| |
Compulsory
Themes:
1) Climate change
2) Energy challenge
3) Drinking water
4) Deforestation
|
|
| Climate
change
|
Climate
change is one of the major challenges humanity will have to face. The
most urgent problem is the rise in the average temperature of the Earth.
There are a number of theories as to the causes of this phenomenon, but
the greenhouse effect is the most commonly accepted by the scientific
community.
The greenhouse effect is first and foremost a natural phenomenon. Sunlight
passes through the Earth’s atmosphere and heats the surface of the
planet, which, in turn, reflects heat into space. This infrared radiation
is absorbed in part by certain gases and water vapour in the atmosphere,
keeping it close to the Earth. If there were no greenhouse gases (carbon
dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide), most of the heat that penetrates
the Earth’s atmosphere would quickly return to space, and the average
temperature of the Earth would be -18ºC instead of 15ºC.
The concentration of greenhouse gases has varied over the course of the
Earth’s history. However, it appears that the amount of carbon dioxide
and methane in the atmosphere has not been this high in 420 000 years,
and
that the amount of nitrous oxide is higher than it has been in at least
a thousand years. The concentration of these gases has increased rapidly
since the beginning of industrialization, a period characterized by an
increase in the population and in the demand for energy, and by changes
in land use patterns. By burning enormous quantities of fossil fuels (coal,
oil and natural gas), which generate a significant amount of CO2, and
by clear-cutting forests, which hampers the natural process of CO2 transformation,
we magnified the natural greenhouse effect and are now experiencing an
increase in the Earth’s average temperature.
Global warming, which is probably related to an increase in the greenhouse
effect, affects every aspect of climate because it brings about changes
in atmospheric and oceanic circulation. This has a number of consequences,
some of which have already been observed. They include changes in the
rain cycle, more frequent extreme weather phenomena and permafrost thawing.
We also anticipate the accelerated thawing of glaciers and ice floes,
which will cause a rise in sea level. This will result in floods and coastline
erosion, which will force certain populations to move and require changes
in the way land is used. These environmental changes will inevitably have
a significant impact on socioeconomic activity throughout the world. Forestry,
fishing, water management, tourism, and energy production and consumption
will be particularly affected.
In Québec, climate change could affect the quality of our water,
endangering human health and the balance of ecosystems. It could also
cause fluctuations in the level of the Great Lakes and the flow of the
St. Lawrence River. These fluctuations would have various consequences
for the marine transportation industry, which relies on the St. Lawrence
Seaway. They would also disrupt certain ecosystems, through habitat loss
or deteriorating living conditions for some species of fish.Variations
in precipitation would undoubtedly affect agricultural productivity and
biodiversity in Québec. Moreover, coastal erosion and more frequent
freezes and thaws would have an impact on the road network. Finally, if
the permafrost thaws, soils in the far north could become unstable, affecting
the population there.
|
Energy
challenge
|
Controlling
energy resources was an important factor in the development of humankind.
It enabled us to control the entire planet and to explore space. History
shows how we have met various energy-related challenges.
Today, we are using vast quantities of nonrenewable and polluting forms
of energy. This has a serious impact on the environment, and especially
on our climate, which raises the question of the environment’s ability
to adapt. Moreover, we may not have sufficient energy resources to meet
the demand of a growing population (e.g. daily individual needs, industrial
production, transportation). In simple terms, the challenge is to meet
our energy needs while reducing the environmental impact, and to ensure
careful and responsible management of nonrenewable energy sources.
Faced with this challenge, we must consider a number of answers, such
as reducing demand; increasing the energy efficiency of tools, devices
and vehicles; diversifying energy sources; investing in research and technological
development related to alternative energy sources; and exploring nuclear
power.
In Québec, this problem is augmented by local and regional issues
related to the development of hydroelectricity, the creation of wind farms,
the debate over the use of nuclear energy and the development of alternative
forms of energy such as biomass, solar, geothermal and tidal energy.
|
| Drinking
water |
Water is a basic substance and a very precious natural resource with
extensive applications in home life, agriculture, industry and recreation.
