Environmental Hazards Midterm
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- Soft water
- surface water that is free of most minerals but may contain salt
- Hard water
- ground water, contains many of the minerals found in the soil
- Drinking water
- Usually treated by only sand filtration and chlorination
- What is a poison?
- Anything that has an adverse effect on the body
- Where can cyanides be found?
- Acorn nuts, almonds, lima beans, peach pits
- Where can alkaloids be found? What do they do?
- Found in plant leaves (common household plants). Produce a toxic reaction
- What is night shade?
- Leaves of tomatoes and potatoes that has alkaloids which are poisonous
- Where is oxylic acid found?
- Rhubard leaves
- What is aflatoxin? Where is it found?
- One of the most toxic molds that grows on peanuts
- What is LD50? What does it tell?
- Lethal dose for 50% of the population. Tells how poisonous a substance is.
- What is an MSDS?
- Stands for Material Safety Data Sheet. Allowed to ask for from job.
- What is aspirin's LD50?
- 500 mg/kg of body weight. 1 tablet per lb. of body weight.
- What is DDT's LD50?
- 1500 mg/kg. is less toxic than aspirin. no death from exposure
- What is arsenic's LD50?
- 6 mg/kg. is more toxic than aspirin (about 100x more).
- What is nicotine's LD50?
- 1 mg/kg, more toxic than arsenic but the body can break it down. 1 cigarette per lb. of body weight. Can get nicotine poisoning (wearing patch and smoking)
- What is a chronic dose? What is the problem with testing?
- Long-term multiple small exposures (over a period of time) that produce a major adverse effect. Do not have a good model to test on.
- What is the Ames test?
- A bacteria model. Used to go through more generations quickly to look for adverse effect (mutation)
- What is a permitted exposure level?
- LD50 divided by safety factor (100). Safe level of exposure without long-term adverse effect.
- What is a threshold dose?
- Single does exposure that produces a change in the body.
- What is a safe dose?
- Has no adverse effect. Is between 0 and threshold dose.
- What does a corosive poison do?
- Destroys proteins and tissues.
- Two types of corosive poisons?
- Acids (battery and sulfuric acid and aspirin) and bases (alkaline, drain openers, detergents).
- What does a metabolic poison do?
- Block an essential body function
- Two ways that metabolic poisons get in the body
- Inhaling them and ingesting them.
- What does inhaling a toxic poison do?
- Blocks 02 from the blood
- 2 examples of metabolic poisons inhaled?
- CO, HCN (cyanide)
- What does ingesting a metabolic poison do to the body?
- Blocks enzymes (catalysts) in the body.
- 4 examples of ingested metabolic poisons?
- Pb, Hg, Cd, As
- What do teratogenic agents do?
- Cause birth defects that are not inherited by later generations.
- 5 examples of teratogenic agents? Effects they have?
- Cigarette smoking (low birth weight), malnutrition (protein deficiency that can be remedied in the first 18 months, mental retardation), alcohol (fetal alcohol), and illegal/legal drugs (aspirin -higher rate of cleft palette) (thalidomide), viruses (german measles, used cat litter)
- What do mutagenic agents do?
- Cause birth defects that are inherited by later generations. 90% of these substances also cause cancer
- Most substances that are mutagenic agents are also _______
- carcinogenic
- What % of all cancers are caused by our environment
- 80%
- What do carcinogenic agents do?
- Cause uncontrolled cell growth.
- Examples of carcinogenic agents?
- radiation (x-rays + sunlight), pesticides (chloro), food colors (red # 2) and additives, cigarette smoke (tar), asbestos (cancer of lining of lungs), vinyl chloride (PVC).
- If you do not smoke and watch your diet you reduce the risk of cancer by ____
- 2/3
- Examples of heavy metals
- lead, mercury, cadmium, beryllium
- 5 common properties of toxic metals
- 1) Block vital enzymes in the body 2) No nutritional value 3) Cumulative poisons (bind to proteins) 4) Never degrade 5) Magnify up the food chain (Hg)
- Where is arsenic found (4 places)?
- Pesticides, detergents with phosphates, cigarette smoke, shrimp and poultry
- Where is lead found (5 places)?
- Leaded gasonline, pipes, ceramic objects, water, soil
- Where is mercury found (4 places)?
- Fungicides, thermometers, fish, dental fillings
- Where is cadmium found (3 places)?
- Paint pigments, cigarette smoke, metals.
- What does magnification up the food chain mean?
- For a heavy metal like mercury there is a 10 fold increase up the food chain. H20 (.001 ppm), algae (.01 ppm), small fish (.1 ppm), large fish (1.0 ppm), animals (10-100 ppm)
- 90% of all air pollutants are these 5 categories:
-
1. Carbon oxides
2. Sulfur oxides
3. Nitrogen oxides
4. Hydrocarbons
5. Particles - 4 Sources of air pollution:
-
1. Transportation
2. Stationary sources of combustion
3. Industry
4. Waste disposal - 4 reasons why a substance is called an air pollutant
-
1. Health: eye and lungs
2. Adverse effect on vegetation
3. Destroys building material
4. Upsets sense of esthetics - Rain removes _____
- Everything from environmental air except carbon monoxide
- SO is produced by ____
- power plants that are burning coal
- How has acid rain ended up in NE
- Power plants in Ohio Valley in the 1970s were cited for SO emissions. They built higher smoke stacks. Air traveled to the Adirondacks, Green Mtns. and the White Mtns. When it rains H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) comes down
- Two major sources of acid rain (where its coming from)?
