everybody,
I, personally, am not too happy with the way they asked this question. Clearly this is a sort of question that even someone not doing the option could answer - it is not something particular to Shipwrecks. In my opinion, it is directly related to the fourth focus idea in Production of Materials. It would have been better if they had asked something specific to what we have learned in this module.
Many people have showed different approaches to this question. This is a 4 mark question. I'm not sure what BOS will be looking for when marking, but whatever it is, I'm sure almost all of us (who wrote an answer for this, and thought they had done a satisfactory job of it) will fulfil some or most, if not all, of the criteria. If not 4, you are sure to get 3 or 2 at least. A mark or two is no big deal so don't take things to heart. And as long as you don't contradict yourself, then, you might even score the full 4 marks.
With regards to that 7 mark question, I thought that it was a bit essayish. However, if you had just focussed on the main concepts in chemistry, then you are sure (I think) to score near full marks. The way the question worded meant you just had to address their question. It's silly but had to be done I guess.