Section 1 - Environmental Chemistry

Nitrogen Cycle:

The Nitrogen cycle is a repeating cycle that shows how nitrogen gets converted into multiple chemical forms to be cycled through the earth. It shows the Nitrogen's journey and how its reused through ecosystems, living things and non-living things.

Steps in the Nitrogen Cycle:

1. Nitrogen fixation (changing free nitrogen)
2. Nitrification (atoms combine with other elements to form compounds)
3. Assimilation (compounds are used by living things)
4. Ammonification (living things die & decompose)
5. Denitrification (nitrogen from dead organisms is released)

Solid Waste:

Any discarded solid material that releases harmful chemicals

Waste Water:

Is water that contains dissolved or undissolved waste (Needs to be properly treated)

Fuel Combustion:

When fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas are burned in homes and they produce lots of carbon dioxide and sometimes pollutants as well.

Industrial Processes:

Processes like electrical power, mineral processing and fertilizer production that releases chemicals into the air and environment which can also release pollutants.

Nitrogen Fixation:

The process of changing free nitrogen so that the atoms can combine with other elements to form compounds that organisms can use

Pollution:

Any change in the environment that produces a condition that is harmful to living things

Fertilizer:

A substance that enriches soil so that plants will grow better and faster

Pesticides:

Chemicals used to kill pests

Herbicides:

Chemicals used to kill unwanted plants

Sewage:

Wastewater containing dissolved and undissolved materials from individual human purposes

Effluent:

Wastewater released from a factory or sewage treatment plant

Storm Sewer:

Large pipes that carry runoff water from streets directly into a river, lake, or ocean

Fossil Fuels:

Fuel formed from dead plants and animals

Sour Gas:

Natural gas that contains hydrogen sulfide

pH Scale:

The PH Scale is what is used to measure acidity of substances. (PH lower than 7 is an Acid and anything with a PH higher than 7 is Base)

Neutralization:

The reaction between an acid and a base that produces water and a solid compound called a salt

Acid:

A compound that dissolves in water to form a solution with hydrogen ions (H+) (PH lower than 7)
- Lemon Juice

Base:

A compound that dissolves in water to form a solution with hydroxide ions (PH higher than 7)
- Bleach

Neutral:

A neutral substance is neither an acid nor a base (pH of 7)
- Pure Distilled Water

Macronutrients:

Macronutrients are nutrients that are essential for the growth and survival of living things, and so, your body needs them in large amounts. (Ex. Oxygen & Carbon Dioxide)

Micronutrients:

Micronutrients are nutrients that living things need in smaller amounts. (Ex. Selenium)

Optimum amount:

The optimum amount, of a substance in particular, is the amount of a substance that will provide us with the best health (Ex. Macro and Micronutrients)

Organic Molecules:

Organic molecules are Organic compounds, which are necessary for our life. For example, things like carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.

Organic Compounds:

Compounds whose molecules contain carbon (e.g., fossil fuels)

Inorganic Compounds:

Compounds that do not contain carbon

Carbohydrates:

Organic molecules made up of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen (can form simple molecules)

Lipids:

Organic molecules made up of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen (are insoluble in water)

Proteins:

An organic compound made up of units called amino acids (contain atoms of nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon)

Amino Acids:

Building blocks of proteins

Nucleic Acids:

The largest and most complex molecules found in all the cells of living things. play a major role in heredity and in controlling a cell's activities (DNA)

Diffusion:

Process in which molecules move from an area of higher concentration to one of lower concentration

Osmosis:

Type of diffusion in which water molecules move across a membrane from an area where there are more water molecules to an area where there are fewer water molecules

Active Transport:

Process in which plant cells use energy to move nutrient molecules from areas of lower concentration to areas of higher concentration

Hydrolysis

Water being added to the particles break them down into simple nutrients we need

Substrate:

Surface on which an organism lives or moves

Ingestion:

Intake of nutrients
1. Physical (Chewing)
2. Mechanical (Stomach)

Uptake of Substances by plants:

When nutrients enter passively or actively through the roots of a plant

Chemists recognize:

That the earth is made up of chemicals

Chemicals Essential to Life:

Carbon (CO2), Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen & Water