Natural Resources Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. A rainy region experiences water shortages after rapid population growth and contamination of local rivers. What does this show?
A renewable resource can still become locally scarce when demand, pollution, or access limits usable supply.
High rainfall guarantees unlimited clean water at every location.
Contaminated water automatically becomes a mineral resource.
Freshwater is nonrenewable everywhere on Earth.
2. Which statement gives the most accurate comparison of wind energy and the materials used in wind turbines?
Wind is renewable, but turbines also require finite minerals and manufactured materials.
Wind is nonrenewable because turbines eventually wear out.
Both wind and every turbine material are endlessly renewable.
Turbine materials are renewable because wind replaces them naturally.
3. A coastal fish population is declining because catches repeatedly exceed reproduction. Which response most directly addresses the cause?
Increase boat speed so each fishing trip takes less time.
Move fish processing plants closer to the harbour.
Raise the retail price without changing how many fish are caught.
Set science-based catch limits and protect breeding populations and habitats.
4. Which statement correctly distinguishes a renewable resource from a recyclable material?
A renewable resource must be reusable without any processing.
Renewability concerns natural replenishment, while recyclability concerns recovering material for another use.
Recyclable materials are always replenished by living systems.
Only nonrenewable resources can be recycled.
5. A forest grows about 10,000 cubic metres of usable timber each year. Which harvesting plan is most consistent with maintaining its timber stock over time?
Keep annual harvest at or below long-term regrowth while protecting the forest's capacity to regenerate.
Harvest 15,000 cubic metres annually and replant only after the forest is mostly cleared.
Harvest all mature trees because younger trees always replace them at the same rate.
Base harvest only on current timber demand, regardless of growth rates.
6. Farmers pump groundwater from an aquifer faster than rainfall and infiltration replenish it. What is the most likely long-term result?
The aquifer becomes permanently renewable regardless of future pumping.
The aquifer immediately becomes salt-free because fresh water is being removed.
Nearby rainfall automatically increases to restore the extracted water.
The water table falls, making wells more likely to run dry or require deeper pumping.
7. A town is considering wood pellets as a heating fuel. Under which condition is the biomass most likely to remain renewable?
Trees are harvested faster than the forest can regrow.
All woody vegetation is cleared to simplify collection.
Pellets are burned without measuring forest losses.
Harvesting stays within regrowth rates and protects soil, habitat, and future productivity.
8. A rooftop solar panel produces electricity on a sunny day. Which energy conversion best describes what happens?
Chemical energy in the panel becomes nuclear energy.
Solar radiation is converted into electrical energy.
Electrical energy from the grid becomes solar radiation.
Thermal energy underground becomes electrical energy.
9. What makes a natural resource renewable?
It can be recycled into a product at least once after use.
Natural processes can replenish it on a timescale relevant to human use, if use is managed appropriately.
It occurs naturally and therefore cannot be exhausted.
Its market supply can be increased whenever prices rise.
10. A farm field on a steep slope is losing topsoil during heavy rain. Which practice would most directly reduce erosion?
Removing vegetation between growing seasons
Ploughing straight downhill to drain water faster
Using contour planting or terraces to slow runoff and retain soil
Leaving the soil bare so it dries quickly
11. Why are metal ores generally classified as nonrenewable resources?
Metals disappear chemically after a single use.
Geological processes form concentrated ores far more slowly than people extract them.
Metal ores are produced only by modern factories.
All metals are consumed as fuel when products are used.
12. A factory previously used 100 litres of water per unit produced. After an upgrade, it uses 75 litres per unit. What improvement has occurred?
Water use per unit increased by 25%.
Water use per unit decreased by 75%.
Water-use efficiency improved because each unit now requires 25% less water.
Production became water-free.
13. A company wants to reduce its demand for newly extracted metals. Which strategy best follows circular-resource principles?
Design products for durability, repair, reuse, and material recovery.
Send used products to landfill after removing their packaging.
Replace working products more frequently to increase production.
Use more mixed materials that cannot be separated after disposal.
14. Which of these energy resources is nonrenewable?
Sunlight
Wind
Natural gas
Flowing water
15. Several farms draw water from the same aquifer, and each benefits from pumping more while depletion costs are shared. Which approach is most likely to support long-term use?
Replace water-use rules with higher crop prices.
Allow unlimited pumping until the first well becomes dry.
Ask each farm to estimate the aquifer level without sharing information.
Coordinate monitoring and enforce shared withdrawal limits based on recharge.
16. A wetland is preserved because it absorbs floodwater and filters pollutants. These benefits are examples of what?
Mineral extraction
Fossil-fuel reserves
Ecosystem services
Industrial manufacturing