Because of its vital importance, the United Nations has decreed access
to drinking water a basic human right.
Although our planet is called the
blue planet because much of it is covered by water, very little of that
water is easily accessible to humans. Salt water is unfit for human
consumption and can be toxic in quantity. That leaves natural fresh
water, far less bountiful, unequally distributed over the Earth’s
surface and often difficult to access because it is trapped in continental
glaciers or in the water table.
Not only is fresh water a rare
resource, but it is also subject to pollution and waste. A slight imbalance
in its characteristics makes it unfit for human consumption. A decomposing
animal carcass, a slight variation in pH level or contamination by a
few parts per million of a heavy metal can render water toxic. Today,
despite the laws and regulations in effect, many sources of fresh water
are polluted by different toxic chemical releases, which often result
in the proliferation of harmful microorganisms.
Combined with contamination, the
waste of fresh water is another important issue. The average North American
consumes an average of several hundred thousand litres of water a year,
more than half of which is wasted. In reality, a human being needs only
about ten thousand litres of water a year to live.
Québec has a large water
system, which is considered a world drinking water reserve. A government
water policy is aimed at protecting and raising awareness of our water
heritage. |
| Deforestation |
Old-growth
forests are one of the Earth’s most precious resources. Those that
remain, mostly in Amazonia, Canada and Russia, are thousands of years
old. They contribute to ecological and climatic processes essential to
biodiversity and human life.
Most of the original old-growth forests have disappeared or sustained
considerable damage. Of those that remain, many are threatened, most often
by logging to meet the world demand for lumber and pulp and paper. Forests
are also cut down for agricultural purposes or simply to accommodate expanding
human settlements. Moreover, they are subject to various natural disturbances
such as fire, defoliator insects and, in northern regions such as Québec,
freezing rain. All these are part and parcel of forest regeneration and,
unlike clear-cutting, help rejuvenate the forest and ensure its viability.
Accelerated deforestation has serious consequences for the environment
and society. It has a negative impact on biodiversity, since most plants
and animals on the planet live in a forest habitat. It also has a major
impact on climate change. More than any other type of vegetation, trees
fix carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, while wood burning produces large
quantities of carbon monoxide. Moreover, forests regulate stream discharge
by absorbing excess rainwater and releasing it gradually. Finally, they
reduce wind force, controlling the desiccation and erosion of rich soils
and mitigating the damage caused by natural calamities. In some areas,
deforestation is the first step toward desertification.
Deforestation is a direct threat to hundreds of millions of people who
live in and around threatened forests. These people depend on the forest
for food, shelter and economic survival. The forest is also an integral
part of their culture and spiritual traditions.
In Québec, forests are an important resource. There are many safeguards
in place for conserving them, such as the creation of protected areas
and the implementation of forest management practices that take into account
other forest resources such as fauna, water and landscapes.
