CHEMISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT

WATER
• Water is a colourless universal solvent. The natural sources of water are rain, spring, well,
river, lake, ocean and sea.

CHEMICAL TEST FOR THE PRESENCE OF WATER

• USING ANHYDROUS COBALT (II)CHOLORIDE
• Anhydrous cobalt (ii) chloride is blue in colour, when water is added, it turns pink.
• USING ANHYDROUS COPPER (II) SULFATE
• White anhydrous copper (ii) sulfate turns blue when water is added to it.

HOW TO TEST FOR THE PURITY OF WATER

• A pure substance has a definite, sharp, melting and boiling points.
• Ice melts at a temperature of 00C and water boils at 1000C,
• If for example an ice sample melts around 0.50C and boils around 1010C, It is not pure.
TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY
• It is very important to treat water and make it safe before it is supplied to our various homes.
STEPS FOR THE TREATMENT OF WATER
• AERATION OR SEDIMENTATION
• Water is stored in the reservoir for many days, to allow mud or any big particles settle down
by sedimentation, and to kill the bacteria by exposure to air and sunlight.
• COAGULATION

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 • Water is made to pass through large settling tanks in the water works, where calculated
amount of a coagulant (A chemical used to make small suspended particles stick together) is
added, it could be iron (ii) sulfate, potash alum or sodium aluminate (iii)
• Air is blown through the water in floatation tanks, to make the coagulated particles float to the
top. They are skimmed off.
POTASH ALUM

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FILTRATION
• The sediments and the coagulated particles are removed by passing the water through sand
beds composed of layers of coarse gravels, then through layers of fine charcoal (carbon) to
remove bad tastes and smells.
CHLORINATION, IODINNATION, and FLUORINATION
• Water is treated with calculated amount of chlorine, to kill bacteria or germs.
• Calculated amount of iodine salt, in the form of iodide is now being added for the prevention
of goitre- caused by iodine deficiency in human body.
• Sometimes, calculated amount of soluble salt of fluorine in the form of fluoride is added for
the prevention of tooth decay.
DISTRIBUTION
• The water is pumped to the storage reservoir, ready for pumping to homes.
FERTILISERS
• A fertiliser is any substance added to the soil to
supply nutrients, in other to improve growth and
productivity.
• Generally, there are several different elements
needed by plants for their growth. The main ones
are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.
• Plants need NITROGEN for making chlorophyll and
protein
• POTASSIUM helps them to provide proteins, and to resist disease.
• PHOSPHORUS helps roots to grow, and crops to ripen.
• The most important one is nitrogen, plants take it in as nitrate and ammonium ions, due to
that ammonium salts and nitrates are used as fertilisers.

N.P.K. FERTILISERS
• They are compound fertilisers containing the 3 main elements, Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P),
Potassium (K). They come in different concentrations normally written in ratio. For example;
N:P:K : 15:15:15
• They greatly improve agricultural productivity by helping plants to grow larger and more
rapidly.
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AIR QUALITY AND CLIMATE

AIR POLLUTION
• In addition to the gases present naturally in our atmosphere, other gases are present due to
human activities and are classed as air pollutants
THE MAIN AIR POLLUTANTS
CARBON DIOXIDE CO2
• SOURCE; From the complete combustion of carbon containing fuels.
• EFFECTS; Leads to increased global warming which leads to climate change.
CARBON MONOXIDE CO
• SOURCE; From the incomplete combustion of carbon containing fuels.
• EFFECTS; Its a toxic gas
METHANE CH4
SOURCE; From the decomposition of vegetation and waste gases from digestion in animals
EFFECTS;Increased global warming which leads to climate change
OXIDES OF NITROGEN
• SOURCE; From when the nitrogen and oxygen in air react together, inside hot car engines and
hot furnaces.
• EFFECTS; Acid rain, Photochemical smog, and respiratory problems.
SULFUR DIOXIDE SO2
• SOURCE; From the combustion of fossil fuels which contain sulfur compounds

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 • EFFECTS; Acid rain.
GREEN HOUSE GASES
• When sun rays shine on the earth surface, some of the ultra radiation are reflected back to the
atmosphere but some of the rays are been absorbed and trapped by some gases on the earths
atmosphere called the green house gases, which heats up the earth.
• Human activities have drastically increased the quantity of these green house gases in the
atmosphere, leading to the trapping of too much heat, making the earth to be too hot.
• Two of such gases are Methane and carbon dioxide.
GREEN HOUSE EFFECT

GLOBAL WARMING
• Human activities have increased the quantity of these green house gases in the atmosphere,
leading to the trapping of too much heat, making the earth to be to hot.
• We need the green house gases, without them we will probably freeze to death at night when
the sun is not shining, but the increasing production level of the green house gases in the
atmosphere is quite alarming which is causing GLOBAL WARMING.
• Global warming is an increase in the average temperature around the world.
• one of the effects of this increase is that it leads to climate change like;
• Some places with quite a lot of rain will become very dry.

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 • Melting land-ice in the arctic and antarctica will cause sea levels to rise, so low lying countries
will be at risk of flooding.
• Storms, flood, and wildfires, will be more frequent and severe.
• Species that cannot adapt to the changing climate will die out.
• More drought is likely to take place, which will lead to famine, which implies that more people
will be refugees.
• Acid rain.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

In cases of climate change;
• Planting of more trees (Afforestation).
• Reduction in livestock farming
• Decrease the use of fossil fuels, by using public transports, or walking rather than making use
of cars.
• Increasing the use of hydrogen and renewable energy, such as; wind, solar
• In cases of Acid rain;
• The use of catalytic converters in vehicles
• Reduce the emissions of sulfur dioxide by using low sulfur fuels and flue gas desulfurisation
with calcium oxide.

CARBON CYCLE
• Carbon moves between the atmosphere, ocean, and living things in the form of CO2.
• CO2 is removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis
• CO2 is added to the atmosphere by respiration and combustion.
• Photosynthesis is the reaction between carbon dioxide and water to produce glucose and
oxygen in the presence of chlorophyll and using energy from light.
• Carbon dioxide + water Glucose + Oxygen
• 6CO2 + 6H2O C6H12O6 + 6O2
• Respiration is a process that takes place in our cells (also in the cells of plants and animals) to
provide energy.

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• The glucose is gotten from food. The energy keeps us warm, allows movement and enables
other reactins to take place in our body.
• Nitrogen oxides are known as air pollutants, they are formed when the nirogen and oxygen in
air react together inside hot car engines and hot furnaces.
• The exhaust of modern cars are now fitted with Catalytic converters in which harmful gases
are converted to harmless ones.
• 2CO + 2NO 2CO2 + N2
• The harmless products then flow out of the exhaust pipe.