Environmental chemistry is the scientific study of the chemical and biochemical phenomena that occur in natural places. It should not be confused with green chemistry, which seeks to reduce potential pollution at source. It can be defined as the study of the sources, reactions, transport, effects, and fates of chemical species in the air, soil, and water environments; and the effect of human activity on these. Environmental chemistry is an interdisciplinary science that includes atmospheric, aquatic and soil chemistry, as well as heavily relying on analytical chemistry and being related to environmental and other areas of science.
Environmental chemistry involves first understanding how the uncontaminated environment works, which chemicals in what concentrations are present naturally, and with what affects. Without this it would be impossible to accurately study the affects humans have on the environment through the release of chemicals.
Terminology
Environmental chemists use a particular set of terms that help them describe what is happening to a chemical species in the environment. These include:
- Contaminant: A substance that is present in nature due to human activity, that would not otherwise be there.
- Pollutant: A substance that has a detrimental impact on the environment it is in, by being present in larger quantities than the natural abundance because of human activities.
- Receptor: The medium or organism affected by the pollutant or contaminant.
- Sink: A medium or species that that retains and interacts with the pollutant.
Other concepts that are used in environmental chemistry include dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD)...
Applications
Environmental chemistry is used by the Environment Agency (in England and Wales), the Environmental Protection Agency (in the United States), and other environmental agencies and research bodies around the world to detect and identify the nature and source of pollutants. These can include:
Methods
Quantitative chemical analysis is a key part of environmental chemistry.
References
- Stanley E. Manahan. 1991. Environmental Chemistry, Fifth edition.
- Julian E Andrews, Peter Brimblecombe, Tim Jickells, Peter Liss, Brian Reid, An Introduction to Environmental Chemistry, Blackwell Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0632059052
- Stanley E Manahan, Environmental Chemistry, CRC Press, 2004, ISBN 1566706335
See also
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