ipl-logo

Neurotoxicity In Chemistry

1055 Words5 Pages

Assignment 5 - Neurotoxicity
1. Describe the differences in the physical properties of organic, inorganic and elemental mercury (6 marks)
Elemental mercury is also known as metallic mercury. It is shiny and silver-white in colour. At room temperature, elemental mercury is in a liquid state and some of this liquid mercury will evaporate and form mercury vapor. The vapor itself is colourless and odorless.
Inorganic mercury consists of salt compounds with elements such as chlorine, sulfur, and oxygen. The salt is usually white in appearance and takes the form of powder or crystals. However, mercuric sulfide is red and turns black upon exposure to light.
If mercury combines with carbon, it creates organic mercury. There could be numerous organic …show more content…

The ore is then refined in order to get liquid metallic mercury. Sometimes inorganic mercury is used as a fungicide. Other uses would be in skin-lightening creams. In addition, inorganic mercury has been used as a topical antiseptic or disinfecting agent. Previously, it was used in medicinal products which are no longer used today. In some countries, mercury is still used in small amounts as a preservative in medications. Surprisingly, mercury is sometimes used to create red tattoo ink. As well, inorganic mercury was used in latex paints, which may be found in old …show more content…

Describe how someone could be exposed (from environmental and/or occupational sources) to each form of mercury: organic, inorganic and elemental. (9 marks)
Since dentists and dental hygienists perform the fillings for patients, they are at risk of exposure to elemental mercury. Those that work in a waste or recycling plant could also be exposed to elemental mercury. Individuals that work at facilities that manufacture bulbs and lamps containing mercury would be at risk of occupational exposure.
Organic mercury exposure could come from eating seafood in which mercury has bio-accumulated within marine animals such as tuna. This seems to be the main pathway for exposure in humans. If water is contaminated with organic mercury, it could result in exposure if the contaminated water is used as drinking water.
Occupational exposure to organic mercury could occur during the process where mercury is used to fungus-proof material. In addition, workers that use paints and other materials containing mercury would be at risk of exposure. Since there are commercial paints that contain mercury, workers sanding walls, or doing renovations or demolitions of buildings with mercury-containing paint would also be at risk of

Show More
Related

Almaden Lake Case Study

463 Words | 2 Pages

In the beautiful Almaden Lake, a popular San Jose city park off Almaden Expressway, has fish that have the highest concentrations of mercury contamination in California. Based of new state studies. There are four other lakes in Santa Clara County Anderson, Uvas, Calero and Chesbro reservoirs ,rank with the top 20 lakes with fish have the highest mercury concentrations. Almaden Lake is a 66-acre park off the Almaden Expressway. It originated in the 1940s as a rock quarry on Los Alamitos Creek.

Read More

Analysis Of Alex Garcia's Essay Why Organic Foods Are Worth The Cost

326 Words | 2 Pages

She says, “organic foods are produced without using most chemical pesticides, without artificial federalizer, with out genetic engineering, and without radiation (Garcia 112) she explains to her audience the importance

Read More

Song Dynasty Gunpowder

509 Words | 3 Pages

Mercury was a common ingredient that they used yet upon ingesting it, one would succumb to fever, bloody vomiting, burning pains, muscle tremors, and distorted senses, all of which were not what one

Read More

Industrial Hygienist Role

556 Words | 3 Pages

Many different processes produce air contaminants. Dust and fiber are two types of solid particles that may be of concern depending on their nature. Chemical hazards can have several methods of exposure either through skin contact, ingestion, absorption by the skin, and/or by breathing them in. Due to their hazardousness, chemical substances are identified by Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and are required in the workplace for reference. Biological hazards are living organisms and enter the worker which can cause infection and disease.

Read More

Pros And Cons Of Mercury Chor-Alkali

643 Words | 3 Pages

Mercury Chor-alkali is the least common form of chlorine production because it creates a lot of drawbacks. The use of such a large amount of mercury results to be very costly, especially when involving the cost of environmental protection. While some of the pros of mercury might include requiring low brine purity and very high quality of products, mercury technology is one of the most expensive technologies when it comes to electricity consumption, which makes it very unsustainable. While Diaphragm Cell Technology has been around for a while it is still one of the most common methods of chlorine production in the United States. Similar to Mercury Technology, Diaphragm Cell Technology does not require purification of the brine.

