E-waste is discarded electronic equipment such as old phones, computers and televisions. E-waste is one of the fastest-growing kinds of waste in the world.

Why is e-waste harmful?

E-waste contains toxic substances such as lead and mercury. The toxic substances can leak into soil and water if devices are dumped in landfill.

Why is shipping e-waste to poorer countries a problem?

Some e-waste is sent abroad and broken up by hand without safety equipment. Workers breathe toxic fumes, and chemicals pollute the local environment.

How can the amount of e-waste be reduced?

Devices can be repaired, reused or passed on instead of thrown away. Old devices should be recycled so their metals can be recovered.

OCR GCSE Computer Science J277

Systems Architecture

Topic overview CPU components and the fetch-execute cycle Factors affecting CPU performance Embedded systems

Memory and Storage

Topic overview RAM, ROM, cache and virtual memory Secondary storage: magnetic, optical and solid state Data units and storage capacity calculations Binary, denary and hexadecimal conversions Binary addition, overflow and binary shifts Character sets, ASCII and Unicode Bitmap images, colour depth and resolution Sound sampling, sample rate and bit depth Lossy and lossless compression

Computer Networks, Connections and Protocols

Topic overview LANs, WANs and network performance Client-server and peer-to-peer networks Network hardware, DNS, hosting and the cloud Star and mesh topologies Wired and wireless connections, IP and MAC addresses Protocols, standards and layers

Network Security

Topic overview Malware, social engineering and brute-force attacks Denial of service, data interception and SQL injection Identifying and preventing vulnerabilities

Systems Software

Topic overview User interfaces, memory management and multitasking Peripheral, user and file management Utility software

Ethical, Legal, Cultural and Environmental Impacts of Digital Technology

Topic overview Ethical and cultural issues in digital technology Environmental impact of digital technology Privacy and digital technology Computer Science legislation and software licences

Algorithms

Topic overview Abstraction, decomposition and algorithmic thinking Flowcharts, pseudocode and structure diagrams Trace tables and correcting algorithms Linear and binary search Bubble, merge and insertion sort

Programming Fundamentals

Topic overview Variables, constants, operators and assignment Sequence, selection and iteration Data types and casting String manipulation and file handling Arrays, records and SQL Functions, procedures and random numbers

Producing Robust Programs

Topic overview Defensive design, input validation and authentication Writing maintainable code Testing, errors and test data

Boolean Logic

Topic overview Logic gates and truth tables Combining gates in logic diagrams

Programming Languages and Integrated Development Environments

Topic overview High-level and low-level languages and translators The integrated development environment (IDE)

Ethical, Legal, Cultural and Environmental Impacts of Digital Technology

Environmental impact of digital technology

3 things to know
J277/01

Overview

Manufacturing and mining, e-waste and its dangers, planned obsolescence, the energy used by data centres and devices, and ways technology can help the environment.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

What environmental issues does digital technology raise?

Key term

How does making digital devices harm the environment?

Key term

What is e-waste?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What environmental issues does digital technology raise?
Model answer
Devices harm the environment when they are made, used and thrown away. The main problems are energy use, the mining of raw materials and electronic waste.
2
How does making digital devices harm the environment?
Model answer
Devices need metals such as gold, cobalt and rare earth elements, which must be mined. Mining uses energy, damages land and can pollute water supplies.
3
What is e-waste?
Model answer
E-waste is discarded electronic equipment such as old phones, computers and televisions. E-waste is one of the fastest-growing kinds of waste in the world.
4
Why is e-waste harmful?
Model answer
E-waste contains toxic substances such as lead and mercury. The toxic substances can leak into soil and water if devices are dumped in landfill.
5
Why is shipping e-waste to poorer countries a problem?
Model answer
Some e-waste is sent abroad and broken up by hand without safety equipment. Workers breathe toxic fumes, and chemicals pollute the local environment.
6
How can the amount of e-waste be reduced?
Model answer
Devices can be repaired, reused or passed on instead of thrown away. Old devices should be recycled so their metals can be recovered.

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