Environmental

Chemistry
LESSON 1: Enviromental chemistry
True or false, does the presence of a chemical always mean harm? Why or why not?
False. The presence of a chemical doesn’t mean harm will be done; therefore, chemicals are
essential for life just like air and water. In fact it is the concentration the chemical is present in is
what makes it dangerous. The greater the concentration of a chemical, the harmful it will
become in association to the ratio of the thing it is in. The environment already has a balance of
these good and bad chemicals but when we start messing with the balance/ratios in our
atmosphere, that’s when we affect the environment.

What are the most important chemicals recycled through the environment?
Nitrogen, carbon, water

Explain the nitrogen cycle:

Fixed nitrogen is attached to decomposing agents (bacteria). It decomposes and plants absorb
bacteria and nitrogen compounds.

Explain the Carbon cycle:

Carbon passes from the environment into living things and back to the environment.
The presence of carbon isn't harmful in the atmosphere but when we have more input of carbon
then output, it is trapping heat.

Explain the Water cycle:

The system in which water is reused and upcycled through different places.

How are substances essential for life?

Our bodies needs 25 elements that we need to eat in some form or another. (carbon, oxygen,
hydrogen are the most common components)
When you combine those three elements in different ways, you can make things like
Sugar, Fat, Oil, Wax, Starch
What are macronutrients and micronutrients?
Nutrients are divided into two different categories depending on the amount we need.
Large quantity- macronutrients. Need them in significant quantities
Small quantities- micronutrients. Required but far less amounts.

These things need to be in the goldilocks zones. Need to be in a range. Optimal limits.

What are organic compounds and explain the types?

Organic compound are compound that contains carbon and hydrogen. In this manner, they are
larger and more complex. They’re also more organic than inorganic compound (compounds that
don’t contain carbon)
The four types of organic molecules make up living things
1. Carbohydrates: Are made up of atoms of hydrogen and oxygen. They are the
primary source of energy. When you eat too much, it gets stored as a fat deposit.
2. Lipids: compounds composed of many carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Like
fats and oils.
3. Proteins and amino acids: used for growth and repair and used as an emergency
source of energy. They are also the main component of enzymes
-Protein is made up of units called amino acids
-They're also a main component of hormones and enzymes
4. Nucleic acids – the largest and most complex molecules found in all living things that make
up base pairs. Get them from food. The base pairs are what make up our DNA.

All cells contain 2 important nucleic acids:

1. DNA= deoxyribonucleic acid
2. RNA= ribonucleic acid
DNA & RNA are made up of : ribose, phosphates & nitrogen

How do nutrients enter plants?

Nutrients can enter plants by:
◦Diffusion
◦Osmosis
◦Active transport
Requires energy to happen and is active

What is Passive Transport?

Passive transport does not require the plant to use energy (it happens on its own) and it
happens through diffusion and osmosis. Moves with the concertation gradient.

What is Diffusion?
Diffusion is the movement of molecules from an area of high concentration to an area of low
concentration
An evening out or balancing of the concentration of a substance in a solution. ( to create an
Equilibrium)
What is Osmosis?
Water is drawn into the cell because the concentration of water inside the cell is great than it is
outside the wall. Water moves through a semi permeable membrane.

What is Active transport?

Requires the plant to use energy to move molecules of nutrients in the direction opposite to
diffusion because their too big to just flow across the membrane/stem of the cell. Against
concentration gradient

Give a definition for the following:

We obtain nutrients from food by
Ingestion - food taken into the body
Digestion - chemical bonds are broken
Mechanical – chewing food
Chemical – enzymes
Absorption – nutrients are moved into the body
Egestion – indigestible material removed from the body
Hydrolysis- Breakdown of digestion of large organic molecules
(Hydro – water, Lysis – breakdown)
Substrate- A substrate is the material on which an organisms moves or lives

LESSON 2: Human influences

What is Pollution?
Any change in the environment that is harmful to living things caused by natural or human
processes
How can we pollute/fix our environment?