|
| |
Advanced
course: Enviromental Science and Technology (4 credits) |
|
| Compulsory
Topics: |
| The
Living World |
The
Material World |
The
Earth and Space |
The
Technological World |
ECOLOGY
- Ecological footprint
– Ecotoxicology
• Contaminants
• Bioconcentration
• Bioaccumulation
• Toxicity level
GENETICS
– Heredity
– Gene
– Allele
– Character trait
– Genotype and phenotype
– Homozygote and heterozygote
– Dominance and recessivity
– Cross-breeding
– Protein synthesis
|
PHYSICAL
PROPERTIES OF SOLUTIONS
– Concentration (ppm/mole/L)
– stength of electrolytes
CHEMICAL CHANGES
– Salts
– Stoichiometry
– Types of bonds
• Covalent
• Ionic
– Endothermic and exothermic reactions
ORGANIZATION OF MATTER
– Neutron
– Simplified atomic model
- Nomenclature and notation rules
- Polyatomic ions
- Concept of mole
- Avagadro's number
PERIODIC TABLE
- Relative atomic mass
- Atomic number
- Periodicity of properties
- Isotopes
NUCLEAR TRANSFORMATIONS
– Nuclear stability
– Fission and fusion
ELECTRICITY AND ELECTROMAGNETISM
– Kirchhof's laws
– Electrical field
– Coulomb's law
– Magnetic field of a solenoid
TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY
– Relationship between heat energy, specific heat
capacity,mass and temperature variations
– Relationship between work, force and travel
– Effective force
– Relationship between work and energy
– Relationship between potential energy,mass, acceleration and
travel
– Relationship between mass and weight
– Relationship between kinetic energy, mass and velocity |
BIOGEOCHEMICAL
CYCLES
– Phosphorus cycle
LITHOSPHERE
– Soil depletion
– Buffering capacity of the soil
– Contamination
HYDROSPHERE
– Contamination
– Eutrophication
ATMOSPHERE
– Atmospheric circulation
• Prevailing winds
– Contamination
– Ozone
|
GRAPHICAL
LANGUAGE
– Axonometric projection: exploded view (reading)
– Multiview orthogonal projection (assembly drawing)
– Dimensional tolerances
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
– Adhesion and friction between parts
– Degree of freedom of a part
– Eccentrics
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
– Resistance and coding, printed circuit
– Typical controls (lever, toggle, unipolar, bipolar,
unidirectional, bidirectional)
MATERIALS
- Heat treatments |
| |
Compulsory
Themes:
1) Residual
materials
2) Food Production
|
|
| Residual
materials
|
In
different societies throughout the world, many things have a price to
be evaluated or negotiated. The wealthiest societies consume vast quantities
of goods and services. And the more they consume, the more waste they
produce. Per capita waste production is directly proportional to a country’s
level of economic development.
Too often, vast quantities of waste are inadequately managed, dumped in
landfill sites without environmental safety measures. These practices
compromise public health and the balance of ecosystems. Waste in the environment
is the source of various problems such as smog, the greenhouse effect,
acid rain, soil contamination, the bioaccumulation of contaminants and
contamination of the water supply.
Residual materials are something we do not necessarily need to eliminate,
but to manage effectively. Seeing them in this way helps us understand
the need to change current residual materials management practices and
habits. There are many alternatives to throwing things away and causing
pollution, such as reducing, repairing, recycling, reusing, recovering,
reclaiming and educating. These solutions all aim at changing behaviours
and using the appropriate technologies.
A number of policies have been adopted in Québec to manage residual
materials. Of them, the Residual Materials Management Policy aims at reclaiming
65 per cent of our collective waste. To this end, every municipality in
Québec has had to adopt a residual materials management plan in
order to achieve this goal. |
Food
Production
|
With
more than six billion inhabitants, our planet is paying the price for
our food choices. Everything we eat comes from the earth, and it was
farmed, harvested, processed, packaged, distributed and transported
by millions of individuals. If we had to feed the entire planet based
on North American eating habits, most of the world’s energy would
go into food production.
The image of the traditional farmer living in tune with nature’s
rhythms and selling produce at market no longer conforms to Western
reality. Today, the agricultural world is controlled by industrial producers.
To achieve returns to scale, companies use specialized machines that
consume vast quantities of energy. Despite emerging alternatives (e.g.
organic farming), the concentration of food production in the hands
of large international companies tends to standardize food products
and to condition consumer habits based on the imperatives of profitability.
Industrial agricultural practices often result in a decrease in the
diversity of crops. Given the complexity of the distribution networks,
mass production requires the use of preservatives to avoid deterioration
of foods during transportation.
The quantity of energy consumed in the industrial production and distribution
of food products and the resulting waste threaten the health of the
environment. The energy value of foods is often less than the amount
of energy resources required to produce and distribute them. For example,
for most crops, it is necessary to spend far more kilojoules in oil
energy than the energy yield in nutritional value.
Western eating habits are diverse and conform to aesthetic criteria
that have a definite impact on the health of the environment. To obtain
perfect-looking foods, it is necessary to preserve them from external
forces while they are being transported and stored. Transporting foods
to our table requires an entire series of technological processes that
consume large amounts of energy and produce pollutants. Moreover, the
proliferation of sometimes useless packaging and the use of refined,
coloured or enriched products, produce waste that can be extremely harmful
for the biosphere.
