Questions and Problems

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Access to and use of the internet is assumed in answering all questions including general information, statistics, constants, and mathematical formulas required to solve problems. These questions are designed to promote inquiry and thought rather than just finding material in the text. So in some cases there may be several “right” answers. Therefore, if your answer reflects intellectual effort and a search for information from available sources, your answer can be considered to be “right.”

1. At the beginning of this chapter, it was noted that the Alfred P. Murrah Oklahoma City Federal Building was destroyed in 1995 by the explosion of a mixture of ammonium nitrate (chemical formula NH₄NO₃) and diesel fuel (C₁₆H₃₄). An explosion occurs when chemicals react very rapidly to produce much more stable chemical species, gases, and heat. Consider that H₂O, CO₂, and N₂ are very stable forms of the elements present in a mixture of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel, that CO₂, and N₂ are gases, and that at the temperature of an explosion H₂O is a gas as well. Attempt to write a chemical reaction that occurs when a mixture of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel explodes.

2. Nitroglycerin explodes by itself without having to react with any other chemical. Look up its formula and, from the information given in the preceding question, give a possible chemical reaction for a nitroglycerin explosion.

3. Consider the infrastructure of your home. Suggest how it might be vulnerable because of the interconnectivity in it. Suggest how cascading failures might do great damage to your homelife.

4. For a 75-kg person, estimate the lethal dose in grams, milligrams, or micrograms of each of the toxic substances shown in Figure 16.2.

5. Exposure of a person to toxic benzene can be estimated by measuring phenol in blood. Explain the rationale for such an analysis. Why is benzene epoxide not commonly determined to estimate benzene exposure?

6. Consider the toxicity of inhaled carbon monoxide in the context of Figure 16.3. Identify for carbon monoxide the receptor, the abnormal biochemical effect, and the physiological response manifesting toxicity.

7. Compare carbon monoxide to chlorine as agents of terrorist attack. What characteristic of carbon monoxide might make it a favored weapon. Why might chlorine be favored by terrorists? What characteristic would make it less attractive than carbon monoxide to terrorists?

8. Match each toxic substance and potential terrorist agent from the list on the left below with its characteristic from the list on the right.

A. Botulinus toxin 1. A disease-causing agent (pathogen)

B. Sarin 2. Inhibits acetylcholinesterase enzyme

C. Methyl isocyanate 3. Most toxic of those listed

D. Shigella dysenteriae 4. Toxic in gaseous, solid, or solution form

E. Cyanide 5. An industrial chemical that has killed thousands in a single incident

9. Figure 16.5 illustrating how abundant, sustainable sources of energy can lead to a high living standard emphasizes food, housing, and water. Suggest areas other than these three that depend upon abundant, sustainable energy and that can lead to a high living standard.

10. Natural gas pipelines are sometimes cited as elements of the infrastructure that are vulnerable targets for terrorist attack. Look up and describe an incident from 2010 that illustrates this vulnerability.

11. The compound sodium chlorate, NaClO₃, is mentioned in this chapter as an oxidant. Suggest with a chemical reaction what happens to this compound when it is heated. How might it actas an agent to accelerate fire or even cause an explosion?

12. What is meant by “just-in-time” chemical production and how may it minimize hazards in chemical production? In what sense is it consistent with the practice of green chemistry? In what sense does it potentially contribute to vulnerability in the chemical manufacture process?

13. Native American populations in what is now the U.S. were drastically reduced by a disease-causing agent after European explorers and settlers arrived on the continent. What was this agent and why were the Native Americans particularly vulnerable to its effects? Were there any cases in which it was deliberately spread?

14. There are two major ways in which biological agents (including microorganisms) can be used to harm humans. Explain.

15. At least two different water disinfecting agents can be made with electricity using raw materials so abundant that they may be regarded as renewable. What are these agents and how could they be synthesized as needed on site at a water treatment plant? How might such systems reduce the danger of terrorist attack?