include which of the following? 1. Ozone is a precursor of acid rain. 2. Contact with ozone can be injurious to human health. 3. Ozone absorbs some wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation

II and III

Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the data presented in the graph?

In moderately developed regions such as China and Latin America, an individual's health is more or as likely to be affected by urban outdoor pollution than by indoor pollution.

Which of the following describes a potential human health effect most likely to be associated with a thermal inversion?

Increase in respiratory irritation due to increased levels of fine airborne particulates

Which of the following is an example of an external cost?

Individuals pay for medical treatment of lung disease aggravated by pollution from a coal-fired power plant

Which of the following best describes one way the Clean Air Act helped reduce air pollution?

Introduced regulatory measures to control the amount of lead in fuels

Implicated in human neurological damage

Lead

Was once widely used in the United States as a gasoline additive

Lead

In addition to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which of the following components must be present in the atmosphere to create photochemical smog

NOx and UV light

Which of the following correctly pairs a greenhouse gas with its primary anthropogenic source?

Nitrous oxide and agricultural practices

Which of the following best describes the importance of ozone in the stratosphere to life on Earth?

Ozone absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.

Scientists have been monitoring in the atmosphere from Mauna Loa in Hawaii since 1958. Which of the following units is used by scientists to measure in the atmosphere?

Parts per million

A gaseous decay product of uranium that is found in rocks

Radon

Colorless, odorless gas that is a naturally occurring decay product of uranium

Radon

Which of the following actions would be the most effective in decreasing acid rain and acid deposition problems?

Reducing the use of fossil fuels

Which of the following is an appropriate remediation strategy for removing radon gas from the home?

Seal or ventilate places where radon enters the living space

Which of the following best illustrates point-source pollution?

Smokestack emissions from a large smelting company

Based on the diagram above, which of the following best describes why a population in an area that has poor sanitation can be particularly at risk for a cholera outbreak?

The bacterium that causes cholera is spread through ingestion of contaminated water or food.

In 1978, the United States banned the use of in aerosols. Based on the data in the graph, which of the following best explains the effect of this ban as a solution to decrease global production?

The ban on CFCs in aerosols led to an increase in CFC-113 production for use in refrigerants and air conditioners in the United States, which led to a 10% overall increase in global CFCCFC production between 1970 and 1980.

Consumers who get their electricity from coal-fired power plants are not paying the true cost of energy production in their monthly utility bills. Which of the following is true about utility bills for these consumers?

The bills do not include public health costs, such as those associated with air pollution.

Bats use echolocation to find prey by emitting high-pitched bursts of sound and analyzing the reflection. Scientists studying a population of bats in a forest observed that their population size had declined in the years following the completion of a nearby highway. Based on the information above, which of the following best explains how noise pollution from the highway has affected the size of the bat population?

The highway noise is interfering with bats' echolocation, preventing them from successfully locating and catching prey as they fly.

Which of the following is true about the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 ?

They allowed power plants to buy and sell SO2 pollution allowances

Recent studies show that the decline of some tree populations in the northeastern United States is due to a combination of factors. Which of the following is the most important factor?

Toxic metals freed by acid deposition

Occurs naturally in bedrock and leads to the formation of radon

Uranium-238

Based on the diagram above, which of the following is the most likely reason that V. cholerae can spread rapidly through a population?

V. cholerae is a microscopic bacterium that can survive in various aquatic environments for prolonged periods of time and can cause a delayed onset of visible symptoms.

Which of the following water quality indicators should be measured to best determine if the wastewater is increasing the acidity of the river?

amount of hydrogen ions

Which of the following is the human health impact most closely associated with atmospheric particulates?

asthma

Acid rain is associated with which of the following?

burning fossil fuels

The primary cause of acid precipitation in the northeastern United States is

burning of sulfur-containing fossil fuels to produce electricity

Which of the following is a primary air pollutant produced from burning coal?

carbon monoxide

Is primarily responsible for acid rain in the northeast United States

coal

Which type of electricity-generating power plant releases radioactive materials as well as toxic metals such as lead and arsenic under normal operating conditions?

coal burning

The majority of atmospheric mercury is produced by

coal-burning power plants

Researchers suspect that sewage leaked into the Moose River. Rates for which of the following diseases should be used to determine whether the human population using the river as a source of drinking water was exposed to sewage?

dysentery

Factors that increase the spread of infectious diseases include all of the following EXCEPT

exposure to neurotoxins, which affect the endocrine system

Ticks are vectors for various diseases. The ticks acquire the disease-causing organisms from

feeding on host animals

Emitted from most manufactured building materials and furniture

formaldehyde

Endocrine disruptors directly affect which of the following in an organism?

hormones

The three main anthropogenic sources of gaseous air pollutants in the United States are

industry, transportation, and energy production

What important phenomenon that often plays a role in air pollution episodes is illustrated in the diagram above?

inversion

Although ozone in the stratosphere has been decreasing in recent years, ozone near Earth's surface is on the increase. The ozone near the surface is undesirable because it

is a strong oxidant and a respiratory irritant

The presence of which of the following in soil is most likely to neutralize acid rain?

limestone

The activity with the health risk most likely to be overestimated by the general public in the United States is

living near a nuclear power plant

Which of the following is a common component of photochemical smog and is a reddish-brown gas with a pungent odor?

nitrogen dioxide

Considered harmful in the troposphere but beneficial in the stratosphere

ozone

An engineer is assigned the task of reducing the air pollutants being released from a power plant that generates electricity by burning coal. The engineer performs a variety of computer simulations to determine which techniques and methods would be most effective at reducing air pollution generated by the plant. The air pollutant that computer simulations would likely show as being the most reduced by the installation of baghouse filters in exhaust systems

particulate matter

Waste from which of the following is an example of nonpoint source pollution?

runoff from agricultural fields

Is an important precursor to acid rain

sulfur dioxide

Most often cited as the causative factor for acid deposition

sulfur dioxide

Which of the following air pollutants is correctly paired with one of its major effects?

sulfur oxides — acid precipitation

Of the phenomena that correlate with the data above, the one that is the most direct consequence of the trend in air travel is

the increase in the spread of infectious diseases

Acid deposition would most likely result in which of the following?

the release of aluminum ions from soil

All of the following are likely consequences of indoor air pollution EXCEPT an increase in

the risk of developing skin cancer