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2: The Key Role of Chemistry and Making Chemistry Green

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    “We have no choice but to deal with chemistry because all things are chemical. The human body itself is a remarkably complex chemical system composed of thousands of chemicals, the main one of which is water.”

    • 2.1: Chemistry is Good (and Unavoidable)
      This page introduces environmental science and sustainability, emphasizing the critical role of chemistry in understanding matter and processes in living organisms. It discusses both the advantages and historical misuse of chemistry, which have resulted in pollution. The chapter advocates for green chemistry and outlines different branches of chemistry—organic, inorganic, physical, biochemistry, and analytical—all while stressing the necessity for responsible practices to protect the environment.
    • 2.2: The Environment and its Chemistry
      This page describes the five interconnected environmental spheres: atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere, and anthrosphere, each influencing one another. It highlights the atmosphere's role in supporting life, the hydrosphere's water resources, the geosphere's essential soils, the biosphere's living organisms, and the anthrosphere's reflection of human impact.
    • 2.3: What is Environmental Chemistry?
      This page highlights the importance of environmental chemistry in green chemistry, exploring its impact on ecological health and human safety through various branches such as aquatic, atmospheric, and geochemical chemistry. It introduces industrial ecology, advocating for systems that emulate natural ecosystems to reduce waste and promote sustainability. A comprehensive understanding of environmental chemistry is emphasized as essential for implementing effective green chemistry practices.
    • 2.4: Environmental Pollution
      This page outlines the evolution of environmental chemistry driven by pollution concerns, notably from Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" and the thalidomide incident, leading to enhanced legislation in the 1960s. The Love Canal crisis prompted U.S. regulatory measures, while traditional pollution control has had success. The 1990 Pollution Prevention Act shifted focus towards minimizing waste and endorsed green chemistry to foster sustainable practices in manufacturing.
    • 2.5: Practice of Green Chemistry
      This page discusses the limitations of command and control systems in environmental protection as industrial regulations increase, highlighting the need for significant investments for improvements. It presents green chemistry as a sustainable alternative that minimizes waste and harmful materials while enhancing economic efficiency.
    • 2.6: Green Chemistry and Synthetic Chemistry
      This page discusses synthetic chemistry's development of new chemicals and synthesis methods with a focus on green chemistry. It highlights a historical shift where synthetic chemists began addressing environmental concerns. Economic factors now include compliance and waste management costs. Green chemistry advocates for less toxic materials and improved processes, emphasizing atom economy to enhance material efficiency by maximizing reactant incorporation into final products.
    • 2.7: Reduction of Risk- Hazard and Exposure
      This page discusses reducing commercial product risks by managing hazards and exposure. It highlights that risk can be minimized by decreasing either factor, with a focus on the limitations of safety measures that prioritize exposure reduction. Instead, it argues that reducing hazards is more reliable and can lower operational costs, noting that safer materials can be economical in the long run, although low-hazard options may not always be cost-effective or available.
    • 2.8: The Risks of No Risks
      This page emphasizes the balance between mitigating risks and the necessity of using hazardous substances in fields like aviation and chemistry. It highlights the importance of rigorous training and controlled environments to handle these risks while arguing against extreme risk aversion, which can hinder scientific and economic progress. Using examples from the U.S.
    • 2.9: Waste Prevention
      This page discusses the importance of waste prevention over management, noting that stricter environmental laws have increased waste disposal costs in industries like chemical manufacturing. Historical examples, such as General Electric's PCB cleanup costs, illustrate these financial pressures.
    • 2.10: Basic Principles of Green Chemistry
      This page outlines the core principles of green chemistry, focusing on waste prevention, the use of renewable materials, and minimizing hazardous substances and energy use. It emphasizes the importance of incorporating all raw materials into final products and the use of selective reagents and biocompatible products.
    • 2.11: Some Things to Know About Chemistry before You Even Start
      This page offers a succinct overview of chemistry principles relevant to green chemistry in chapters 3-7, covering essential concepts such as chemical compounds, formulas, and reactions. It discusses the composition of chemicals from fewer than 100 natural elements and about 30 artificial ones, defining elements by atomic number, atomic mass, name, and symbol.
    • 2.12: Combining Atoms to Make Molecules and Compounds
      This page explains that noble gases exist independently, while most atoms form molecules by bonding. It describes covalent bonds in molecules like hydrogen (H2) and how chemical compounds such as water (H2O) consist of different element atoms. Ionic bonds involve electron transfer, creating charged ions that attract each other, exemplified by sodium chloride (NaCl). It also notes that ions can be groups of atoms with a net charge, such as the ammonium ion (NH4+).
    • 2.13: The process of making and breaking chemical bonds- chemical reactions
      This page explains chemical compounds, focusing on covalent and ionic bonds, and describes chemical reactions that alter bonds and atoms. It provides two examples involving oxygen: the splitting of O2 by UV radiation to form ozone (O3), which protects Earth from UV, and the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen to create water. The text highlights the importance of balanced chemical equations for accurately representing these reactions.
    • 2.14: The Nature of Matter and States of Matter
      This page explains that matter exists in different forms: gases, liquids, and solids. Air is a homogeneous mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, while mixtures can be homogeneous (indistinguishable) or heterogeneous (distinct particles). Pure substances are uncommon, making mixtures important in green chemistry. It also highlights the properties of gases (compressible), liquids (fixed volume, shapes of containers), and solids (fixed shapes).
    • References and Questions
      This page presents a compilation of literature and references on environmental and green chemistry, featuring questions and problems that encourage inquiry into these topics. It addresses key concepts in chemistry, environmental challenges, and the importance of green chemistry while exploring experimental approaches, principles, and associated risks.

    This page titled 2: The Key Role of Chemistry and Making Chemistry Green is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Stanley E. Manahan.