1. Solid wastes
 ● Landfill and incinerators are used to deal with the waste's humans produce.
Emissions from incinerators may contribute to air pollution and leachate can be
caused as it passes through landfill.

2. Wastewater
● Sewage moves to a treatment plant (or septic tank) it is treated and the effluent is
released
● Street drains go directly to rivers/lakes therefore any oils, salts, detergents go directly
into the ecosystem. This can cause things nitrogen and phosuporus to get into the
environment.
● Wastewater left untreated becomes a breeding ground for harmful bacteria
● The treatment process involves 3 stages:
Physical: large material filtered out by a screen
Biological: organic sewage material is decomposed by the action of bacteria
Chemical: chemicals are added to remove inorganic phosphates
and nitrates

3. Electrical Energy
● Most of our electricity comes from coal fired generators.

4. Fossil fuels:
● Coal, oil, and natural gas are called fossil fuels because they are formed from dead
plants and animals.
● They produce large amounts of carbon dioxide and water vapour.The combustion of
fossil fuels may also release pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and
traces of mercury and lead into the air
●

5. Pesticides
● Pest – organism which harms people, crops, or structures
● Herbicides, insecticides, fungicides
● Improper use of pesticides can be harmful to living things and the environment

6. Fertilizer
● Natural or synthetic chemicals used in soils for plants to grow
● Numbers mean % of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus (sulfur)
● Over-application can lead to environmental problems (crop damage and algal bloom
and etc)

What is an algal bloom?

● Algae are photosynthetic microorganisms found in most habitats.
● Can be small single celled forms to multicellur forms
An algal bloom is just a rapid increase in the density of algae in an aquatic system.
Algal blooms sometimes can be natural phenomena, but their frequency, duration and intensity
are increased by nutrient pollution, meaning it can multiply quickly in waterways with an
overabundance of nitrogen and phosphorus, particularly when the water is warm, and the
weather is calm. Causing bloom of algae that turn water green

Why do algal blooms occur?

The potential for blooms comes from nutrient pollution, an overabundance of the essential plant
nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus.
These elements enter waterways from point sources (such as industrial and wastewater
treatment plant discharges), nonpoint sources (such as septic tanks and stormwater runoff from
urban areas, farms and residential areas), and from nutrient-enriched rainfall.
When the concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus increase in a water body, the right
combination of temperature, sunlight and low flow can trigger an algal bloom.
● Though nitrogen and phosphorus occur naturally and are essential plant nutrients, an
overabundance of these nutrients can cause significant imbalances in the water
body’s ecology, and blooms are one symptom.

Are algal bloom harmful?

Algae are a natural component of the aquatic food chain and are typically not harmful to people.
If the types of algae that produce toxins reach high concentrations, then native aquatic
organisms, livestock, pets, and perhaps even people who come in contact with the toxins, can
be affected.
When algal blooms block vital sunlight from reaching beneficial underwater plants that provide
food and a place to live and grow for fish and other animals, the ecosystem can be negatively
impacted. Algae become stressed and die when they deplete the nutrient supply or move from
freshwater into saltier waters.
Decomposition of dying algae can reduce levels of dissolved oxygen in the water. Some fish
species with little tolerance for low dissolved oxygen levels may die. In addition, some algal
species can cause fish kills directly either by production of algal toxins or by clogging the gills.
LESSON 3: Air quality
What is Sulfure oxide pollution?
Sulfure oxide is one tiny sliver of subtsnaces that make up air, and one, that we need to look out
for.
When we burn thing like fossil fuels and industrial processes it create SO2 pollution. When
mixed with hyrfogen it produces acid rain in the atmoshpere.

What is Nirtigen oxide pollution?

Nitorgin oxide is a molecular ompound. It’s a proces produced through bruning of fule, the
primiary contributor is vrchoal exhasut and creates a brrownish coloured gas. t also produce
acid rain.

How do these substance create acid rain?

