Questions tagged [environmental-chemistry]
For questions regarding chemicals and chemical processes that act on and interact within environmental systems.
124 questions
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Long-chain polymers for creating large, long-lasting, immortal bubbles
I'm experimenting with different substances to add to a bubble solution to create the largest and longest-lasting bubbles I can make.
Are there any long-chain polymers, whether in their pure form or ...
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Where to throw away water hardness tests?
I was recently at a relative's house where we tested the hardness of the water. The testing kit contained two bottles A and B. Addition of one drop of A followed by addition of drops of B until colour ...
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Error of First Order Degradation
I ran an experiment based around the degradation of organic compounds under 4 treatments (hot + dark, light exposure + room temp, dark + room temp, cold + dark) for 8 compounds in 6 different aqueous ...
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Preference of protium over deuterium in thermoacidophiles
It is said ,
Evolution prefers stability to an organism for survival
But it chose protium over deuterium , which would have been great choice for stability of enzymes and nucleic acid in ...
user146560
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Alternative material for evaporative cooling systems [closed]
I aim to make a better model of the traditional evaporative coolant mats made from vetiver (khus) roots. The principle of this is that it cools the surroundings by using evaporative cooling by water, ...
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Is there an effective way to reduce the plastic smell in a new refrigerator?
I just bought a new top-freezer refrigerator from a respected home appliance manufacturer. The freezer, in particular, has an overwhelming plastic smell. Plastic odors are sufficiently common in new ...
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Proper batch adsorption mechanism for heavy metals
I'm a college student with scope on environmental science, specifically the adsorption of heavy metals in aquatic media.
Currently, I suffered from serious issue of batch adsorption mechanism, which ...
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Is it possible to filter CO2? [closed]
I'm diving into the world of chemistry here, pondering a concept that might sound a bit out there. Can we actually filter out CO2 from a car's exhaust pipe and store it until it's safe to handle?
This ...
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What common plastic types would be most compatible with pool water?
What thin-film plastic types are most compatible with typical pool water (pH 7.2, normally 5ppm chlorine but up to 15ppm on occasion) in full sun?
I'm finding that most standard film materials degrade ...
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Why are HFOs like R-1234yf considered okay (for now) but PFAs are under attack? Don't they both contain strong Carbon-Fluorine bonds? [closed]
The popular (and professional) press is awash with alarms about some so-called 'forever' chemicals, the PFAs...
The older, ozone-destroying CFCs and HCFCs, as well as global-warming-inducing HFCs, and ...
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Consequences of Nitrate fertilisers
Consider the following multiple choice.
What is the environmental consequences of the uncontrolled use of nitrate fertilisers?
The choices are.
A. Acid rain
B. Low oxygen levels in streams
C. Ozone ...
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Why are sulfites often ignored in soil studies?
From a document on soil chemistry that I am reading:
The acid-base potential of a soil takes soil pH, total sulfur (sulfides and sulfates), and neutralization potential into account to determine the ...
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Will charcoal (carbon) oxidize in the air?
Wikipedia — Carbon sequestration claims that burying charcoal into the soil offsets $\ce{CO2}$ and thus reduces the greenhouse effect:
In the soil, the biochar carbon is unavailable for oxidation to $...
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Burning Plastic: can it be done without harmful pollution? [closed]
Can plastic be melted, incinerated or recycled without emitting harmful gases and CO2? Specifically, can this be done without releasing gases harmful to humans?
This question pertains to the melting ...
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How is there still iron on earth? [closed]
Iron rusts and the earth is pretty old, so how is it that there is still iron left that has not oxidized(/rusted)?
I tried looking it up, and the amount of iron on earth is mind boggling, but is that ...
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Why does the ozone layer deplete faster in winter months over the poles?
Why is the depletion of the ozone layer greater in the winter months over polar regions?
Is it because there is more release of $\ce{NO_x}$ due to the increased use of fossil fuels in heating which ...
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Effect of coal and natural gas burning on particulate matter pollution
I sometimes hear people talking about how we should replace coal burning plants with natural gas ones, to alleviate the case of particulate matter pollution. What exactly is the difference between ...
