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heres the paper
Ian Ksel, Mike Latocha
Mrs. Milne
Chemistry Per.1
3/21/06
Dear Dr. Marple,
How have you been? It’s been a long time since I’ve heard from you, and I’m not going to lie it’s been a tough three weeks without hearing your voice. There’s something about your letters that makes me so happy; and somehow helps me with my grades. Anyways, mom and dad say, “Hi.” Our dog Izy just had puppies and if you want one don’t hesitate to call. They’re quite a handful.
This letter is somewhat of a serious matter. Arsenic in the water supply is not a subject I enjoy writing about. Recently I found out that in January 1998 the UK Department for International Development did studies in countries to find arsenic in water supplies. Among all the places to have contaminated water, India probably has it the worst because they’ve been drinking the water for a while. They drank this water not knowing that it was contaminated with arsenic until 1983. The people had simply installed pump wells which gave ninety percent of India access to them. They didn’t check for arsenic however and have been drinking it all along. Besides Bangladesh, the arsenic poison has been found in an eastern state of West Bengal, and also in a western district Nawaganj. India is not alone; Mexico, Chile Taiwan, the U.S., Vietnam, and Nepal all have problems with arsenic in the water supply. All this happened in India when the people decided to change from just getting water from a well or stream, to aquifers. These aquifiers are linked deep into the earth, where there is water stored up. This water is then pumped out by hand, and was a lot more convenient that the way they used to do it. The arsenic stored in the pipes and ground, where then mixed in with the water and poisoned some 3.5 million people over one fourth of India’s population.
The reason arsenic is so bad when ingested with water s because you might not notice the signs or repercussions until ten years later. This is too late. The first sign is black spots on the upper chest, back, and arms. This is known as melanosis. Then the palms of your hand and your feet become swollen and lose sensation, the ability to feel. Arsenic can cause severe pain in the abdominal; it can cause diarrhea, conjunctivitis, and bronchitis. Then the feet and arms form neural problems, as well as in the liver and kidneys. Finally, the liver may give out and your swollen body parts seem to get gangrenous, and puff up like blisters. Then in twenty years you get signs of cancer.
A mass tragedy to innocent people would have never occurred if it weren’t for the fact that arsenic is soluble in water. Arsenic in a compound is soluble in water. As an element by itself, however, arsenic is not soluble in water. When taking a closer look at arsenic, it is a metalloid, so when combined with a nonmetal, it will form an ion. Common polar ionic compounds are ones such as arsenic salts and arsenate (AsV). A polar ionic compound is needed for dissociation to happen.
The first possible way that arsenic got into the water supply is that sediments near the Ganga and Brahmaputra Rivers got pushed into the villagers water reserves. Another possibility could have happened when arsenic associated with iron pyrite was exposed to oxygen, which would ultimately break the bonds through oxidation. Lastly, the problem could lie in the tubewells themselves. The tubewells could possibly made out of a metal or other substance that rusts (or in some other way that changes its chemical makeup), which could explain a arsenic outbreak. The source of the issue needs to be isolated and fixed. One way to clean the contaminated water is to combine other substances, such as iron, into the water supply. This combination reaction would cause the arsenic/iron compound to precipitate out of solution. I would also see a possibility Another possibility of cleansing the water is to introduce sulfate to the solution. Combining sulfate with arsenic would make the solute insoluble. One more thing that could be done is to add fluoride to the water, which would bond with arsenic turning it into a possibly harmless substance, or cause the water to be so saturated that the arsenic precipitate out of solution and in turn be filtered out of the water while leaving the beneficial flouride in..
To fix this issue, the tubewell water would be put into an earthenware pot to be filtered by sand, charcoal, and most importantly, iron chips. Treatment experts urge that this concept be used quickly and efficiently. Whatever that needs to be done in order to fix the problem needs to be done swiftly and effectively. I hope this paper has explained the effects, results, and repercussions of such disaster. The paper was researched and typed together with my partner. Feel free to write back soon.
