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Fuels and Earth Science

Pollutants and acid rain

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 4

Overview

How sulfur impurities in fuels form sulfur dioxide, how it causes acid rain and the damage to lakes, trees, buildings and metals, ways of reducing it, and how oxides of nitrogen form from air in hot engines and why they are pollutants.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Explain why some fuels produce sulfur dioxide when burned and others do not, and how the gas leads to acid rain.

Key term

Explain how oxides of nitrogen form in an engine, giving their formulae and why hotter engines make more.

Key term

Name the impurity found in some hydrocarbon fuels that leads to sulfur dioxide being released.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Name the impurity found in some hydrocarbon fuels that leads to sulfur dioxide being released.

    Model answer

    The impurity is sulfur.

  2. 2

    Explain how burning a fuel that contains sulfur produces sulfur dioxide.

    Model answer

    The sulfur impurity is oxidised as the fuel burns, reacting with oxygen from the air to form sulfur dioxide.

  3. 3

    Write the balanced equation for the reaction that forms sulfur dioxide when sulfur burns.

    Model answer

    S + O₂ → SO₂.

  4. 4

    Give the formula of sulfur dioxide.

    Model answer

    Sulfur dioxide has the formula SO₂.

  5. 5

    Suggest why removing sulfur from a fuel before it is burned reduces pollution.

    Model answer

    If no sulfur is present, no sulfur dioxide can be formed when the fuel is burned.

  6. 6

    Explain why burning pure hydrogen produces no sulfur dioxide but burning some fuel oils does.

    Model answer

    Sulfur dioxide is only formed if the fuel contains sulfur, and hydrogen contains none.

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States of Matter and Mixtures
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AChlorine is a pale green gas at room temperature.
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