This Troubled Planet

Cameron Stewart

10 Maths PO

Word Count: 1 610

Exercise Questions
π=3.14

1. How many people lived in developing countries in 2000?

6.17 billion people total, 79% of which lived in LEDCs
= (6.17 x 109) x 0.79

= 4.87 x 109
4.87 billion people lived in developing countries in 2000.

2. Calculate how much was spent in US dollars per person in

the world on military spending in:

a)1990

3.

4. =1.48 x 102
= 148
$148 per person in the world was spent on military.

b)2000

=1.47 x 109

= 147
$147 per person in the world was spent on military

5. Find the mean increase in cars per hour between 1990 and
2000.
There are 365 days in a year, each day with 24 hours. Between
1990 and 2000 there is 10 years. During those 10 years, there are 2
leap years with 366 days a year. 2 extra days=48 extra hours.

(365 x 24) x 10 + 48
=87 648 hours

In 1990 there were 565 million cars. In 2000 there were 740 million
cars.
740 x 106- 565 x 106
= 140 x 106

6.

7. = 1 597.3
The mean increase in cars per hour between 1990 and 2000 is 1 597.3.

8. Calculate the mean number of kilograms of fish caught per

person in:

a)1990
89 million tonnes of fish
5.31 billion people

= 89 billion kilograms of fish

5.31 billion people

9.

10.= 16.8

16.8 fish on average per person in 1990

b)2000
126 million tonnes of fish
6.17 billion people

= 126 billion kilograms of fish

6.17 billion people

11.

12.= 20

20 fish on average per person in 2000

13.Using the given deforestation rate, calculate how many

areas equivalent to a football pitch are disappearing per
minute, given that the dimensions of a football pitch are
75m x 110m, in:

75 x 110
Area of football pitch=8250 m2

a) 1990: 163 000km2 is being chopped down.

 14.

15.=0.31

16.

17.=37.5
37.5 football pitches per minute in 1990

b) 2000: 190 000m2 is being chopped down.

=0.36

=43.6
43.6 football pitches per minute in 2000

18.Find the mean number of African elephants which are

disappearing per day between 1990 and 2000.
750 000 elephants in 1990 – 525 000 elephants in 2000
= 225 000 elephants disappeared in total.

In 10 years there are 3 652 days (including leap years).

19.

20.=61.6 Elephants disappeared on average per day.

21.Calculate the mean rate of population increase in people per

second for the period from 1990 to 2000.
(60x60x24) x 3 652
=315532800
=3.155328 x 109

6.17 x 109-5.31 x 109= increase in population

=8.6 x 108

Increase in population
number of seconds in 10 years

22.
 23.=2.7
the mean increase in population per second is 2.7.

24.Calculate the population density of the Earth in people per

square kilometre in

a)1990

b)2000

25.Assuming that the rate of deforestation remains

unchanged, use the graph to estimate:

a) The total area of rainforest in 2010.

6 x 5 256 000= total football pitches deforested.

=229 161 600 football pitches in 10 years.

229 161 600 x 8250

=1.9 x 1012m2

1.9 x 1012
1000
= 190 000 000 km2
=1.9 x 109
b) When the area of rainforest will be zero.
approximately 2020

26.Assume that the African elephant population will continue

to decline at the same rate, calculate when this elephant
will become extinct.

27.Given that the volume in cubic kilometres V of the Earth’s

atmosphere is given by the formula where R=6 407km and
r=6 400km, calculate the density of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere in kilograms per cubic kilometre in 2000.

V=4 x 3.14 (64073-64003)÷3

= 4 x 3.14 (2.63 x 1011-2.62 x 1011)
=4 x 3.14 (1x109)
=12.56 (1x109)
V= 1.265 x 1011
 26 x 109 tonnes of CO2= 26 x 1012kg of CO2 released in 2000

26x1012
V
= 26x1012
1.265 x 1011
= 2.05 x 102
the density is 205 kg of CO2 per km3

28.The total length of all the roads in the USA in 2000 was 6.9
million kilometres. Given that the average motor vehicle is 5
meters long, calculate the average spacing between these
vehicles if they were all to be simultaneously on US roads in
2000.

