1 www.Farre.

in

UNIT-1
BASIC OF ENIVORMENT
1.1Introduction:
Environmental Chemistry deals with the origins, transport, reactions, effects and fates of
chemical species in the water, air, terrestrial and living environments. It overlaps with
different branches of chemistry such as organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, physical
chemistry, photochemistry, geochemistry and biological chemistry and also includes
many widely different fields such as physics, life sciences, agricultural sciences, medical
sciences, public health and sanitary engineering.

1.2Environmental Segments : It consists of various segments such as

atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere.

HYDROSPHERE

LITHOSPHERE

ATMOSPHERE BIOSPHERE

1 Atmosphere: • The atmosphere is the protective blanket of gases which is

surrounding the earth. It protects the earth from the hostile environment of outer space.
• It absorbs IR radiations emitted by the sun and reemitted from the earth and thus
controls the temperature of the earth. • It allows transmission of significant amounts of
radiation only in the regions of 300 – 2500 nm (near UV, Visible, and near IR) and 0.01
– 40.
It is divided into following five layers from the earth surface.
(1) Troposphere
(2)Stratosphere
(3)Mesosphere
1

(4)Thermosphere
Page

(5)Exosphere

www.Farre.in
 2 www.Farre.in
2 Hydrosphere: The hydrosphere is a collective term given to all different forms of
water. It includes all types of water resources such as oceans, seas, rivers, lakes,
streams, reservoirs, glaciers and ground waters. only 1% of the total water supply is
available as fresh water in the form of rivers, lakes, streams and ground water for
human.
Environmental Chemistry and Analysis Pr
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
. Domestic uses Industrial water uses uses50%
30%13%7%IrrigationThermal power plants . The major problem with global water
supply is it’s non-uniform distribution, since people in areas with low precipitation often
consume more than people in regions with more rainfall.
3 Lithosphere:• The lithosphere consists of upper mantle and the crust i.e. it is
consists of all the solid substances like rocky substances of earth.
Environmental Chemistry and Analysis
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
. The crust consists of rocks and soil of which the latter is the important part of
lithosphere. it is also dived into following three layers-
(1)The core
(2)The mantle
(3)The earth crust
4 Biosphere:• The biosphere refers to the realm of living organisms and their
interactions with the environment (VIZ: atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere) • The
biosphere is very large and complex and is divided into smaller units called ecosystems.
• Plants, animals and microorganisms which live in a definite zone along with physical
factors such as soil, water and air constitute an ecosystem.

1.3 COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENT (BIG Q.) imp..

The environment is consists of two main components-

Biotic
components Abiotic
components
2

(1)Biotic components: All living organisms including animals, plants and

Page

micro-organisms like bacteria and fungi that are present in an environment are

www.Farre.in
 3 www.Farre.in
known as biotic components. Ex . of component: Green and leafy vegetation
,animals including man, micro-organism .it is classified into 3 main groups-
(a) Producer
(b) Consumers
(c)Decomposers

(1)The sun provides light and energy for plants.

(2)Tertiary consumers : Animals that eat meat-eating animals .

(3)Secondary consumers: animals that eat plant , eating animals.

(4)Primary consumers : Animals that eat plant .

(5)Producers: Plants which use the sun’s energy to manufacture food.

(6)Decomposers : organisms that feed on dea plants and animals and bre them
down in the soil.

Fig1.3: flow chart of different levels of food consumers

(a)Producer:all green plants which have chlorophyll are capable to trap the solar
energy and change it into carbohydrates ,using carbon _dioxide and water. This
process is known as photosynthesis. As the green plants produce their own food,
3

they are known as producer or Autotrophs.

Page

(b)Consumers: The living organisms in which chlorophyll does not present are
unable to synthesis their own food .Therefore they are dependent directly or

www.Farre.in
 4 www.Farre.in
indirectly upon the producer for their food .these are called consumers. It is
classified into 4 main groups-
(1)Primary consumers : It depends directly upon the plants for their food .e.g.
goat, deer, rabbit etc.
(2)Secondary consumers: It s depending directly on primary consumes. e. g. cat,
dog, fox, snakes etc.
(3)Tertiary consumers: these are dependent on secondary consumers. e.g.
wolves.
(4)quaternary consumers: these are largest carnivores which depends on
secondary and tertiary consumers. e.g. tiger, lion.

(c )Decomposer: these are micro-organisms that break down the complex

compounds into simple substance usable by the producers.

(2)Abiotic components: All the non-living factors of the environment which

affects the living organisms are known as abiotic component. abiotic
component are mainly 2 types-
(a)climatic factors: temp., light, wind, humidity etc.
(b)Edapic factors: these includes soil, topography, pH, minerals etc.