Sincerely,
Ian and Mike
Ian Ksel, Mike Latocha
Mrs. Milne
Chemistry Per.1
3/21/06
Dear Dr. Marple,
How have you been? It’s been a long time since I’ve heard from you, and I’m not going to lie it’s been a tough three weeks without hearing your voice. There’s something about your letters that makes me so happy; and somehow helps me with my grades. Anyways, mom and dad say, “Hi.” Our dog Izy just had puppies and if you want one don’t hesitate to call. They’re quite a handful.
This letter is somewhat of a serious matter. Arsenic in the water supply is not a subject I enjoy writing about. Recently I found out that in January 1998 the UK Department for International Development did studies in countries to find arsenic in water supplies. Among all the places to have contaminated water, India probably has it the worst because they’ve been drinking the water for a while. They drank this water not knowing that it was contaminated with arsenic until 1983. The people had simply installed pump wells which gave ninety percent of India access to them. They didn’t check for arsenic however and have been drinking it all along. Besides Bangladesh, the arsenic poison has been found in an eastern state of West Bengal, and also in a western district Nawaganj. India is not alone; Mexico, Chile Taiwan, the U.S., Vietnam, and Nepal all have problems with arsenic in the water supply. All this happened in India when the people decided to change from just getting water from a well or stream, to aquifers. These aquifiers are linked deep into the earth, where there is water stored up. This water is then pumped out by hand, and was a lot more convenient that the way they used to do it. The arsenic stored in the pipes and ground, where then mixed in with the water and poisoned some 3.5 million people over one fourth of India’s population.
The reason arsenic is so bad when ingested with water s because you might not notice the signs or repercussions until ten years later. This is too late. The first sign is black spots on the upper chest, back, and arms. This is known as melanosis. Then the palms of your hand and your feet become swollen and lose sensation, the ability to feel. Arsenic can cause severe pain in the abdominal; it can cause diarrhea, conjunctivitis, and bronchitis. Then the feet and arms form neural problems, as well as in the liver and kidneys. Finally, the liver may give out and your swollen body parts seem to get gangrenous, and puff up like blisters. Then in twenty years you get signs of cancer.
A mass tragedy to innocent people would have never occurred if it weren’t for the fact that arsenic is soluble in water. Arsenic in a compound is soluble in water. As an element by itself, however, arsenic is not soluble in water. When taking a closer look at arsenic, it is a metalloid, so when combined with a nonmetal, it will form an ion. Common polar ionic compounds are ones such as arsenic salts and arsenate (AsV). A polar ionic compound is needed for dissociation to happen.
The first possible way that arsenic got into the water supply is that sediments near the Ganga and Brahmaputra Rivers got pushed into the villagers water reserves. Another possibility could have happened when arsenic associated with iron pyrite was exposed to oxygen, which would ultimately break the bonds through oxidation. Lastly, the problem could lie in the tubewells themselves. The tubewells could possibly made out of a metal or other substance that rusts (or in some other way that changes its chemical makeup), which could explain a arsenic outbreak. The source of the issue needs to be isolated and fixed. One way to clean the contaminated water is to combine other substances, such as iron, into the water supply. This combination reaction would cause the arsenic/iron compound to precipitate out of solution. I would also see a possibility Another possibility of cleansing the water is to introduce sulfate to the solution. Combining sulfate with arsenic would make the solute insoluble. One more thing that could be done is to add fluoride to the water, which would bond with arsenic turning it into a possibly harmless substance, or cause the water to be so saturated that the arsenic precipitate out of solution and in turn be filtered out of the water while leaving the beneficial flouride in..
To fix this issue, the tubewell water would be put into an earthenware pot to be filtered by sand, charcoal, and most importantly, iron chips. Treatment experts urge that this concept be used quickly and efficiently. Whatever that needs to be done in order to fix the problem needs to be done swiftly and effectively. I hope this paper has explained the effects, results, and repercussions of such disaster. The paper was researched and typed together with my partner. Feel free to write back soon.
Sincerely,
Ian and Mike