There are also issues related to recent advances in genetic engineering.
Genetically modified crop seeds offer new ways of increasing profitability.
These biotechnologies enable us to manipulate target characteristics
and to broaden the range of possible gene combinations among different
species. For example, we can produce soy beans that are impervious to
herbicides, insect-resistant corn and tomatoes that can resist viruses.
The advantages of producing genetically modified organisms include the
possibility of solving food production problems in ecosystems poor in
food resources, and the possibility of cornering the market by controlling
rights and patents for new crop seeds—a controversial practice
in itself.
Everyday individual consumer choices could have a significant impact
on the energy and environmental balance sheet for the foods we eat.
Inspired by the principle of reducing, repairing, recycling, reusing,
recovering and reclaiming, the principle of purchasing unpackaged, unprocessed,
local and fair trade foods is a tentative solution based on changing
the consumer behaviours of individuals.
Food production is a concern in Québec today. It involves land
management: the amount of arable land is decreasing and various changes,
with sometimes worrisome consequences, are taking place in agricultural
techniques. Nevertheless, recent trends such as the explosion of the
organic and fair food trades and measures taken to ensure healthy eating
in schools are some of the concrete solutions being applied to the problem. |
|
|
| |
Basic
course: Applied Science and Technology Cycle II (6 credits) |
|
| Compulsory
Topics: |
| The
Living World |
The
Material World |
The
Earth and Space |
The
Technological World |
DYNAMICS
OF ECOSYSTEMS
– Disturbances
– Trophic relationships
– Primary productivity
– Material and energy flow
– Chemical recycling
– Factors that influence the distribution
of biomes
– Ecosystems
|
CHEMICAL
CHANGES
– Combustion
– Oxidation
ELECTRICITY
– Electrical charge
– Static electricity
– Ohm’s law
– Electrical circuits
– Relationship between power and electrical energy
ELECTROMAGNETISM
– Forces of attraction and repulsion
– Magnetic field of a live wire
– Magnetic field of a solenoid
– Electromagnetic induction
TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY
– Law of conservation of energy
– Energy efficiency
– Distinction between heat and temperature
FLUIDS
– Archimedes’ principle
– Pascal’s law
– Bernoulli’s principle
FORCE AND MOTION
– Force
– Types of forces
– Equilibrium of two forces
– Relationship between constant speed, distance and time
– Mass and weight |
LITHOSPHERE
– Minerals
– Energy resources
HYDROSPHERE
– Catchment area
– Energy resources
ATMOSPHERE
– Air mass
– Cyclone and anticyclone
– Energy resources
SPACE
– Solar energy flow
– Earth-Moon system (gravitational
effect)
|
GRAPHICAL
LANGUAGE
– Multiview orthogonal projection (general drawing)
– Functional dimensioning
– Developments (prism, cylinder, pyramid, cone)
– Standards and representations (diagrams and symbols)
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
– Adhesion and friction of parts
– Linking of mechanical parts (freedom of movement)
– Guiding controls
– Construction and characteristics of motion transmission systems
(friction gears, pulleys and belt, gear assembly, sprocket wheels and
chain, wheel and worm gear)
– Speed changes, resisting torque, engine torque
– Construction and characteristics of motion transformation systems
(screw gear system, cams, connecting rods, cranks, slides, eccentrics,
rotating slider crank mechanism, rack-and-pinion drive)
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
– Power supply
– Conduction, insulation and protection (resistance and coding,
printed circuit)
– Typical controls (unipolar, bipolar, unidirectional, bidirectional)
– Transformation of energy (electricity and light, heat, vibration,
magnetism)
– Other functions (condenser, diode, transistor, solid-state relay)
MATERIALS
– Constraints (deflection, shearing)
– Characteristics of mechanical properties
– Heat treatments
– Types and properties
• Plastics (thermoplastics, thermosetting plastics)
• Ceramics
• Composites
– Modification of properties (degradation, protection)
MANUFACTURING
