Vocabulary
What are powerplants?
An industrial facility that converts various energy sources into electricity—such as coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, or renewables like wind and solar energy
How do heavy metals end up as PM?
Through industrial combustion, traffic emissions, and the mechanical wear of materials.
About how much do mercury contamination damages cost annually?
$8.7 billion
What is one solution/move for reducing heavy metal and mercury emissions that is being made?
Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS)
What are 2 of the most toxic heavy metals?
(Bonus 15 points any other metal you can name)
lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and thallium
What are heavy metals?
Heavy metals are dense, naturally occurring metallic elements that are often toxic even at low concentrations.
How do heavy metals bioacumulate?
They progressively increasing in concentration up the food chain.
What is a major economic impact that heavy metals cause?
They impose significant global economic burdens estimated in the billions, driven primarily by lost productivity due to neurocognitive damage.
What is the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) and what does it do?
It is a regulation and its purpose is to, reduce emissions of toxic air pollutants from coal and oil fired power plants
For what reason do heavy metals rank up in the priority of metals?
Because of their high toxicity
What is mercury?
Mercury is a naturally occurring chemical element
How is mercury released to the environment?
Its released into the environment from sources like powerplants and other industrial processes.
In what order does methylmercury biomagnificate?
Microorganisms/Algae → Zooplankton → Small Fish/Invertebrates → Large Predatory Fish/Marine Mammals
What effect has Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) had on many powerplants?
They have caused many power plants to install controls/update operations to meet the standards, protecting public health.
Are heavy metals essential for industries, true of false?
True
What is bioaccumulation?
bioaccumulation, is a progressive increasing of a toxic material in concentration up the food chain.
how is methylmercury transferred throughout the environment?
it undergoes bioaccumulation
What is one way that mercury may rise in a terrestrial biome's soil?
Mercury is taken up by plants, and when they die, it contributes to mercury levels in the soil, which can be washed into water during rain.
What is one thing the Safe Drinking Water Act do against mercury and methylmercury contamination?
EPA set a regulation for inorganic mercury, called a maximum contaminant level (MCL). Canceled the registration of mercury as a fungicide, which was used in many paints. And calculated an acceptable limit for methylmercury in fish, called the “Methylmercury Fish Tissue Criterion”
What is the safe water drinking act, and what does it do?
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is the primary 1974 US federal law ensuring safe public tap water by authorizing the EPA to set national health-based standards for contaminants. It regulates public water systems, protects water sources (rivers, lakes, groundwater), and requires monitoring and public notification regarding water quality.
What are the diffrent forms of mercury?
What converts inorganic mercury into methylmercury and where is it done?
bacteria convert inorganic mecury into methylmercury
What are 2 human impacts that are caused by heavy metals?
Possible answers: permanent damage to the brain and spinal cord, mercury salts and vapors accumulate in the kidneys, , Memory loss, Cognitive deficits, Erethism, Tunnel vision, hearing loss, paresthesia, and reproductive harm such as: devlopmental delays, mental retardation, and cerbral palsy in offspring.
According to the graph, at what period of time did mercury production peak?
1960-1980
What is the ELA, and what does it do?
Environmental Protection Agency(ELA), is a federal agency established in 1970 to protect human health and the environment by enforcing regulations on air, water, and land pollution.