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ACSEE (Form 6) Soil Chemistry and Environmental Chemistry — practice questions

Explore 12 free Soil Chemistry and Environmental Chemistry questions in ACSEE (Form 6) Chemistry. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Soil Chemistry and Environmental Chemistry questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–12 of 12.

Nitrate is leached from soil more readily than ammonium because nitrate:Read the answer and worked solution →Sandy soils have a very low cation exchange capacity because they contain little:Read the answer and worked solution →If liming a soil needs 100 g of calcium oxide, the mass of calcium carbonate doing the same work is about:Read the answer and worked solution →Which is a genuine environmental drawback of burning fossil fuels?Read the answer and worked solution →Which measure would most directly reduce the depletion of mineral resources?Read the answer and worked solution →Held or leached?Read the answer and worked solution →Catch the environmental harmsRead the answer and worked solution →Work out the liming massRead the answer and worked solution →Fault the wrong conservation measuresRead the answer and worked solution →Soil chemistry, true or falseRead the answer and worked solution →Spot the false claimRead the answer and worked solution →Spot the intruderRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

Nitrate is leached from soil more readily than ammonium because nitrate:

  1. is a cation attracted to soil colloids
  2. is an anion repelled by soil colloids
  3. is far heavier than the ammonium ion
  4. dissolves far less readily in water
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Correct answer: B. is an anion repelled by soil colloids

1. Soil colloids, the clay and humus particles, carry a net negative charge. 2. Ammonium, $NH_4^+$, is a cation, so those negative sites attract and hold it by cation exchange. 3. Nitrate, $NO_3^-$, is an anion, so the same negative sites repel it. 4. Having nothing to hold it, nitrate stays free in the soil water. 5. Draining water therefore washes nitrate down through the profile, which is leaching. _Source: NECTA ACSEE 2024 Chemistry 132/1, Question 8: Soil Chemistry and Environmental Chemistry_

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Sandy soils have a very low cation exchange capacity because they contain little:

  1. clay and humus colloids
  2. sand and gravel grains
  3. trapped water and air
  4. nitrogen and sulphur
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Correct answer: A. clay and humus colloids

1. Cation exchange capacity measures how many cations a soil can hold on its particle surfaces. 2. The holding is done by negatively charged sites, which sit on clay and humus colloids. 3. Sandy soils are made of large quartz particles carrying almost no such charge. 4. With little clay and little humus, there are almost no exchange sites available. 5. So the capacity approaches zero, and nutrient cations wash straight through instead of being retained. _Source: NECTA ACSEE 2024 Chemistry 132/1, Question 8: Soil Chemistry and Environmental Chemistry_

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If liming a soil needs 100 g of calcium oxide, the mass of calcium carbonate doing the same work is about:

  1. 56 g
  2. 100 g
  3. 179 g
  4. 256 g
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Correct answer: C. 179 g

1. The two liming agents work through the same number of moles, so convert by moles. 2. Relative formula mass of $CaO$ is $40+16=56$; that of $CaCO_3$ is $40+12+48=100$. 3. Moles of $CaO$ used: $\dfrac{100}{56}=1.786$ mol. 4. The same number of moles of $CaCO_3$ has mass $1.786\times100=178.6$ g. 5. So about 179 g is needed — more than the oxide, because the carbonate carries extra mass that does no neutralising. _Source: NECTA ACSEE 2024 Chemistry 132/1, Question 8: Soil Chemistry and Environmental Chemistry_

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More Chemistry topics

Chemical BondingAliphatic HydrocarbonsChemical EquilibriumThe AtomEnergeticsGasesSelected Compounds of Metals