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Are solid fuels with calorific values >= 10,000 kcal/kg (42 MJ/kg) physically possible?
I have seen laboratory documentation from a reputable lab in southeast Asia that a company has achieved a solid fuel product made from landfill material with a high heating calorific value ($CV$) of ...
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How can combusted methane from landfill samples be quantified?
Background:
For my studies I'm wanting and attempting to make a landfill greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) model that predicts the amount of greenhouse gas equivalent emissions ($GHG_\mathrm{eq}$ [tonnes/...
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A new green method for purifying acetylene with the help of Zeolite molecular sieve
I'm investigating for a green method for purification of acetylene in order to reduce the environmental impacts in manufacturing plants. In the current method mercuric chloride is used in the ...
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Could fluorinated gases be removed from the atmosphere? [closed]
Background
Among all the discussion of 'greenhouse gas removal' (GGR) to aid climate change mitigation, almost all is concerned with removal of carbon dioxide. There are one or two mentions of ...
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Sampling Groundwater for CFCs
Possibly stupid question from a non chemist (field hydrologist). I am trying to sample groundwater for CFCs for the purpose of age dating water. I am planning on sampling with a peristaltic pump (such ...
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How do I quantify the carbonate system and its pH speciation?
I did Environmental Water Chemistry as part of my undergraduate course where we quantified pH-speciation for the full carbonate system and I got it right according to my tutor. My speciation profile ...
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What chemical reactions takes place in purifying acetylene?
Acetylene produced by water on calcium carbide method contain several impurity compound, that are harmful for welding or other purposes of acetylene and needs to be absorbed from the gas mixture ...
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What chemical mechanisms or parameters altered during the usage of buffered extractant for leachability of a soil or sediment?
Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) is an extraction method to simulate a soil or sediment leaching. The method employed two extraction fluids - one is a buffered
solution of acetic acid ...
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Environmental properties of chemicals
I am trying to collect the environmental properties (GWP and ODP) of several chemicals. However, I am experiencing some problems with retrieving these properties for some fluids.
For example, I cannot ...
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Why is Nylon-2,6 biodegradable but Nylon-6,6 isn't?
Both have similar functional groups so what causes Nylon 2,6 to be biodegradable while Nylon 6,6 is not?
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Why doesn't limestone layer on house walls (now dust) flow off when it rains due to dissolved carbon dioxide?
What happens to the limestone layer formed on house walls after whitewashing?
Why does it not flow off when it rains, as rainwater contains $\ce{CO2}$?
That will covert $\ce{CaCO3}$ into calcium ...
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Is Sulfur or Sulfur Dioxide harmful to the environment? [closed]
I'm studying the impact/effects of greenhouse gases/pollution on the environment. I found that sulfur dioxide has harmful effects , but I read here that "pollutants like sulfur actually keep our ...
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Effect of short lived chemicals on global warming exceeding effect of carbon dioxide
From Wikipedia: Global Warming Potential
GWP values and lifetimes:
Nitrous oxide lasts about 121 years in the atmosphere, causes about 280 times as much warming over 20 years, but about 300 times as ...
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Understanding Pourbaix diagram
I am recently taking courses in environmental chemistry and I was introduced to Pourbaix diagram. I was taught that the lines in the Pourbaix diagrams are equilibrium lines. Lets take as an example ...
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Use of powder of kernel of tamarind seeds for water purification
In the chapter Environmental Chemistry in our textbook it's given that Powder of Kernel of Tamarind seeds can be used for water treatment as a substitute for alum.
But if I understand correctly, alum ...
user102687
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CO2 Catalytic Converter
We all know how CO2, as a greenhouse gas affects the climate and causes global warming. I was thinking of a small device, which could be attached to the exhaust pipe of an automobile. It could convert ...
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Any examples of reactions where simpler molecules are combined into more complex ones and are endothermic at the same time? [closed]
Can you name examples of reactions that are endothermic and simple molecules are combined into more complex ones at the same time? Like what plants do they take heat and sunlight and they synthetize ...