Read More

Nitrogen Was Discovered By Daniel Rutherford

203 Words | 1 Pages

Nitrogen is used to make certain explosives, and fertilizers. When nitrogen is used to make different items, it sometimes has to be reacted with hydrogen to make ammonia. The second element that has intrigued me is mercury. No one really knows who discovered mercury specifically, but we do know that it was discovered around 1500

Read More

Why Does Mercury Have A Large Metallic Core

215 Words | 1 Pages

One of the theories of why Mercury has a large metallic core is an impact theory like the explanation of the formation of the Earth’s moon. This theory involves a large object like an asteroid striking Mercury and blowing away a great portion of the crust and mantel. This would mean that Mercury would have lost a great deal of its lower density elements due to many of them being removed by the impact. After the impact was over, much of the denser material should have remained to form the core. Over time Mercury collected some of the less dense material through its orbit and formed a thin mantel and crust.

Read More

Literature Review: Why The North American River Otters

1112 Words | 5 Pages

One big source of water pollution is mining. To remove gold from mud, gold miners use mercury. The gold and mercury is then heated to burn off the non-biodegradable mercury which is released into the air and eventually falls on land and is washed into the

Read More

Argumentative Essay-Everyone Should Metal Detect

468 Words | 2 Pages

Everyone Should Metal Detect Most people think that metal detecting is just a dumb boring hobby on the beach for retired bald people. Actually, it’s not necessarily boring at all. It is actually quite fun.

Read More

Anti Vaccines Persuasive Essay

1025 Words | 5 Pages

Thimerosal is largley feared for containing mercury hower how chemicals behave depends on what other chemicals they are bound to and the highly toxic mercury is in the form of methyl mercury/ thimerosal is ethyl mercury, which is not toxic unless its in extremely high doses. And Breast milk contains more aluminum than

Read More

Mercury Surface

528 Words | 3 Pages

The surface of Mercury really isn 't much to look at. It 's a rather dull grey in color, and is quite cratered. Along with the craters and dull color, there are boulders on Mercury. These boulders are most likely remnants of the celestial bodies that created the craters that grace the surface of this planet. Finally, there is pulverized dust on the surface of Mercury.

Read More

How Did Ancient Greek Cosmetics

873 Words | 4 Pages

Tons and tons of the precious metal were mined here annually. During this process, lead was created in ample abundance. Due to this, many scholars believe that this was why lead was used over another, less harmful substance. White lead was cheap and readily available, so although it might’ve been unknowingly destructive, lead was used to lighten the skin.

Read More

The Pentacle Symbolism

729 Words | 3 Pages

A Pentacle is a magical tool and has been one of the most powerful symbols in history and was once used by almost all Ancient Cultures. The Pentacle is thought to hold several layers of symbolism, It is thought to be the symbol of life, love, light, unity, wholeness and divine knowledge. The Pentacle has been associated with protection and was used in protection from the evil spirits, demons, and etc. The Pentacle has been shown in a great variety of shapes and symbols that appear in the old magical grimoires, such as the Key of Solomon; As Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa summarizes. In the Old Testament, the Pentacle was the first of the Seven Seals and the most important.

Read More

Fracking Persuasive Speech

943 Words | 4 Pages

Drinking water sources have been contaminated with explosive methane, as well as other dangerous substances, such as benzene and arsenic, that can cause cancer and other serious illnesses. Toxic chemicals, as well as erosion and runoff from drilling operations, have fouled

Read More

Chemical Imbalance In The Brain

1609 Words | 7 Pages

DEPRESSION DEFINITION: a mood, state of sadness, gloom and pessimistic ideation with loss of interest in normally enjoyable activities (1) It’s not simply feeling sad, it’s a disorder with specific symptoms that can be diagnosed and treated. [2] Depression is common in cancer patients and adversely affects many domains of functioning and quality of life, length of hospital stay, treatment compliance, and ability to care for oneself. It is associated with pain, disability and fatigue. [6] Research shows that at least 15% of cancer patients experience major depressive symptoms [6].

Read More

More about Neurotoxicity In Chemistry

Related Topics

Open Document