Ecological And Social Footprint
Overview
A pair of scissors costs three pounds. Somewhere an ore body was blasted and a hillside of waste rock moved to get at the iron; somewhere a furnace burned for hours; somewhere a moulding machine made the handles from oil that took a hundred million years to form; and a ship carried the finished pair four thousand miles. None of that is on the price tag, and all of it happened because a designer specified those materials and that factory.
This lesson is about the part of a product that never appears in the shop. You will learn the ecological issues the specification names, deforestation, mining minerals and drilling for oil and gas; the mileage of a product from raw material source through manufacture, distribution and user location to final disposal; that carbon is produced during the manufacture of products; and sustainability through the approach of the six Rs, which are reduce, refuse, re-use, repair, recycle and rethink. Then you will cover the social issues: designing safe products, providing safe working conditions, and reducing oceanic and atmospheric pollution while minimising the detrimental impact on others. This is specialist technical principles content, and it produced the single largest question on the specimen paper, an eight mark analyse and evaluate item that carried more marks than any other.
Objectives
- Ecological issues in the design and manufacture of products
- Deforestation, mining minerals, drilling for oil and gas. The mileage of product from raw material source, manufacture, distribution, user location and final disposal.
- That carbon is produced during the manufacture of products.
- Sustainability
- Using the approach of the six Rs: Reduce, refuse, re-use, repair, recycle and rethink.
- Social issues in the design and manufacture of products
- Designing safe products.
- Providing safe working conditions. Reducing oceanic/ atmospheric pollution and minimising the detrimental (negative) impact on others.
Mind map
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Lesson Note
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Lesson Evaluation
Congratulations on completing the lesson on Ecological And Social Footprint. Now that youve explored the key concepts and ideas, its time to put your knowledge to the test. This section offers a variety of practice questions designed to reinforce your understanding and help you gauge your grasp of the material.
You will encounter a mix of question types, including multiple-choice questions, short answer questions, and essay questions. Each question is thoughtfully crafted to assess different aspects of your knowledge and critical thinking skills.
Use this evaluation section as an opportunity to reinforce your understanding of the topic and to identify any areas where you may need additional study. Don't be discouraged by any challenges you encounter; instead, view them as opportunities for growth and improvement.
- Which one of the following is one of the six Rs? A. Redesign B. Refuse C. Reinforce D. Remove Answer: B
- Which stage of a product's life does the specification list immediately after manufacture? A. Distribution B. Final disposal C. Raw material source D. User location Answer: A
- Acid rain is caused mainly by A. carbon dioxide and methane. B. nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. C. particulates and microbeads. D. mercury and lead. Answer: B
- A designer specifies screws instead of adhesive so that a worn part can be replaced. Which of the six Rs is this? A. Recycle B. Reduce C. Refuse D. Repair Answer: D
- Recycling aluminium is commonly said to use about what proportion of the energy needed to produce it from ore? A. 5 per cent B. 25 per cent C. 50 per cent D. 95 per cent Answer: A
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