When theses substance are admitted into the atmosphere, with the h2O (we have lots of it in
our atmosphere). It created a acid compiynd and takes a ride with percipation and come down
in rain.

Explain how Acid rain is problematic:

When the percipation that falls hits a PH less than 5 it is acid snow.
It isnt supe rsuper acdic, but it is acidid. That acdid percipatio can filte rthrouhh soil and strip
out the nurtienst that exxist in that soi. They are problentaic because it is reducing the acess to
nurtients.
It can also affect aquatic systems. When acid precipitation falls on aquatic ecosystems the
acidity in the water increases and the diversity of living things decreases (neutural is considered
7).

What is Spring acid shock:

Acid rain can also be acid snow is colder temps.
When the snow melts in the spring, the accumulated acid through the winter causes a sudden
increase in acid levels of surface waters. This causes significant damage to freshwater species
and habitats. So when it gets acidic enoug it can chng ethe saly oxygen levels in the water
called dead zone.
If over the cours eof the winter, tehre is lots of acicfic snow it can create a snow pack. Through
the winter causes a sudden increase in acid levels of surface waters.

What is the Ozone layer?

It is a protective layer that filters the Excess Uv radiation that enters the atmosphere
Ozone depletion was caused by CFC's (Chlorofluorocarbons)

What are Greenhouse gases?

Greenhouse gases are gases in the atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation
The main greenhouse gases are
● Water vapor
● Carbon dioxide
● Methane
● Nitrous oxides
● ozone

What is the greenhouse gas effect?

By adding mor egreenhosu gases, we are trapping in more raditon that we have in the past.
This is causing a gradual increase of hearl in the tmopshere and susrface of the planet. By
adding more chemicals in this protective layer, we are causing more heat to be trapped,
therefore warming the planet.

LESSON 4: Concentration and Toxicity

What should we think about when measuring the toxicity/concernttation of a chemical?
When measuring the quantity of a chemical in the environment, we need to cons1ider the
amount of that chemical and the space it occupies. We arent wieghing something but the soace
it takes. Hpw much is it physiclaly present and how much it Is confined too.

What is Concentration?
It is the amount of solute divided by the total volume of the solution

What is part per million? Give me an example:

Ppm is a way of measuring concentration. It indicates how many out of a million parts of mixture
are a particular substance.
•Assuming there are a million parts, the concentration of one part would be 1 ppm.
What this tell us is that by controlling the volume we can control different concentrations
Example

A solution contains 5 mL HCl and 100 mL of water and acid. You can find the ppm
concentration using ratios:

Suppose you make a food coloring solution by putting 99 milliliters of water in a beaker
adding 1 milliliters of food coloring. The concentration of food coloring in the speaker is
one part food coloring per 100 parts solution.

Calculate this concentration in parts per million

You then add one milliliter of this solution to 99 milliliters of water in a second beaker
this creates concentration of 0.01 parts of food coloring per 100 parts of solution.

Calculate this concentration and parts per million

Now suppose you take one milliliter of the solution in the second beaker and add it to 99
milliliters of water in a third beaker.

What is the concentration of food coloring in the solution in parts of million?

Explain the role of dissolved oxygen in concentration?

One of the most important chemicals that is measured in ppm is dissolved oxygen. Dissolved
oxygen is essential for all aquatic life including fish, insects, microorganisms and plants.
An acceptable level of dissolved oxygen for aquatic life is between 5 and 8 ppm.
•The level of dissolved oxygen in water depends on:
•Temperature (cooler water holds more dissolved oxygen)
•Turbidity due to wind or speed of moving water
•Amount of photosynthesis by plants and algae in the water
•The number of organisms using up the oxygen

What factors affect dissolved oxygen?

