Chapter 12, Problem 47E

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The concentration of mercury in the given sample of well water is to be calculated and the water sample is safe or unsafe for human consumption is to be predicted.

Concept Introduction:

Water gets polluted due to the presence of various biological and chemical contaminants. Biological contaminants include microorganisms such as Giardia, Legionella while chemical contaminants are mercury, lead, benzene, trichloroethylene etc. Both these render water unfit for consumption by human beings and animals, if the contaminant exceeds a certain limit, termed as Maximum Contaminant Limit.

The concentration of a contaminant is reported as the mass of contaminant (in milligrams) present in one liter of water.

It is known that $\text{1000 mL = 1 L}$, hence conversion factor of mm to L is as:

$\frac{1000\text{mL}}{\text{1 L}}$

$\text{Concentration of solute = }\frac{\text{Mass of solute}}{\text{Volume of solution}}$