- Automobile emissions and Ohio Valley powerplants
- What is the pH of: normal rain, ponds in New England, acid rain?
-
normal = 5.5
ponds in NE = 6.5
acid rain 4 - Fish will die if pH is below? Changes by how much?
- 5.5. plus or minus .5 fish go into pH shock
- NO is a major cause of what?
- emphysema
- Air + 1500 F produces
- NO
- NOx needed for _____
- Smog formation
- What two things are needed for smog formation?
- Hydrocarbon (HCx) and NOx (nitrogen oxides)
- What is smog?
- Smog is ozone and PAN's
- What forms smog?
- hydrocarbons + nitrogen oxides + sun
- What is the most dangerous of all air pollutants
- particles (solid)
- 4 common particles:
-
1. Fibers (asbestos)
2. Soot
3. Silica
4. Metals - 3 defenses of the lungs:
- Cilia, Macrophage, and scar tissue
- How does NO form?
- Forms when N2 and O2 pass over a very hot surface. Combine with water to form acid rain
- What are hydrocarbons a result of? Cause the smell of?
- Evaporation and insufficient combustion of fuels. Cause smell of exhaust.
- PAN's form acids when they come in contact with ____?
- moisture
- Ozone can be an excellent ____ especially of _____. Destroys ____
- bleach. chlorophyll. Man made fibers
- Greenhouse effect is due to excess ____
- CO2
- Mini ice age can form because of ___
- particle pollutants
- Frion is known as ____. Can cause less of the _____
- CFC. ozone layer.
- 2 places soot comes from
- Diesel exhaust and chimneys
- 2 places Silica is found?
- sand and road dust
- How did the EPA prove that lead was in the air from leaded gasoline
- Needed a place where snow did not melt to show there was more lead in the soil. Drilled in Greenland for an ice core sample. could date particles historically. Since the intro of unleaded gas the lead in ice sample has dropped 20%.
- What happened between 1883-1885 and 1815-1817
- There were volcanic explosions that resulted in cold and snowy weather periods
- What do lots of particles in the air prevent? How? Result?
- Sunlight from getting through. Sunlight hits the particles and bounces off. Cold winters and beautiful sunsets.
- What causes the greenhouse effect?
- burning of coal, more CO2 in the air, increase in temp, melting of polar icecaps, increase in sea level
- What has the increase in average temp. been?
- 1.7 degrees Celcius
- What is the argument against CO2 regulation?
- That plants will absorb the CO2 from atmosphere
- 3 types of light
- visible light, IR light (infared-heat), UV light (absorbed by ozone)
- What will remove the DO from the water
- The decay of organic matter by bacteria
- What is eutrophication?
- Cycle when fertilizers (nitrates and phosphates) trigger rapid plant growth in the water, plants grow fast and remove nutrients, plants die off because of no nutrients, dead plants decayed by bacteria, results in a loss of dissolved oxygen and re-release of plant nutrients into H20.
- What are some organics?
- oil, used motor oil, pesticides, cleaning solvents, paints, and detergents
- What are some inorganics?
- Acids, Salts, Metals
- Why are organic in water bad? (4 reasons)
-
1. Toxic and cancer causing
2. Long-lasting (years)
3. Magnify up the food chain
4. Give false clues - What happens with lobsters when there is an oil spill?
- Lobsters and crabs try to eat it because they think it is food.
- What is oxygen demanding waste? 3 examples?
- Sewerage. Paper, human waste, food
- What are the 4 components of sewerage?
- nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, and phosphorous
- Sewerage + anaerobic bacteria + dissolved oxygen =
- more CO2
- Best H2O has ___ ppm of DO
- 12
- What causes the smell of sewerage?
- hydrogen sulfide and phosgene
- Sewerage ---> filter bed only removes what fraction of waste
- 1/3
- How does secondary wastewater work? what % is eliminated in the process
- Sewerage solids goes through pipes and are sprayed on rocks. Anaerobic bacteria eats it. 90% eliminated
- What is the second largest pollutant
- Plant nutrients
- 3 things plants need
- Nitrogen-green grass, phosphorus-root growth, potassium-flowering
- What is the effect of nitrates in sea water
- algae bloom-->sea water-->adheres to sea grass---> kills sea grass---> no incubator for small fish
- What is the effect of nitrates in fresh water
- absors plant nutrients-->less phosphate-->algae dies off and sinks-->becomes o2 demanding water-->less D.O.
- What is the pollution of phosphates called
- eutrophication
- What is the impact of plant nutrients in h20
- red tide at the mouth of rivers
- What is the chemical name for road salt
- sodium chloride
- How do power plants pollute with heat (DO)
- Power companies need the water for cooling and then dump it back. Warms the temp. of the water and creates less dissolved oxygen.
- Power plants: Thermal shock and False clues. comment.
-
1. Fish are cold-blooded and if they go into warmer water they can go into thermal shock.
2. Fish are sensitive to temp. for migration clues. If temp. is raised then the eggs will hatch 2X faster (winter). whole generation will die off. - How does a metal act as a poison?
- A metal acts as a metabolic poison when ingested. Something like lead blocks the red blood function. Blocks vital enzymes