BIOL354 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Environmental Toxicology, Partial Pressure, Ozone Depletion
24 Jun 2020
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Document Summary
H= (partial pressure of chemical in air) / (concentration of chemical in water) High h tend to escape from water to air prefers air. Low h tend to stay in aquatic environments. Long range transport: mass transport of water, and especially air, can distribute contaminants far from their origins, some serious pollution problems in canada originate elsewhere, and we contribute to global problems, severe in stratosphere ozone depletion. The fate of inorganic pollutants: while even persistent organic pollutants will ultimately break down as they cycle through the biosphere, metals will not. Nor will radioisotopes (except through radioactive decay): the ultimate sink for metals, most of which are not volatile, are waterways and oceans. Fate of environmental contaminants depends on several properties: Volatility vapor pressure: move in air. Water solubility: many organics: low water solubility partition to sediments and membranes in organisms, some inorganics are soluble and some are not affects bioavailability.