Total road in USA= 6.9 x 106 km

Total road in USA in metres= 6.9 x 109
Average vehicle is 5m long.
total number of vehicles= 740 x 106

29.=9.3m

9.3m of total road per car.

9.3-5
=4.3

4.3m of empty space per car.

Global warming and climate change are words we now hear commonly on the
news, at school and at work. Climate change has become a very serious problem
in the last decade, so much so that many governments are making attempts to
help become “greener” and more sustainable. It would seem that news of
disasters is becoming more and more frequent. Hurricanes sweep across
America, floods wash one coast of Australia, while the other is in drought. The
hottest summers, and coldest winters on record for more than thirty years are
occurring, and all because of our lack of responsibility for our planet. The
western world has a wasteful way of life that is destroying our planet.

One of the other huge problems our planet faces today is that of overpopulation.
In the year 1990, the world population was approximately 5.31 billion people of
which, 3.88 billion (73%) lived in developing countries. By the year 2000 the
population had increased to 6.17 billion with a rise to 4.87 billion (79%) living in
developing countries. This an overall increase in population of 860 million people
(16%). However, in the 10 years between 1990 and 2000, there was an increase
of 25.5% in the population of less economically developed countries (LEDCs) and
a 9.1% decrease in population of more economically developed countries
(MEDCs).This means that more and more people are suffering from lack of
resources. Food, water, and fresh air to breathe are necessities for human life,
necessities many people are have little of.

One of the things causing this catastrophic global change is the number of motor
vehicles driving and producing carbon dioxide, or CO2, a greenhouse gas. In
1990, 565 million motor vehicles were in existence. By 2000, that number had
risen to just over 740 million vehicles. These huge numbers of oil driven vehicles
produce a massive amount of CO2. The density of CO2 in the atmosphere is close
to 205 kilograms of CO2 per cubic kilometre. This large amount of carbon dioxide
in the air means that heat from the Sun comes into the Earth’s atmosphere and
instead of being bounced back into space from the surface of the Earth, it
rebounds of the CO2 and back onto Earth, creating a heating effect that is more
than is natural on Earth. Transport of people and goods is something we humans
need to start controlling.

We as a species spend huge amounts of money killing each other. In 2000, the
amount of money spent worldwide on military amounted to approximately $147
US dollars per person on the planet. For every single person in the world, $147
was spent on military. This money could have been spent on helping people, on
providing food, clean water and medical service to everybody, and instead of
being used for helping people, it was spent on ammunition, planes, bombs and
other military items, just for the use of killing people. Is it really necessary to
spend billions and billions of dollars on conflict?

The use of trees is also causing many problems. We use a lot of land to grow our
food and other crops. This land was not really available for use as farmland as
large chunks of it used to be rainforest or forest. In the middle ages, much of
Europe and Britain was a large forest with few wide, open spaces. Now, forests
are something that is becoming increasingly hard to find as they are chopped
down to make way for roads, fields, and also for use as timber or to be made into
paper. The use of forest land for farming is something that would be very difficult
to change, as humans need food to survive, but paper is something that can be
recycled and used again. Timber can also be used again, to some extent.
Deforestation just for wood is something that is not necessary but land is
something humans need.

Overfishing is also becoming a more increasingly noticeable problem. Some fish

species are near to extinct due to overfishing because of the increase in demand
for fish. Fish is a healthy food for humans to consume, but do we really need 20
fish per person per year? Couldn’t we cut that down to half and live with just 10
fish per person per year? This measure would reduce the amount of fishing
occurring in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.

War, global warming, deforestation, overpopulation, pollution and over

production of produce are just some of the ailments our planet is currently
dealing with. These are also all things caused by humans. Over the past 50 or
more years, we have slowly but surely been narrowing our chances of getting out
of our crises alive. Now, our planet is in serious trouble, and we need to start
waking up to this fact.