– Manufacturing
• Characteristics of drilling, tapping, threading and bending
– Measurement and inspection
• Direct measurement (vernier calliper)
• Control, shape and position (plane, section, angle) |
| |
Advanced
course: Science and the Environment (2 credits) |
|
| Compulsory
Topics: |
| The
Living World |
The
Material World |
The
Earth and Space |
|
ECOLOGY
– Ecotoxicology
• Contaminants
• Bioconcentration
• Bioaccumulation
• Toxicity level |
PHYSICAL
PROPERTIES OF SOLUTIONS
– Concentration (g/L, ppm/mole/L)
- Electrolytes
- pH scale
- Ions
- Electrical conductivity
PHYSICAL CHANGES
- Dissolution
- Dilution
CHEMICAL CHANGES
_ Precipitation
- Decomposition and synthesis
- Photosythesis and respiration
- Acid-base neutralization reaction
– Salts
- Balancing chemical equations
- Law of conservation of mass
– Stoichiometry
– Types of bonds
• Covalent
• Ionic
– Endothermic and exothermic reactions
ORGANIZATION OF MATTER
- Lewis notation
- Elementary particles (proton, electron, neutron)
– Simplified atomic model
- Relative atomic mass and isotopes
- Nomenclature and notation rules
- Polyatomic ions
- Concept of mole
PERIODIC TABLE
- Relative atomic mass
- Atomic number
- Periodicity of properties
- Isotopes
TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY
– Relationship between heat energy, specific heat
capacity,mass and temperature variations
– Relationship between work, force and travel
– Effective force
– Relationship between work and energy
– Relationship between potential energy,mass, acceleration and
travel
– Relationship between mass and weight
– Relationship between kinetic energy, mass and velocity
|
LITHOSPHERE
– Soil profile (horizons)
– Buffering capacity of the soil
– Contamination
HYDROSPHERE
– Contamination
– Eutrophication
ATMOSPHERE
- Greenhouse effect
– Atmospheric circulation
• Prevailing winds
– Contamination
|
| |
Compulsory
Themes:
1) Energy
2) Residual
materials
|
|
| Energy |
Energy
is addressed primarily from the point of view of transformations. Energy
is present in the environment in different forms. Making use of this energy
implies transformations that have an impact on ecosystems. While the transformation
of certain energy resources produces waste that is difficult to manage,
other sources of less polluting energy generate less efficient energy.
The study of the production, distribution and use of energy can guide
our personal and collective energy choices.
In Québec, this problem is fueled by local and regional issues
related to the development of hydroelectricity, the creation of wind farms,
the debate over the use of nuclear energy and the development of alternative
forms of energy such as biomass, solar energy, geothermal energy and tidal
energy.
|
Residual
materials
|
In
different societies throughout the world, many things have a price to
be evaluated or negotiated. The wealthiest societies consume vast quantities
of goods and services. And the more they consume, the more waste they
produce. Per capita waste production is directly proportional to a country’s
level of economic development.
Too often, vast quantities of waste are inadequately managed, dumped
in landfill sites without environmental safety measures. These practices
compromise public health and the balance of ecosystems. Waste in the
environment is the source of various problems such as smog, the greenhouse
effect, acid rain, soil contamination, the bioaccumulation of contaminants
and contamination of the water supply.
Residual materials are something we do not necessarily need to eliminate,
but to manage effectively. Seeing them in this way helps us understand
the need to change current residual materials management practices and
habits. There are many alternatives to throwing things away and causing
pollution, such as reducing, repairing, recycling, reusing, recovering,
reclaiming and educating. These solutions all aim at changing behaviours
and using the appropriate technologies.
A number of policies have been adopted in Québec to manage residual
materials. Of them, the Residual Materials Management Policy aims at
reclaiming 65 per cent of our collective waste. To this end, every municipality
in Québec has had to adopt a residual materials management plan
in order to achieve this goal.
|
|
|
