pollutant properties
- Created by: Risinghill
- Created on: 18-02-14 17:09
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- Pollutant Properties
- Toxicity
- Measure of how poisonous a material is
- Damages Proteins
- Examples
- Carbon Monoxide
- Binds to haemoglobin in blood, prevents it from carrying oxygen
- Lead
- Inhibits enzymes in nerve cells, affects polarisation processes
- DDT
- Prevents passage of nerve impulses, causes leakage of ions, causing the nerve to fire at incorrect times
- Acids
- Change shape of cell membrane by affecting hydrogen bonds, also inhibits enzymes
- Carbon Monoxide
- Non Toxic pollutants that can indirectly harm
- Sewage
- Causes deoxygenation of lakes and rivers, leading to animal deaths
- Greenhouse Gases
- Heat the earth changing habitats on a planetary scale
- CFCs
- Create holes in the ozone layer that causes UV rays to get through easier, higher levels of cataracts and skin cancer
- Sewage
- Specificity
- Different organisms can be affected by the same toxin
- Pyrethroid
- Affects both mammals and insects, however insects are more sensitive to this toxin
- Therefore farmers can apply doses that are lethal to insects but are not lethal to mammals (I.E. livestock and humans)
- Affects both mammals and insects, however insects are more sensitive to this toxin
- Pyrethroid
- Different organisms can be affected by the same toxin
- Persistence
- Measure of how long it takes a pollutant to break down chemically
- This name is not used for substances that will not break down such as elements or very stable compounds
- Examples
- CFCs
- Chemically stable so may remain in the atmosphere for many decades
- DDT
- Will gradually stable but still is found occasionally in wildlife 30 years after it was banned
- Heavy Metals
- Lead, mercury and other elements do not break down as there is nothing for them to break down into
- CFCs
- Non-persistent Pollutants
- Sewage
- As long as the conditions are warm with plenty of oxygen the sewage will break down rapidly as the conditons are right for the bacteria
- Pyrethroid
- Breaks down rapidly in comparison to other pesticides such as DDT
- Sewage
- Measure of how long it takes a pollutant to break down chemically
- Biodegradability
- Degradation
- Process of chemical breakdown
- The action by which pollutants are broken down by decomposers (bacteria and fungi)
- Affected by temperature and oxygen availability
- Biodegradable Pollutants
- Sewage
- Paper
- Cardboard
- Less Biodegradable Pollutants
- Plastics
- DDT
- Degradation
- Mobility
- How easily a pollutant moves through the environment
- More mobile pollutants cause problems over a large area but will be less comcentrated
- Examples
- Sulphur dioxide
- Can travel long distances in clouds before it causes acid rain
- Smoke particles
- easily washed out of the atmosphere so do not travel far unless they rise high into the atmosphere quickly
- Suspended Sediments
- Are carried different lengths depending on size of debris and speed of water flow
- Sulphur dioxide
- Solubility
- Measure of ease of molecules separating and dispersing in liquid
- Water Solubility
- materials dissolving in water are very mobile in the hydrosphere
- Liposolubility
- If dissolve in fats, can remain in bodies of animals for a very long time
- Liposoluble examples
- Chlorinated organic compounds
- Organochlorine insecticides
- Dioxins
- PCBs
- Heavy Metals
- Mercury
- Lead
- Chlorinated organic compounds
- Bioaccumulation
- Process by which pollutant are absorbed and stored in living organisms
- Exposure to small doses over long periods of time cause chemicals to accumulate
- This build up causes the problems
- Mainly Liposoluble pollutants as they build up in the fat
- Water soluble pollutants excreted too easily
- Chlorinated organic compounds
- Organochlorine insecticides
- PCBs
- Dioxins
- Heavy Metals
- Mercury
- Lead
- Biomagnification
- Increase in the concentration of a pollutant as it travels up the food chain
- Toxicity
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