Environmental scientists calculating pollutant half-lives often define a transpo

Question

Environmental scientists calculating pollutant half-lives often define a transport rate constant that is analogous to a reaction rate constant and describes how a pollutant moves out of an ecosystem. In a study of the gasoline additive MTBE in Donner Lake, California, scientists from the University of California, Davis, found that in the summer the half-life of MTBE in the lake was 31.02 days. Assume that the transport process is first order. What was the transport rate constant of MTBE out of Donner Lake during the study? Express your answer in reciprocal days.

Explanation / Answer

According to the given data, the half-life of MTBE in the lake (t1/2) = 31.02 days

Since the transport rate constant is similar to reaction rate constant, you can calculate it as follows.

Transport rate constant (ktr) = 0.693/t1/2

i.e. ktr = 0.693/31.02 days

i.e. ktr = 0.02234 days-1

i.e. ktr = 2.234*10-2 days-1

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