Factors that affect dissolved oxygen are increases in phosphorus and nitrogen in the water.
These elements are both important to living things, but too high of a concentration in the water
causes problems. (betwene 5 and 8 ppm) Take the algae bloom as an example.
● Temperature: cooler water holds more oxygen
● Turbidity: due to the speed of moving water the amount of animals
photosynthesizing by plants and algae in the water
● The amount of animals in an ecosystem

What is an LD50?
•When we compare toxins we use a measurement called LD50
•LD --> Lethal Dose
•50 --> 50%
•LD50 is the amount of a substance that causes 50% of a group of test animals to die if they are
given a specified dose of the substance all at once

The lower the LD50 the more deadly it is. The less concentration the more that are affected.

What are toxins?

Substances that produce serious health problems or death when introduced into an organism
Explain how the concertation for the following harm the environment:
1. Heavy metals
● Heavy metals such as Mercury and Lead need to me monitored due to the health
effects they can have on living organisms including humans.

2. Pesticides
● Can remain in environment for long periods of time
● Pesticide resistant pest may develop
● Can result in contamination in our air/soil/water

3. Salt Content
● Salinity increases can be harmful to freshwater habitats.
● Salt content can increase due to geology surface runoff

LESSON 5: Monitoring Water quality

Water quality is determined by what it is being used for. List the 5 main uses of water:
1) Human drinking water
2) Recreation
3) Livestock drinking water
4) Irrigation
5) Protection of aquatic life

How do we measure water quality?

When we are trying to meausre the quality of water us ebilogical and chemcial indicators.

Explain Bilogical indicators:

Biolgical indicators come in a varitey of organisms, but some are more senstive to others as
they alert us quicker im chages in eneviormnet. These are called inverbrates.
 ■ An inverbrates dosent have a spinal cords or spine as it is very
sensitive to these changes (like chnage in water temp).
■ We look at the population. If we see the poulations tart to change it is
ine of the first indocations tahg something sisnt right.
■ A drop in their number population can indicate a difference in nitrogen,
phosphorus, dissolved oxygen or heavy metals

What are Microbiolgical Indicators?

Anotherthingw must monitor ourwater for is microrganisms.
Orgaismsn such as bacteria that have the potentila to cuase harm when adjuststed. Like akoli.
We monitor tha moungfomircogranisms present in water to see whethe ro not its been
contaimnated.
The presence of bacteria can indicate that water has been contaminated with untreated sewage

What are Chemical indicators?

Scientists use chemical indicators in water to help determine water quality.
Some examples include:
• PH
• Concentration
• ppm
• dissolved oxygen
• phosphorus levels
• nitrogen levels
• pesticides
• Toxicity
• LD50

What are Acids and bases in Ph?

Ph:
● The Ph of somethingm, stands for the number of potential hydrogen.
● Measurement of the number of hydrogen atoms present in the solution. The most
hurdogen atoms in a solution the more acidic. The less hyrdogen atoms in a solytion
the more basic.
Acids/bases:
● Strong acids and stong bases need to behanded with care because...
if a substance has a ph< than 7 = acidic.
if a substance has a ph > than 7 = basic.
The difference between one number and the next on the pH scale represents a 10-fold
difference. The PH isn't linear in this manner. When you go form one value of a ph scale to
another, it is 10x more. So a ph from 5 to 6 is a humongous jump so we should be careful
handling highly acidic or basic substances,

How do we measure PH level?

• Acid-base indicators
• pH paper
• litmus test
• universal indicator
• pH meter
We used acid base indicator: anything where ther eis a visbile colour change or we use PH
meter

What is an acid/base indicator?

An acid/base indicator is any chemical that changed colour in an acidic or basic solution
Examples: litmus paper, pH paper

How does litmus paper indictae the PH of something?

When you put blue litmus paper in a susbatmce and it stays blue, it is nueturl or basic.
When you put blue litmus paoer in a substance and it turns red, it is acidic.
Red litmus paper does the opposite.

Make a table comparing Ph and litmus paper:

Ph paper Litmus test/paper
Paper will change a certain color and scientists Two colors of litmus paper: blue and red
match the color to a pH scale –Blue litmus paper will turn red if an acid and
stay blue if a base
–Red litmus paper will turn blue if a base and
stay red if an acid

What are the differences in acids, bases and neturals?