Sun

hv

producers hv
consumers

Nutrients, Decomposers
Atmosphere, soil, water
4
Page

www.Farre.in
 5 www.Farre.in
Fif.1.4 Thotic and abiotic ecosystems
1.5 ENVIROMENT POLLUTION
Environmental pollution may be describe as any change in physical,
chemical or biological characteristics of air, water and soil that mainly from
human activities ,which are harmless for the living organisms .The substance
which causes pollution are known as pollutant.

Pollutants: Any substance present in environment ,which

causes harmless effects on living organisms(e.g. plants, animal)growth, health,
comfort, property etc. is called as pollutant. e.g.smoke,radioactive
substance,harmful metals like pb++ ,as++ etc.

1.6 TYPES OF POLLUTION

On the basic it can be classified into following six types-

Air pollution
Radioactive
water pollution
pollition

soil noise Thermal

pollution pollition pollition

1.7AIR POLLITION: Air pollution is define as the presence of solid or

gaseous particles in the air that are harmful to human health and other living
organism .air pollution can be either natural or may be the result of various
human activities such as domestic , industrial and agriculture.
(1)Causes of air pollution: The principal air pollutants emitted from
different sources are as follows- carbon compounds, sulphur compounds ,
5

nitrogen oxides, ozone, cfcs, hydrocarbons ,metals.

Page

(2)Effects of air pollution:

www.Farre.in
 6 www.Farre.in
(a)Air pollution affects ecosystems and and communities by direct
toxicity or by causing physiological changes in living organisms.
(b)They discoloured monuments, historic buildings, marble status and other
heritage and beauty sites.
(c) increase global warming due to increase certain gases.
(d)It can damage plants ,trees ,and forest.

(3)CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION

Air pollutants can reduced by two types-

(a)preventive techniques (b)Effluents control

1.8 WATER POLLUTION

Water pollution can be define as any unfavorable change in physical, chemical
and biological properties of water that makes it harmful to human and other
living organisms.
(A )causes of water pollution

(1)water soluble inorganic substance: lead, mercury etc

(2) organic compound: oil, gasoline, pesticides, synthetic, detergents and
many other toxic chemical.
(3) sediment and suspended impurities
(4)disease causing micro-organisms
(5)Radioactive substance
(6)oxygen demanding wastes
(7)temperature

(B)control of water pollution:

Girt
Raw waste water screening chamber chamber

Girt
6
Page

Sludge
thickener www.Farre.in
Anaerobi
c digestion
Primary
setting tank
 7 www.Farre.in

Effluent Secondary Aeration tank

setting tank

Fig.1.5: Flow diagram for typical waste treatment plant

1.9 soil pollution

soil pollution refers to any physical, chemical and biological change in the
natural soil which adversely affects the growth of plants.

(A)Effects of soil pollution

(1) Increase in concentration of salts in soil degrades the quality of land.
(2)Metals like mercury and lead can pollute water, air and soil and get into
human tissue through food chains.
(3)The toxic effects of metals being include disturbance of central nervous
system , ailments of lungs, kidney , liver and digestive system.

(B)Control of soil pollution

(1)Chemical fertilizers should be replaced by biofertilizers.

(2)Forest and forest wealth should be maintained properly.

1.10 ECOLOGY(short note)

“The study of ecosystem”. Ecology refers to the scientific study of the

distribution, habital and abundance of living organisms and interaction with their

environment .The environment of an organism include both physical factors such

as sunlight, pressure, climate, geology etc. and biotic factor.

7
Page

www.Farre.in
 8 www.Farre.in

Ecology

Aquatic ecology Terrestrical ecology

Grasslend,forest,Desert
marine ecology Fresh water ecology
ecology

Fig 1.6 : Types of ecosystem (classification of ecosystems)

1.11 ECOSYSTEM
Ecosystem is define as a natural system consist of all living organisms
in an area functioning together with all the non-living factors of the
environment. ex. a pound, a grassland ,a lake, a river, a desert etc.

(a)components of ecosystem:

(1)Abiotic : Hydrosphere (ocean, lake, river, groundwater)

Lithosphere (solid earth, soils) Atmosphere .

8
Page

www.Farre.in
 9 www.Farre.in

(2) Bitioc: Living organisms (animal, plant, fungi, bacteria,

virus)

Dead organic matters

(b) Ecosystem processes :

Energy flow:

• Energy sources

• Photosynthesis

• Primary production

• Secondary production

(C) Food chain:( short notes)

A food chain indicates the transfer of energy from producer (green plants) to

consumer through different feeding levels. These feeding levels are know as

trophics levels. A simple food chain of is shown in fig1.7.

Grass Snake Kite

9

Frog
(producer Grasshpper (consumer (camivore)
Page

(consumerr)
) (consumer)

www.Farre.in
 10 www.Farre.in

(d) Food webs:(short notes)

(a)Food chains are dependent upon primary producer which input energy
(b)Primary energy input is derived from photosynthesis (CO2 ) converted to complex carbohydrates
utilising sun's energy:

( c) The problem: energy transfer is not efficient. (energy loss

as heat)

(E) Energy pyramids and Energy flow: An energy pyramid provides a means

of describing the feeding and energy relationship with in a food chain or food web.

