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9.5 Industrial Chemistry: 1. Replacements for natural products
| Syllabus reference (October 2002 version) | ||
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1. Industrial chemistry processes have enabled
scientists to develop replacements for natural
products
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Students learn to: |
Students: |
Extract from Chemistry Stage 6 Syllabus (Amended
October 2002) © Board of Studies, NSW.
[Edit: 26 Jun 08]
Prior Learning: Preliminary module 8.3, 8.4, HSC module 9.2
identify data, gather and process information to identify and discuss the issues associated with the increased need for a named natural resource that is not a fossil fuel and evaluate the progress currently being made to solve the problems identified.
discuss the issues associated with shrinking world resources with regard to one identified natural product that is not a fossil fuel, identifying the replacement materials used and/or current research in place to find a replacement for the named material.
These two outcomes can be considered together. When you have gathered and processed the required information, you will be able to discuss the issues.
Background information
In the HSC core module Production of Materials you will already have gathered information and discussed problems associated with possible replacement of fossil fuels with materials from biomass.
In this Industrial Chemistry option you must consider a natural resource and product that is extracted from it, that is not a fossil fuel. Consider a natural product that has been (or is being) replaced by synthetic materials e.g) natural rubber (replaced by synthetic rubber), medication extracted from plants or animals (replaced by synthesised drugs), natural insecticides (replaced by synthetic insecticides), timber (replaced by artificial timbers), ivory (replaced by synthetic polymers) or guano deposits (replaced by artificial fertilisers).
For the resource you have chosen to investigate:
- Gather information from a range of sources, such as popular scientific journals, videos and the Internet. Focus on the uses of the resource, amount available and possible replacement materials.
The Sydney University polymer site
(The Key Centre for Polymer Colloids) that you used in an earlier module may be useful here.
- Listing information under headings such as those shown below could help you to process the gathered information efficiently and identify key issues.
- Use the information you have obtained to
evaluate the progress being made to solve
the problems caused by the increased need for this resource
and its decreasing availability. When asked to evaluate an
issue such as this, you need to know the facts listed in
the table above and then make a value judgement. Do you
think the substance will need to be replaced and will we be
able to do this now or in the near future.
It is O.K. for your value judgement to be different from that of others, as long as you have backed it up with evidence.
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