From swimming pools to poison gas, chlorine is used throughout lives of many, but many people do not realize the toxicity that chlorine can have at certain levels. This paper will explore the uses, structure and properties, routes of exposure, source, toxic effects, and metabolism of chlorine. As well as give precautions and tips to protect you from the toxic effects of chlorine.
The uses of chlorine vary greatly and it is often found in many items around the house. Chlorine is used every summer in pools due to its effectiveness in killing bacteria, and many pools use chlorine in its liquid state. In plastics chlorine is used in the formation of Polyvinyl chloride. PVC is used throughout much of our construction industry, such as for doors, flooring, window frames, and panels. In medicine and safety, chlorine is often used in pharmaceuticals in the synthesis of an active ingredient or by making organic compounds water soluble. Chlorine also has high tech uses. Chlorine is used in the making of many car parts, as well as CDs and DVDs. The titanium airplane parts utilize chlorine in their production. Commercially chlorine is in thousands of products used to clean around the house. For cleaning, chlorine is used to disinfect by the process of disassociation. When mixed with water two acids form hypochlorous acid and hydrochlorous acid. The hypochlorous acid is the active acid and reacts with bacteria by breaking down their cell walls, this in turn leaves the enzyme unprotected and cell death ensues. The chlorine levels in the mixture are then changed into chloramines, which results in a decrease in chlorine levels as microorganism and bacteria are killed. With many of the uses of chlorine, special precautions should be taken. Durin...
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... plastics and rubbers. If there is a gas leak people should move to well ventilated areas and if significant inhalation occurs, then oxygen should be administered. Chlorine is a heavy gas and will move closer to the ground and collect in enclosed, poorly ventilated areas (Department of Health, 2014).
In conclusion chlorine is an amazing molecule, which is utilized in so many things that enhance our daily lives. Even with all its amazing properties, chlorine should be handled with care and special precaution should be taken whenever using and working around this chemical. This report showed that the uses of chlorine are not always for good, that the toxicity can be great and detrimental to the lungs, as well as skin and eyes. With proper precautions, chlorine can continue to be used as a chemical that helps disinfect, as well as be formed in to even better compounds.
Hydrochloric acid is a strong and corrosive acid that is often used as a reagent in laboratories.
As hydrochloric acid is a corrosive substance there are safety concerns, any hydrochloric acid concentrated above 25% is classified as a toxin be the US EPA as it can cause major corrosive damage to the lungs, eyes and skin if hydrochloric acid come into contact with them. Hydrochloric acid can also turn into the toxic gas chlorine if combined with chemicals such as bleach (NaClO) and potassium permanganate (KMnO4). Chlorine gas is a principle material used in chemical weapons (e.g. world war
Hydrochloric acid is a strong and corrosive acid that is often used as a reagent in laboratories.
The OSHA sampling and analytical method for chlorine is discussed in reference 9.1. The principle of sampling is described in reference 9.2. The analytical procedure is based on an iodometric technique which uses a residual chlorine electrode (RCE) for detection (9.3.). The validation of the chlorine method consisted of the following experimental studies:
Over the years humans have tried every possibility to overcome the health problems, spread of epidemics and infections, disease control and have worked towards a healthy society free of disease and health problems. They have succeeded to a great extent. The book “Good germs, bad germs” describes that though the life expectancy is now far more as it was in previous eras. Epidemic problems and infectious diseases are now getting lesser and lesser and humans are being treated successfully. The hygienic conditions have also been improved so as to ensure least growth of microbes, germs, parasites and bacteria. Antibiotics have been invented to address diseases and infections caused by bacteria and viruses. With all these substantial efforts the biologists, physicians and scientists have triggered another epidemic which is even more severe. They have killed those microbes and bacterial species which were human friendly and as a result of either their disruption or mutation, pathogenic bacteria have even become more active and resistant to treatments. This has led to increased ineffectiveness of antibiotic drugs, low immunity and various infections and inflammatory diseases. The chlorinated water for drinking and food processing along with excessive hygienic conditions indicates our fight against these bacteria and germs. Further, these antibiotics are even given to the livestock which becomes our food and as result many of their resistant germs end up in our digestive tract and other organs. Thus, the war against microbes through excessive cleanliness and use of antibiotics has resulted in antibiotic resistance among humans, which has become one of the prominent problems of medical science
Chlorine is added to the water to kill any remaining microorganisms. Ammonia may also be added if the water is required to travel long distances. Chlorine with ammonia forms chloramine, which lasts longer than chlorine
The main theme of the book is that we expose ourselves to dangerous chemicals from using common household products for cleaning and hygienic products. However, the real danger of using these chemicals is that most of our society doesn’t know the potential health effects and outcomes one is facing. Environmental health addresses all the physical, chemical and biological factors external to a person, and all the related factors impacting behaviors. It encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially can affect our health.(World Health Organization). The theme of the book is relevant to environmental health because the authors are assessing their exposure to these dangerous chemicals that are found in the products that we use to continue with our daily lives. They publish their results and find that phthalates, PFOA and PCBs are both dangerous to human health and the environment.