(1) Pyramid of Energy: As all the green plants gets energy from sun and concert it

into carbohydrates primary consumers eats the green plants (producers) and get the

energy and hence the energy moves one trophic level to the next trophic

level.energy flow in ecosystem in fig 1.8 shown.

10

sun photosynthsis Carbohydrtes

Page

(2)Energy flow: in each step of above fig. of energy transfer from one trophic

Secondary www.Farre.in
Primary cosumers
Plants(producers)
consumer
 11 www.Farre.in

level to next trophic level about 90℅ of energy is lost as heat and only 10℅of the

total energy is passes on toi the next energy level.

1.12 CYCLES(BIG Q.) imp.

(A) These inter relationships manifest as natural cycles.(hydrologic cycle, 
oxygen cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorous cycle and sulphur cycle), 

(B) The natural cycles operate in a balanced manner providing a continuous 

circulation of essential constituents necessary for life and this stabilizes and sustains the
life processes on earth.

(1)Hydrological cycles or Water cycles: The hydrologic cycle

involves a continuous exchange of water between sea, atmosphere,
land and living animals through massive evaporation of water from the
ocean, cloud formation and precipitation as outlined in figure 1.9 and in the
following paragraph.


Solar energy

Atmosphere (water vapor)

Evaporation Evaporation

Rain
11
Page

Oceans (Liquid)

www.Farre.in
 12 www.Farre.in
• The land surface and water surfaces on earth lose water by 
evaporation by solar energy. 
• Normal evaporation of water from ocean exceeds precipitation by rain 
into seas by 10% . 
• This 10% excess which precipitates on land balances the hydrological 
cycle. 
• Some of the precipitated rain seeps into the soil as ground water. 
• Ground water moves up by capillary action and there by maintains a 
continuous supply of water to the surface layer of soil. 
• The water from the surface layer of the soil is absorbed by plants, 
which in turn is returned to atmosphere through transpiration. 
• Surface water or runoff flows into streams, rivers, lakes and catchment 
areas or reservoirs. 
• Animals also take water which is also returned to the atmosphere 
through evaporation. 

• Thus there is always a balanced continuous cycling of water between earth's

surfaces and atmosphere

(2)oxygen cycle:
The exchange of oxygen between different segments of the environment 

such as atmosphere lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere is shown in fig 5. • Atmospheric

oxygen contributes largely to the processes on the earth's 

surface. Atmospheric oxygen participate in energy producing reactions 

such as burning of fossil fuels, 

CH 4 + 2O 2 CO 2 + 2H 2O................................................................(1) 
12

(In natural gas)

Page

www.Farre.in
 13 www.Farre.in

(3) Nitrogen cycle: Atmosphere air contain about 79℅ of nitrogen.it
is essential element for animal and plant.nitrogen can not be
consumed by plants and animal directly from atmosphere. Nitrogen
cycle refers to the incorporation of N 2 from the atmosphere into
living matter and chemically bound nitrogen in soil, water and then back
into the atmosphere again. nitrogen is used for protein synthesis in green
plants.

(4) Phosphorous cycle:

• For the growth and maintenance of animal bones and teeth
phosphates
are necessary.
• Organophosphates are essential for cell division involving the
production
of nuclear DNA and RNA.
• The major inorganic phosphorous includes soluble H 2PO 
and insoluble Ca 5(OH)(PO ) Fe 3(PO ) 8H O. 
• Terrestrial plants absorb inorganic phosphate salts from the soil
and 
convert these into organic phosphate. 
• Animals obtain their phosphate by eating plants. 
• Plants and animals after their death return the phosphate to the soil. 
• The microorganisms present in the soil convert them into soluble
inorganic 
phosphate, a process known as mineralisation or biodegradation. 
• Biodegradation also deactivates highly toxic
organophosphate compounds, such as phosphate ester insecticides. • In
water phosphorous solubility is controlled by the availability of iron and 
aluminium under acid conditions and calcium under alkaline
13

conditions; 
Page

each of these metals form insoluble phosphates. When the pH is slightly 

acidic, phosphorous has its maximum solubility and under these 

www.Farre.in
 14 www.Farre.in
conditions H PO is the predominant species.


3)Sulphur cycle:
In the atmosphere, oxidation reactions convert lower oxidation
state
species into sulphate. In hydrosphere and soil, sulphur is present
in many
inorganic and organic forms exhibiting oxidations states from -2 to
+ 6. The
sulphur cycle involves inter conversion among a number of sulphur
species. Sulphur contain many vitamins, harmones which are essential for
animal and plant growth .sulphur is exist as sulphide and sulphate in earth
crust. animals waste and dead animals when decomposed the sulphur
compounds are returns to the earth and also consumed by some micro_
organisms and convert into hydrogen sulphide
14

Shubham khandelwal
Page

www.Farre.in