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CM8001 – Application Exercise 5 (23/02/2017)

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  1. Water purification tablets: Commercially available tablets containing iodine or chloride-based chemicals used to disinfect water.
    Compared to boiling water, it may be less effective in killing bacteria, protozoa, or viruses, but it is less costly & less bulky to carry than boiling equipments.
    This method is similar to the chlorination process in water treatment, which uses chemicals (chlorine in particular) to kill disease-causing organismsBoiling: The most primitive yet effective way to treat water.
    Compared to water purification tablets, boiling is more effective in killing bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. However, the equipments required to boil water are more expensive & more bulky to carry around.

    Portable pump filter: Some commercially available filter uses ceramic filter as the cartridge to filter impurities in water. It can filter up to the micrometer. This filters most of the bacteria, making water safer to drink. It is portable and easy to carry during outdoor activities, hiking.
    However, it is less effective in filtering viruses since they are generally smaller in size. Also, depending on the types of filters, the price varies. It is still generally more expensive as compared to boiling and water purification tablets.
    Portable pump filter is analogous to the filtration method used in water treatment. It is only a scale down version since it is made portable.

  2. Although desalination techniques have their technological effectiveness, the energy required to use the techniques are so high that it’s too costly and expensive for a lot of countries, especially third world countries. The desalination plants itself are expensive to build as well.
    There are also environmental concerns as desalination plants take in salt water from the ocean and this is harmful to ocean life as the water travels straight from the ocean directly into the plant. There is also waste created during the process. When the salt is removed from the seawater, a waste called brine is produced. Water containing brine is denser and as a result will sink to the bottom of the ocean. Therefore, resulting in the lack of oxygen which will eventually kill marine-life.
    Besides environmental concerns concerning the ocean, desalination techniques also produces greenhouse gases.
  3.  a) The major source of the lead is from solder in pipe joint or directly from lead pipe.
    b)- Research activities should not contribute to lead in drinking water and disposed of using prescribed method or redesign the chemistry experiment to avoid using lead and any other toxic metal ions.
    – Using two plumbing system, one for the tap/drinking water service system and the other for sanitary or disposal system, so the two pipes doesn’t come in contact
  4. The water-soluble vitamins, vitamins B and C, are polar whilst the fat-soluble proteins are non-polar. Polar molecules will have the ability to form permanent dipole – permanent dipole interactions with water however non-polar molecules cannot as even if their are polar bonds within the molecule, the fact that the majority of the molecule being non-polar would make the molecule insoluble.