1) Wachusetts reservoir holds 2.46*10^14 liters of drinking water. An industrial
ID: 502564 • Letter: 1
Question
1) Wachusetts reservoir holds 2.46*10^14 liters of drinking water. An industrial accident has led to the spill of 3.75* 10^9 kg of sodium cyanide into the reservoir generating the toxic product of hydrogen cyanide NaCN+H2O-----> HCN+NaOH
a) If all of the sodium cyanide dissolves, how many grams of hydrogen cyanide were generated?
b)What is the concentration of hydrogen cyanide in ppm
c) The minimun LD50 is 50ppm. What volume of contaminated water would a 67 kg adult with 4.6 L of blood need to drink to reach this level?
d) If the average person drinks 3.18 L of water each day. Should the resevour be shut down?
Explanation / Answer
a) 49g of NaCN gives 27g of HCN. So 3.75*10^9 kg of NaCN if completely dissolved gives 2.07*10^9 kg of HCN.
b) 1mg in 1000mL is 1ppm. So 2.07*10^15 mg of HCN in 2.46*10^14 L of water is 0.118 ppm.
c) 1L of water has 0.118 ppm HCN and so for 50 ppm the volume of water would be 423.7L.
d) If average consumption of water is 3.18 L then the daily intake would be 0.375ppm, and in would be deadly and the reservoir has to be shut.
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