Honors Chemistry Semester 1 Project HKIS Marangelo Part 1.

Explore the following environmental threats to life on earth:

Names: Celine and Jay

1. Climate change: Climate change is a variation in weather patterns from the norm that can cause droughts, storms, floods, etc. This is caused by burning fossil fuels, which in turn releases greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases contribute to climate change because they trap heat, which changes the climate. The events that are caused by climate change can displace people and can injure/kill living things.

2. Water Pollution: Water pollution is the contamination of water with chemicals that could be hazardous to living things. Water contaminants include heavy metals, which end up in the water from industrial and consumer waste. Heavy metal water pollution can cause birth defects and are toxic to marine life. Water pollution in general can cause many problems such as unclean drinking water, infectious disease, and disrupt environment of organisms that live in water (i.e. destroy coral, block sunlight for photosynthetic plants).

3. Toxins in food & soil: Toxins in food and soil are hazardous chemicals that enter into uncontaminated soil and/or food. These chemicals, in turn, end up in living things. Pesticides are a very common chemical found in food nowadays, as they kill organisms that can spoil the food. Some pesticides are highly toxic, and if ingested, could kill a person.

4. Ozone depletion: Ozone depletion is the reduction in the amounts of ozone in the stratosphere. This can be caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are broken down by UV light into free chlorine and other molecules. The free chlorine reacts with the ozone to create other molecules, thus reducing the amount of ozone. This is a threat because with less ozone, more UV rays can come in. Too much UV radiation can prove

detrimental to the wellbeing of humans (can cause skin cancer; blindness) and other life forms.

5. Air pollution: Air pollution is when the air is contaminated with a high amount of toxins that could be detrimental to living things. A cause of air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels (i.e. coal, oil). These cause pollution because they release carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas), as well as smog. Air pollution is a problem because it can cause respiratory problems, like asthma. In some countries where air pollution is especially bad (i.e. China), it is considered a carcinogen, which can be cancer causing.

Using the internet, library reference books or your textbook you will explore the environmental threats above, outlining what problems they pose, the main idea/definition of each threat, giving some explanations of some but not all variations that exist within each threat category. (include pic of each threat)

Part 2. Research Reactions that contribute to these environmental threats: Give at least 1 example of a reaction that contribute to each of the above environmental threats. For each reaction you will: A. Classify the reaction. B. Balance the reaction (if not already balanced) and include all states.

C. Identify it as a oxidation reduction reaction or not: If oxidation/reduction you will identify species oxidized & species reduced, & # of e- transferred. D. Write the net ionic equation for each reaction. E. Give qualitative observations of reactants and products Climate change: A. Burning fossil fuels (combustion reaction) B. 6 O2 (g) + C6H12O6 (s) 6 H2O (l) + 6 CO2 (g) C. Redox reaction? Yes Oxidized: C in C6H12O6 Reduced: O2 (g) e- transferred: 12 eD. 6 O2 (g) + C6H12O6 (s) 6 H2O (l) + 6 CO2 (g) E. Reactants: Heat (O2 (g)) is added to a white solid (C6H12O6 (s)) Products: Gas comes off (CO2 (g)), liquid left behind (H2O (l)) Water pollution: Heavy metals in water A. Lead polluting the water (can only be dissolved when oxygen is present) B. s g H H s C. Redox Reaction? No D. s g H H s E. Reactants: A blueish brownish metal (Pb (s)) in a clear liquid with bubbles (H2O (l)). Product: A solid white crystal like solid Toxins in food & soil: A. Pesticides contaminating the soil B. Chemical formula of the most common pesticide:

Depleting ozone layer: A. Atomic oxygen in atmosphere (synthesis reaction) B. O (g) + O3 (g) 2 (g) C. Redox reaction? No D. O (g) + O3 (g) 2 (g) E. Reactants: Two clear gases: one with a bluish tint (O3), the other colorless (O). Product: Clear gas is formed (O2 (g)) (Test for oxygen: If a splint that has just been blown out reignites, then molecular oxygen formed.) Air pollution: Exhaust fumes from Cars A. Burning Petroleum/Gasoline (Combustion Reaction) B. H 6 H g g g C. Redox reaction? Yes Oxidized: f H Reduced: O2 (g) e- transferred: 100 eD. H 6 H g g g

