you're in luck,
we received our industrial chem option topic assessments back, and that was one of the dot points we had to address..
mine sucks, but here you go:
(copy/pasted from my assessment)
i should also tell you that i only had about 5 lines out of a textbook as stimulus material, so i stretched it into 1 page, LOL
it can be repetitive, but i got an alright mark for it (this was just one component out of 4)
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1. Discuss the issues associated with the increased need for a natural resource that is not a fossil fuel and evaluate the progress currently being made to solve the problems identified. Suggestions: soap replacement with detergents, natural fertilizers replacement with artificial fertilizers, (350-400 words)
Discusses the issues associated with the increased need for a natural resource and evaluates the progress currently being made to solve the problems identified.
Uses terminology and reporting styles appropriately and successfully to communicate information and understanding.
Industrial chemistry produces materials to replace natural substances that have been largely used up, or materials which have become very expensive because of the short supply from natural resources.
Materials are often developed in response to growing demands and the inadequacies of natural sources to meet these demands. The development of synthetic chemicals to replace or supplement existing natural resources soon followed. Detergents are examples of such synthetic chemicals developed to replace, or supplement the existing product (soap).
Prior to the 1950s soap, made from left-over animal fats, was practically the only available cleaning agent. Increasing world populations had brought with it, its associated costs and demands in the use of soap. An increasing world population had also meant that soaps, the only available cleaning agent, were in high demand.
Consequently, this increasing demand for soaps had placed an undue burden upon soap manufacturers, who relied upon fats in the production of soaps. Further, with an increasing world population, fats were then being used for food.
As a result of the increasing world population, therefore, the manufacture of soap could not keep up with its growing demand, as the natural resources which were previously used in the manufacture of soaps was now being used to feed the very same world population that requires such soaps.
Synthetic detergents were then developed and eventually became the dominant cleaning agent, as there was a need to supplement the existing natural resources (animal fats) which soap manufacturing relied upon. It is due to the development and dominance of synthetic chemicals such as detergents which had lifted the increasing pressures placed upon soap manufacturers prior to the 1950s. As a consequence of synthetic detergents being developed and becoming mainstream, many cleaning agents are available today to supplement soaps, the only available cleaning agent in the past.
Another factor in the rise of synthetic detergents and their importance in addressing the issue of available cleaning agents and chemicals had been the readily available starting materials. This had been chiefly due to the by-products left-over from petrol refining. In effect, detergents had addressed the growing demand for the manufacture of soaps in the past.
As the world population increases, soap manufacturers are now able to cope with the growing demand, as synthetic chemicals such as detergents were developed as a response to the growing demands of the world population, supplementing the existing soaps used in the past, to this day.
Today, soaps are principally used to maintain personal hygiene. The problems of supply and demand, including the scarcity of animal fats before the 1950s, had been overcome with the development and need for synthetic chemicals and products to be developed in response to growing demands, of a growing world population.
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hope that helps you