Acids Netural Bases
Sour taste Electrolytes, non- electrolytes Bitter taste
Electorltes Does not affect indicators the Electorlytes
Neturlize recation when you put same way Neatuilize acids
acids and basics together (7 is Ph of 7 Reacts with inficators
neutural). so netulizes bases Ph greater than 7
Recats with indicators
PH less than 7

A reaction between an acid and a base that produces water and a salt.

What is considered a normal ph level?

There is a fairly large range of “normal pH” levels for bodies of water. They can be anywhere
between a pH of 6 -8.5 and be considered “in normal range”
•If the pH of the water in an ecosystem is below 5, it is considered too acidic and many of the
more sensitive species (biological indicator species) will not be present.
•Similar problems arise if the water is too basic (above 8.5)

LESSON 6: Spreading of Chemicals in the Environment

Explain how materials transport through air:
There are three stages to the transport of material through air.
1. Release of the chemical at the source

2. Dispersion of the chemical in the atmosphere (the chemicals

scatter in various directions)

3. Deposition of the chemical in soil or water

A source will release the air pollutants (airborne pollutants) where they will then spread through
the air, and then deposited back into the environment through rain/snow/hail. Wind, geography
and precipitation can greatly impact the dispersion of chemicals

The direction and distance that airborne chemicals travel are determined by various factors.
○ pollutant’s properties
○ the wind speed
○ The direction of the prevailing winds (In Alberta, for example, the prevailing
winds are from the west, so airborne substances are carried eastward)
○ Precipitation is another factor that will affect distribution. An airborne pollutant
will be deposited closer to its source if it is carried to the ground by rain or
snow.

Often chemicals travel across borders, so deposition of airborne pollutants is an international

problem.

Explain how materials transport through groundwater:

Water that soaks into soil moves first into a zone near the surface. Here the spaces between the
soil grains contain both air and water. As the water moves deeper, it enters the next zone where
all the spaces are filled with water. This water is called groundwater.
*Water table: The top of the groundwater zone*
Groundwater fastest rate is much slower than that of rivers or streams. Because of
groundwater’s slow movement, contaminants such as lead cannot be quickly dispersed. They
may become concentrated over time. This creates a problem if the contaminated groundwater is
needed for drinking, agricultural purposes, or industrial use.

What are Factors that affect movement of groundwate?

○ The number and connection of pores in the soil.
■ Pores are the tiny spaces between soil grains.
■ Sometimes soil grains are so tightly packed that the pores are not
connected. In that case, water cannot move easily through the soil.
■ If the pores are connected, water can flow through them.
■ A permeable soil is one with interconnected pores that allows
pollutants to be transported farther by groundwater that flows through
permeable soils.

Explain how materials transport through surface water:

Potentially hazardous chemicals can enter surface water systems from many different sources.
○ Air
○ Groundwater
○ Runoff from agricultural fields and industrial sites
○ Outflow from storm sewers and sewage treatment plants.

Chemicals from these sources may not be a problem if their concentrations are very low. They
can be dispersed and carried away by the water. However, they may become a problem if the
chemicals do not disperse, and the concentrations increase locally.

A substance that dissolves easily in water may be carried a long way and dispersed by the
water.

Some substances do not dissolve easily, and they may become attached to solids such as soil
grains. In that case, they will not travel as far as dissolved substances. Instead, they will sink
and become concentrated closer to the source.
○ Substances that become attached to solids can build up in lake or river
bottoms, affecting the organisms that live there.

Explain how materials transport through soil:

Liquid contaminates blows over surface
 a. Evaporate
○ It will evaporate as per water cycle. The chemcis are then left behind.

b. Transportatin
○ uptake of what plants take. Soaks into soil then taken up by plants

c. Collection:
○ flow over top of soil evenguakly collecting steams/rivers

What is Leachate?
• Some liquid contaiminate soaks through the soil and moves downward. As this water moves, it
dissolves substances in the soil and carries them along. Such a liquid is called leachate.

