Landfill
This daily household action contributes most to the growing size of landfills.
What is throwing away food?
LD-50 is used to determine this about a substance.
What is its toxicity?
This common farm chemical can cause eutrophication when it runs off into lakes and rivers.
What are fertilizers (or nitrates/phosphates)?
This pH range is typical of acid rain.
What is below 5.6?
This fruit waste product can be converted into biofuel.
What are orange peels (or citrus peels)?
This layer at the bottom of a sanitary landfill prevents leachate from contaminating groundwater.
What is the liner (usually clay or plastic)?
If a chemical has a low LD-50, this is true about its toxicity.
What is it is highly toxic?
This happens to oxygen levels in a water body undergoing eutrophication.
What is they decrease (leading to hypoxia)?
This industrial process is a major source of sulfur dioxide, a contributor to acid.
What is burning coal?
Citrus biofuel is considered this type of energy source.
What is renewable?
This process, ironically rare in landfills due to oxygen limitations, breaks down organic matter.
What is decomposition?
The "LD" in LD-50 stands for this.
What is "lethal dose?"
This type of aquatic bloom signals the start of eutrophication.
What is an algal bloom?
Acid rain damages these structures most severely due to their calcium carbonate content.
What are limestone buildings/statues?
This gas, found in citrus oils, can be turned into fuel.
What is limonene?
Nicknamed "trash lasagna," this structure helps minimize air, water, and odor pollution in landfills.
What are landfill layers or landfill cells?
This organism is often used in LD-50 tests, raising ethical concerns.
What is a lab rat (or test animal)?
This is the term for areas of water that have such low oxygen they can't support life.
What are dead zones?
This geographic feature helps buffer the effects of acid rain by neutralizing it.
What are alkaline soils or bedrock (such as limestone)?
Citrus biofuel is considered more sustainable than corn-based ethanol because of this reason.
What is it uses waste products instead of food crops?
This gas, a potent greenhouse gas, is collected from landfills and can be used as energy.
What is methane?
A chemical has an LD-50 of 250 mg/kg. What does that mean in terms of exposure?
What is it would take 250 mg of the substance per kilogram of body weight to kill 50% of the test population?
The final stage of eutrophication, this leads to massive fish kills and ecosystem collapse.
What is anaerobic decomposition (or oxygen depletion from bacterial decomposition)?
Acid rain affects this level of the food web first, disrupting entire ecosystems.
What are primary producers (like phytoplankton or plants)?
One challenge in scaling citrus biofuel production is this agricultural issue.
What is citrus greening disease or the declining availability of citrus crops?