The Study Of Akali Metal Contamination In Road Side Soil :: essays research papers

The Study of Akali Metal Contamination in Road Side SoilAbstract sextuplet soil samples were taken from a roadside that was expected to exhibitcharacteristic of road salt contamination. This contamination is characterizedby the presence of magnesium, calcium and sodium. The relationship in the midst of akalimetal concentration and distance from the pavement was examined and determinedto be nonexistent. Additionally, atomic absorbtion and atomic emissionspectroscopy were compared and and atomic absorbtion was found to be 1.89 timesas sensitive as atomic emission.IntroductionA common technique in snow and ice removal on roadways is the application ofmagnesium, calcium, and sodium chloride salts to the rise up of the road. Whenthe ice melts it dissolves these salts and causes them to migrate into soil thatis adjacent to the pavement. Over time, the accumulation akali metal salts canchange the chemical profile of the soil which can lead to deadly biologicaleffects. Flame atomic spect roscopy provides a technique that can quantify metalconcentrations in the extracts of the soil samples and consequently examine therelationship amongst distance from the point of road salt application and akalimetal concentrations.ExperimentalSoil preparation Six surface soil samples were collected at the ware ofCold Spring Lane and the exit ramp of Interstate 83, in northwest Baltimore city.These samples were collected at distances from the roadway of 0m, 2m, 4m, 6m,10m, and 20m. These samples were dried in a convection oven at 110C for over 24hours then crushed. Aliquots of approximately one gram were weighed and thenextracted with 10.0 mL of 1M ammonium acetate. The extract was filtered with aninline filter disc with a pore size of 5mm and then diluted to 100.0 mL.Instrumental The extracts were analyzed for Ca, Na, and Mg using a Varian modelAA-3 flame atomization spectrophotometer with a diffraction gratingmonochromator. selective information was collected with a Houston Instr ument chart recorder. Anacetylene/air reducing flame was used for all determinations (10 psi acetylene/7psi air). two replicates of each sample were made and averaged for both AA andAE. The analysis was seperated into two methods atomic absorbtion (AA) andatomic emission (AE). The emission intensities and absorbances were determinedfrom the measured peak height obtained from the chart recordings. AtomicEmission Na and Ca concentrations in the soil were determined using AE. Thespectrophotometer was calibrated using the standard series method for bothelements. regression toward the mean analysis was performed on the calibration data to provide afunctional relationship between emision intensity and concentration.Results and ConclusionsSodium The atomic line used in the analysis for sodium was at 589.0 nm. Therelationship between emision intensity and concentration was found to be