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Environmental Chemistry: Hazardous Materials

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Air monitoring provides the following contaminant concentrations at the approximate center of a fire scene in which acres of automobile tires are burning: Carbon monoxide @ 1700 ppm; Carbon dioxide @ 7000 ppm; and Sulfur dioxide @ 600 ppm. Ignoring synergistic effects between these gases, which individual concentrations are considered life-threatening to the EH&S or FS professional responding to the scene? What combustion products are produced when materials made from polyacrylonitrile smolder and burn? What combination of properties is responsible for the selection of trinitrotoluene as a military explosive?

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This solution contains answers to some environmental chemistry problems with logical explanation.

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Among 1700 ppm carbon monoxide, 7000 ppm carbon dioxide and 600 ppm sulfur dioxide, the most life threatening one will be: 600 ppm sulfur dioxide, because the IDLH (immediately dangerous to life and health) concentration values of them are 1200 ppm, 40000 ...

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  • "Thankyou for the feedback. I have a few question though; With the first statistic about cost below... “According to Sigma-Aldrich catalog, cost of 1L octane is AUD $ 392.00, whereas the cost of 1L ethanol is AUD $196.00. Moreover, if ethanol is obtained from sugar industry as a by-product, it may cost even less. Source of oxygen is ambient atmosphere, so it costs nothing. So ethanol is much cheaper than petrol, in fact it is half-priced: AUD $ (392-196) = $ 196.” I didn't think it made sense because the cost of petrol per litre is normally a dollar something or even less than a dollar not a couple of hundred of dollars. For example, a statistic that I found in america was: "U.S. ethanol production costs are about $1.20 per gallon of ethanol, or $1.82 per gallon on a gasoline-equivalent basis." However, I was wondering whether you could find an Australian statistic. Also, you mentioned that H20 is not a greenhouse gas. However, in the combustion equations it is actually carbon dioxide and water vapour which are produced and they are both greenhouse gases. Finally, how do I calculate the energy efficiency of ethanol and petrol? "
  • "Thank you!"
  • "Didnt really answer my questions but gave me a start at least."
  • "Once again this is tremendous help I can't thank you enough for not only working the problem but explaining in detail how and why!! KR"
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