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Name: _____________
Date: _____________
Unit C: Environmental Chemistry Topic 3
3.0 Potentially harmful substances are spread and concentrated in the
environment in various ways.
3.1 Transport of Materials through Air, Soil and Water
Transport in the Air
 Draw the three stages of transport of substances in the air. Label the picture.
 Identify the three stages of substance transport through the air.
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Sometimes, scientists must do a great deal of detective work to track down the source
of a ______________________________________. The _______________ and
_____________ that airborne chemicals travel are determined by various factors, such as
__________________________, ____________________________, and _______________
_________________________.
The distribution of _________________________ may be limited by a lack of ________.
____________________ is another factor that will affect distribution. An airborne pollutant
will be deposited __________ if it is carried to the ground by ___________ or ___________.
Transport in Groundwater
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 What is groundwater?
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 What is the water table?
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 Why are harmful contaminants, such as lead, usually become concentrated over time?
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 Why is contaminated groundwater a problem?
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 List the factors that affect the movement of groundwater, and explain. Include the
definitions of pores and permeable soil.
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Transport in Surface Water
 Name several ways that hazardous chemicals can enter the water systems.
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 When do chemicals in the water system become a major problem?
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 Either a substance will dissolve in water or not. Describe what happens if a harmful
substance doesn’t dissolve in water.
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Transport in the Soil
 List the four things that water does when it hits the ground.
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 What is leachate?
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 Describe how various types of soil can affect how contaminants travel. (Clay vs. sandy,
organic content, other chemicals in the soil, etc.)
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Transport of hydrocarbons in soil
 Describe how hydrocarbons move through soil.
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3.2 Changing the Concentration of Harmful Chemicals in the Environment
 What are the five ways that concentrations can change that are described in the
textbook.
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 What is dispersion?
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 What is dilution?
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 Draw the picture of dispersion and dilution in the textbook.
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Biodegradation
 What is biodegradation?
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 What is the difference between aerobic biodegradation and anaerobic biodegradation?
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 How do bacteria change harmful chlorine-containing pollutants into available food for
themselves?
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 Draw a picture of bacteria breaking down an organic molecule.
 What factors can affect the rate of biodegradation?
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 What are two ways to ‘encourage’ biodegradation?
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Phytoremediation
______________________ is a technique that can be used to reduce the concentration of
harmful chemicals in ___________ or ________________. “ __________ “ means ___________
and “ _______________ “ means ________________ or _________. Plants have been used to
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clean up _______________, _____________________, _________________, _______________,
__________________________, _________________________, and _____________________.
Some plants can ____________ and _______________ unusually large amounts of metals from
the soil. The plants are allowed to grow for some time and are then ____________________
and ____________________ or ___________________. For example, ___________________,
have been used at _________________ to remove ____________________________ from
groundwater. Once the plants used for ___________________________________ have
“cleaned” the soil, other plants can be planted there.
Photolysis
 What is photolysis?
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 Describe how ozone molecules are formed by the photolysis of nitrogen dioxide.
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 What are the advantages and disadvantages of photodegradable plastics?
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3.3 Hazardous Chemicals Affect Living Things
Biomagnification
 What is biomagnification?
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 Draw a picture that shows how mercury biomagnifies in the environment.
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 Describe how mercury biomagnifies in the environment, starting from mercury entering
the environment until being consumed by animals at the top of the food chain, such as
humans.
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A Case Study: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
 What is crude oil? What kind of substances are in crude oil?
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 How can oil spills occur?
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 What happens to crude oil when it is spilled into a large body of water?
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 How were plants and animals impacted after the oil spill?
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 How did the oil spill affect people who lived in the area?
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 How was the oil cleaned up?
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3.4 Hazardous Household Chemicals
__________________ and _____________________ can be hazardous to your health, because
many products that we purchase for housecleaning, home improvement, gardening, and car
maintenance may contain __________________ that could harm us or the environment.
Hazardous household chemicals include:
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Improper transport, storage, and disposal of these products can contribute to health problems,
such as ________________, heart, kidney, and lung ailments, ______________, and even
__________________.
Government Regulations
 What is WHMIS? What does it stand for?
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 What is MSDS? What does it stand for?
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 What kind of information does the MSDS contain?
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New Product Regulations
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 What do companies need to do to get a chemical product approved by the government
so that it can be sold to the public?
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Storage of Hazardous Chemicals
 Look at the list of storage suggestions on pg. 255 of your textbook. Which of the
suggestions do you think is the most important? Explain your reasoning.
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Transport of Consumer Goods
 When are the two times that you or your family will be transporting hazardous
household materials?
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 What are some safety precautions you should take while transporting hazardous
materials?
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Disposal of Hazardous Chemicals
 What are some important rules about disposing hazardous substances?
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Hazardous Waste Collection Sites
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 What are hazardous waste collection sites?
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Solid Waste Garbage
 Look at the list of disposal suggestions on pg. 258 of your textbook. Which of the
suggestions do you think is the most important? Explain your reasoning. Use some of
your knowledge about the types of chemicals and their effects on the environment in
your answer.
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