The composition of soil can affect the rate at which a liquid moves through it. For example
packed clay is impermeable so fluids cannot move through it because the soil grains are
packed too closely.

This clay prevents leachate containing harmful chemicals from moving into the soil and
contaminating groundwater.
Some soils contain a large percentage of organic material, such as decayed leaves. This can
slow the movement of chemicals if they are absorbed by the organic material. In some cases,
the chemicals become attached to the soil particles, and their movement is slowed or stopped.

Explain how materials transport into plants:

1. Diffusion
○ Diffusion describes the process through which molecules move from an area
of high concentration to an area of lower concentration.
○ Diffusion always goes from high to low
○ Diffusion continues until the concentrations have balanced out.
○ Diffusion is one of the ways plants uptake nutrients in their roots

2. Osmosis
○ Osmosis is a special form of diffusion in which water molecules move from
high water concentration to low water concentration.
○ This is how plant roots and animal cells regulate their water.

3. Active Transport
○ If the concentration of a nutrient is higher in the plant root than it is in the soil,
the plant has to use energy to uptake it.
○ This process is called Active Transport.
○ It uses energy to move nutrients from low to high concentrations.
Explain how materials transport through organisms:
Biomagnification: the concentration of a chemical increases as it moves up the food chain.

LESSON 7:Reduction
How do we reduce the concentration of chemicals?
1. Dilution & Dispersion
2. Biodegrading
3. Phytoremediation
4. Photolysis
5. Using Acids and bases to change the pH of the water

Explain Dispersion:
Dispersion is the scattering of a substance away from its source or essentially spreading the
chemcial over a larger area .

Explain Dilution:
Dilution reduces the concentration of a pollutant by mixing the polluting substance with large
quantities of air or water.

Explain the Dispersion/Dilution in the role in an enviroment:

A fast-flowing river or air mass can disperse and dilute a chemical very quickly. However,
dispersion and dilution may not leave an area clean enough to meet government standards for
clean water or air. Dilution or dispersion combined with another clean-up process, such as
biodegradation, may be more effective.

Explain Biodegradation:
Nature uses living things to clean the environment.
Every autumn, leaves fall but they do not build up year after year because some of them
decompose and become part of the soil. Organisms such as earthworms, bacteria, and fungi
help the biodegradation of most organic substances, including many pollutants. “Bio” refers to
living things and “degrade” means to break up.

What factor affecr raet of biodegratin?

The bacteira is what biodegrades matieral. Each organism needs specific conditions to grow
and reproduce. Some bacteria grow and reproduce only when oxygen is present.
The rate of biodegradation is dependent on:
1) Temperature
2) Moisture
3) Oxygen Supply. This is why some bacetria need an aerobic envrioment, and other a
anaerobic.
4) Vegetation
5) pH

What is aerobic/anaerobic?
Some bacteria use oxygen for the process of aerobic biodegradation (“aero-” means “air”).
Some bacteria need an anaerobic environment—one without oxygen (“an-” means “without”).
They thrive where there is little or no oxygen; for example, deep within landfill sites.

Explain Phytoremediation:
-Green plants can be used in another way to remove or degrade hazardous materials.
- Phytoremediation is a technique that can be used to reduce the concentration of harmful
chemicals in soil or groundwater. Meanng the use of plants to clean up metals, solvents,
petcdies, ect.
- some plant can absorb and accumulate (build up) unusually large amounts of metals from the
soil. The plants are allowed to grow for some time and then harvested and burned or
composted. In some cases, the metal can be recycled. Once the plants used for
phytoremediation have “cleaned” the soil, other plants can be planted there.

Explain Photolysis:
Some substances degrade from exposure to light.
Some materials will degrade when exposed to light.
Photolysis is the breakdown of chemical substances by sunlight