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Air Quality/characteristics of air

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Expert: - 11/20/2006


Question
i am a grade 5 learner in south africa. my teacher asked us in an exam what the characteristics of air are and i answered that it was invisible, it was colourless, it did not have a taste of its own, it was made up of the gasses nitrogen,oxigen, carbon dioxide and water vapour. I only got 2 out of 4 marks. can you please help me where i went wrong because the answer is not in our notes.

Answer
Dear Chelsea

Thanks for your question.

First of all I have no idea why you got the mark you did as I do not know the basis of the teachers marking.

It may be the case that you lost a mark for the incorrect spelling of oxygen, I just don't know.

On the plus side, I would argue that your answer is essentially correct in terms of the elements and compounds that make it up.  However could it be the case that the answer required the relative proportions of these substances?  Check out this web reference for what I consider to be a model answer.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air

I hope this reply helps.

Kind regards
Rob

Air Quality

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Rob Gibson

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I have expertise in effects of air pollution on LOCAL communities. I would be gratful if you could make the enquiry as specific as possible. Such questions as "please tell me about air pollution" are not helpful & will have to point you to various texts in libraries. I look forward to hearing from you

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Experience in the area I have expertise in effects of air pollution on LOCAL communities. I have a good grasp on what will affect human health in the air pollution sphere and how to gain improvements. I can also with general air pollution related queries and certain specific problems, for example those air pollution problems caused by TRANSPORT related sources. My main interest is related to AVIATION on which I can also advise on NOISE related matters. I am based in the United Kingdom so most of my knowledge is related to the UK situationOrganisations belong to I am honorary secretary of the south east region of the National Society of Clean Air and Environmental Protection within the UK Education/Credentials Degree from University of Bradford and more importantly seven / eight years dealing with air pollution and noise related matters at the Terminal 5 public inquiry at Heathrow.

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