E. Reactants: A yellowish clear liquid (C8H18 (l)) charged with heat( g Products: A clear gas and steam. (Test for CO2, put a lit splint on top of the test tube. If the splint goes out immediately, it is because of the presence of CO2) *Note: As a result of there being no spectator ions in any of the reactions above, the net ionic equation is written the same way as the first equation. Part 3. Investigate Proposed Solutions to Solve these Environmental Threats: Using the Internet you will find proposed solutions to each of the 5 environmental problems that have been thought and perhaps implemented on some scale by scientists around the world. Choose at least 1 solution to each problem, briefly explain the process by which they hope to correct the threat, citing information on the chemical reactions that one would need to conduct in order to rectify the environmental threat. Climate change: Instead of burning fossil fuels for energy, people can use hydrogen gas for clean, renewable energy. Hydrogen is an abundant natural resource in the world. However, hyd gen gas d esnt natu a y ccu , s the e e ent de ived th ugh dec p siti n f a compound (ex. 2H2 ( ) 2H2 (g) + O2). Hydrogen gas can then be burned to make fuel and be converted into electricity. This is a cleaner alternative because when hydrogen is burned, water is made (which is not a threat): 2H2 (g) + O2 (g) H2O (l). Water pollution: We can use something called the Permeable Reactive Barrier to remove lead from water. To put it simply, it is basically just a filter. However, it makes the lead in the water react with a substance, which is usually iodine. When iodine reacts with lead, it becomes a solid precipitate (i.e. a s . This is because iodides are soluble except with Ag, Hg and Pb. After the precipitate is formed, a permeable wall (Permeable Reactive Barrier) which is placed in the pipes will stop it from getting through. However, the water will pass through just fine. This way, the lead can be effectively removed from the water. Toxins in food & soil: --Depleting ozone layer: There are many substances that correlate with ozone layer depletion, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are used to clean and cool things down. When CFCs enter the atmosphere, they can be broken down by UV radiation, releasing a free chlorine (Cl). When free chlorine enters into the atmosphere, it can mix with the ozone and have a reaction like this: Cl (g) + O3 (g) (g) + 2 (g). This breaks the ozone layer. Scientists say that if the use of CFCs are halted, then the atmosphere will be able to create more ozone, and the ozone layer should eventually recover. They also suggest as an alternative to using chlorofluorocarbons, people should turn to using hydrocarbons or terpenes (derived from citrus

fruit rinds) to clean and cool down their items. These two alternatives do not react with ozone, thus the ozone layer will not be depleted. Air pollution: One of the main causes for air pollution is because of car fumes. The combustion of gasoline, or petroleum forms deadly CO2 gasses which intoxicates the air. Although there is no perfect way to take care of this carbon dioxide issue, we can still change the fuel from petrol to a more eco-friendly fuel like ethanol. When petrol combusts: 2 C8H18(l) + 25 O2(g) 16 CO2(g) + 18 H2O(g), 16 moles of CO2 are formed per 2 moles of petrol. That is 8 moles of CO2 per 1 mole of petrol. However, when a more eco-friendly fuel Ethanol, which is made of corn combusts: C2H6O(l) + 3O2(g) 2CO2(g) + 3H2O(g), only 2 moles of CO2 forms per mole of Ethanol. Petrol produces around 4 times more CO2 than Ethanol. Therefore, if we switched our fuel source to Ethanol, it may be a bit less efficient than petrol, however, it will be more beneficial for the environment and for the decreasing of air pollution.

***The solutions must be chemical in nature. You can not choose a non-chemical solution, such as not using pesticides to fix the toxins in food problem. You can however elaborate on the chemical nature of pesticides and discuss different chemical alternatives to pesticides and/or chemical reactions that can remove toxins from food or soil etc.***

Part 4. Design an experiment that tests effectiveness of one proposed solution: Choose 1 chemical solution to 1 of the 5 environmental problems that you can conduct in the HKIS lab and design an experiment around it. Your experiment must have the following: Hypothesis Materials Proposed Procedure (this can change as I give you input on your design) Independent Variable Dependent Variable Control Variables Safety Concerns

Sources: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/whatis.htm http://www.mepa.org.mt/topics-water-pollution http://www.water-pollution.org.uk/health.html http://www.epa.gov/superfund/students/wastsite/soilspil.htm http://www.bcairquality.ca/101/ozone-depletion-causes.html http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/air/aq4kids/pollution.asp http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/17/us-cancer-pollution-idUSBRE99G0BB20131017

http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/climate/GCclimate2e.html
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/ozone_deplete/ozone_deplete.html http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/tech/home http://www.admwebstudios.co.uk/Atmosphere5.htm