Chlorine is the most common chemical used to treat and sterilize swimming pool water. When chlorine (in the chemical form of calcium hypochlorite) is added to a swimming pool it destroys pathogens and oxidizes materials such as chloramines. When chlorine is added to water a week acid called hypochlorous acid (HOCL) and chloride ions (CL-) are produced. The hypochlorous acid is what gives water the ability to oxidize and sterilize and disinfect the water.
Chlorine-based bleaches are found in many household cleaners and play an important role in water treatment. However, they also pose a significant risk to the health of living organisms and to the environment. Are there any viable alternatives to chlorine bleach which could be more forgiving to the environment?
Abstract: The safety of pool water is reliant on chemical sterilisation, to destroy dangerous pathogens. The most common steriliser is chlorine, in the form of hypochlorite ions (OCl-) and hypochlorous acid (HOCl). However sunlight causes drastic decomposition of these chemicals, thus methods to protect chlorine from sunlight have been created for pools. Some of these include pool covers, or chemical stabilisers which combine with the free hypochlorite ions to reduce decomposition. The most common stabiliser is isocyanuric acid ((CONH)3), added until a concentration of 50mg/L is reached. An experiment was devised to test whether the pool cover or the stabiliser would be more effective at retaining chlorine concentrations, however the results
daily lives, for years. On the early history of chlorine, chlorine was first discovered back in the thirteen century and it was used first by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilem Scheele mentioned on the introduction in 1774. Most serious health threats are said not to be caused by chemicals, but by very infectious organisms or bacteria in water that we drink and use in our daily basis. Chlorine is a major disinfectant that is cheap and kills most of the serious disease-causing bacteria in the water. However, chlorine disinfection results in a wide variety of by-products. One class of chlorination by-products, known as trihalomethanes (THM 's), are suspected carcinogens. Because of concern about these by-products in the water supply, chlorine is now kept to minimum levels, and other methods of disinfection are being used more frequently. Chloramines form more stable disinfectants and pose less risk of harmful by-products, but cost more to use. Other methods focus on removing the organisms through coagulation, sedimentation, and improved filtration. The functions of chlorination are to disinfect water or wastewater, decolorize waters or fabrics, sanitize and clean surfaces, remove iron and manganese, and reduce odors. However, the odor of certain compounds, such as some phenolics, is aggravated through a reaction with chlorine. Certain soluble metals can be made insoluble through oxidation by chlorine (soluble Fe2+ is oxidized to insoluble Fe3+), making the metal easier to remove through sedimentation or
The purpose of the toxicity assessment in a risk assessment is to identify the adverse health effects caused by present chemicals and how these adverse effects depend on the exposure to the chemical. The toxicity of chemicals varies with route of exposure, length of exposure, and dose, so the toxicity assessment is intended to describe these toxic effects. The carcinogenic and non-‐carcinogenic effects will be addressed separately due to major differences in their dose-‐response relationships (RAGS, 2014).
There are many ingredients found in sunscreen that are actually harmful for the environment. The most harmful chemical is oxybenzone; It alters coral DNA, increases risk of potential fatal bleaching and acts as an endocrine disruptor. [12] The damaging effects of oxybenzone can come from as small a concentration as 62 parts per trillion. Oxybenzone along with octinoxate and butylparaben cause viral diseases in the algae accountable for feeding coral reefs, which prompts to the decreasing of regenerative capacities in fish species. Algae is what gives coral reefs life and coral reefs are home to 25% of fish species so if the algae dies, so do the species. Oxybenzone can be distinguished in urine following 30 minutes of anointment, so flushing
Household chemicals were created for a reason, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be harmful to your health. For instance, pesticides used on household lawns are now proven to cause neurological disorders. These include depression, mania, learning disorders, A.D.H.D, immune system defects and memory problems. Not proven yet, but the same chemicals play a big part in leading research for the c...
The RNAO states “World Health Organization data suggests that environmental factors account for 24 per cent of the world’s burden of disease and 23 per cent of all deaths” (2012). Environmental determinants of health is mainly centered on whether not the area has clean air and water. This is because air and water are used in every person’s daily life, and if these are contaminated, the health of these persons can be compromised. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the records dating back from 2005 show that the water is safe for all persons, with no pollutants causing illnesses or diseases (Air System Facilities, 2015). In addition, the agency tested the water to see if it had any abnormal microbial levels. In the area there were no disinfectants or pollutants compromising the water. To further determine the environmental determinants, the air was also researched. Today, on September 11, 2015 the UV index was considered to be very high. The agency states “Protection against sun damage is needed” (UV Index, 2015). Since the UV index ranked to be in the very high category, people in this area need to take caution and were sun screen if outdoors. It is recommended that people stay in cool, air conditioned facilities between 1 pm and 4 pm. To continue, the AFS showed that there are no facilities producing air emissions (Air System Facilities, 2015). When there are no facilities producing air