Public water supplies are often \"fluoridated\" by the addition of compounds suc
ID: 534464 • Letter: P
Question
Public water supplies are often "fluoridated" by the addition of compounds such as NaF, H_2SiF_6, and Na_2SiF_6. It is well established that fluoride helps prevent tooth decay; however, care must be taken not to exceed safe levels of fluoride, which can stain or etch tooth enamel (dental fluorosis). A safe and effective concentration of fluoride in drinking water is generally considered to be around 1 mg/L. How much fluoride would a person consume by drinking fluoridated water in 1 year? What would be the equivalent mass as sodium fluoride? As a starting point, make an assumption of how much water an average person would drink in a year. The year is a long time period so I would start my assumption with a smaller time period ellipsis maybe a day? Once you have that you can utilize your assumption to get you to the mass in grams of fluoride. Think about your toothpaste ellipsis most toothpastes are also fluoridated for the same reason stated above. After making your fluoride calculation, do you think it is beneficial to use fluoridated toothpaste in addition to drinking fluoridated water? To answer this part of the question you must first research what level (concentration per body weight) would fluoride be harmful to an average human being. I hope you enjoy doing this research - you should always be VERY interested in learning as much as you can about everything you put into and onto your body. Most consumers are UNAWARE of what they are purchasing. You have the power (by simply researching) to be informed and educated about what you use, eat, and wear. Knowledge is Power.Explanation / Answer
A person on an average drinks 2L of water per day. So, if the fluoride concentration is 1mg/L, a person
consumes water which has 2 mg/L or 2 ppm of fluoride concentration on a day.
For a year (we have 365 days) 2*365 = 730 mg of fluoride (0.73 gm)
mol wt of NaF = 42 gm
equivalent mass as NaF = 0.73 / 42 = 0.01738 gm of NaF
We sure consume this much of fluoride, but most of it will be disposed by huan bodies in form of wastes.
A very little concentration of fluoride gets deposited on our teeth, 5 to 10 gm is lethal dosage for
human beings, from that very fact you can understand it is not that dangerous.
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