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Why doesn't fluorine harm the ozone layer the way chlorine and bromine do? [closed]
I don't understand the chemistry here: fluorine is a halogen too.
I read that fluorine in the atmosphere readily forms HF, which is (somewhat) stable and doesn't catalytically break down ozone.
But, ...
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Carbon Sequestration For Indoor Farming
First the backstory:
We've begun growing mushrooms (currently Enoki, Lion's Mane and Blue Oysters if anyone is curious) for the sake of eating and maybe potentially selling someday soon. My partner ...
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Unsure whether this classification of Volatile Organic Compound and/or Particulate Matter is correct
I am asking on behalf of a friend so please bear with me!
Instructions:
For each chemical, classify whether it is a VOC (Volatile Organic
Compound) and/or PM (Particulate Matter 2.5 or Particulate ...
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Spraying difluoroethane into an enclosed space
I'm working on developing physics lab activities that my students can do at home during the covid quarantines. For an activity involving waves and thermodynamics, I came up with an experiment at home ...
user6999
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The pH of a drop of water containing ammonia
Presented with the following equations: What would the $\mathrm{pH}$ of a drop of water be, while in equilibrium with $\ce{NH3(g)}$ at a concentration of $\pu{150 ppb}$?
$$\ce{NH3_{(g)} + H2O_{(l)} &...
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SARS-CoV-2 virus floating in the air in *aerosols* for up to 3 hours [closed]
I have a question related to SARS-CoV-2 virus spreaded in the air.
This Straits Time article from March 18 describes a new study:
The tests show that when the virus is carried by the droplets ...
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Ozone layer: why shouldn’t there be holes at the poles? [closed]
Just read "What property allows ozone to absorb uv light" together with excellent answers.
The driver here, i.e. the source of both the short and long wave UV, is of course sunlight. This is notably ...
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How can methane absorb infrared light within wide range of frequency but CO2 can't?
Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere.I saw a lot of answers related to it but lacks de facto exegesis to it.
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Removing or hiding (white) magnesium carbonate residues on natural rock surfaces
As noted in this question, magnesium carbonate is often used by rock climbers to help mitigate the effect of sweating whilst climbing. While this is not a major issue on artificial walls, the residue ...
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Why doesn't natural gas combustion release only one-sixth as much carbon dioxide as coal burning?
Burning hydrogen releases a little more energy than burning carbon, correct?
And methane is CH4, but coal is mostly C, correct?
So shouldn't burning pure carbon release five times the CO2 (Assuming ...
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Solvents and Enzymes
I was reading recently about environmental remediation being done, using an esterase to break down / neutralize cocaine that had contaminated waterways in Europe. Are there similar enzymes that can be ...
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Removing PTFE marks on glass bottles after using magnetic stir bars
I am using magnetic stir bars to agitate solutions for 4 weeks at a time. I have noticed at the bottom of the glass bottles that white marks have accumulated where the stir bar spins. Even with ...
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Problem in terms of pC-pH plotting
I recently confronted a mission to plot a pC-pH graph('p' stands for the p-value notation, and 'C' stands for the concentration of a species), which meets the conditions below:
Plot the pC-pH graph ...
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Mobility of Cations in the Environment
I have recently performed an experiment in which I tested the affects of phytotoxic cations on the rate of germination of the common navy bean. I did this out of curiosity, as I have recently been ...
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Calculate the concentration in milimoles per litre (mM) of a solution that is 20% H2SO4 by mass and that has a density of 1.198 g/L
Calculate the concentration in milimoles per litre ($\pu{mM}$) of a solution that is $\pu{20\%} \ce{H2SO4}$ by mass and that has a density of $\pu{1.198 g/L}$.
For the answer, please provide two ...
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How dangerous is an industrial scale styrene spill?
A few years ago a cisterna truck full of styrene crushed on the road near a small town nearby, spilling 4 tons of the chemical. It apparently has caused a small ecological catastrophe killing fish in ...
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