Gaseous Exchange Research Paper

Mercury is a heavy metal with serious side effects like heart problems, digestive imbalance, loss of memory, breathing problems, ADD, depression, etc.

Mercury is another toxic pollutant that may be found in the tailings and in the surface and ground water supplies of the Silver Bow Creek area. While mercury is

There are three different chemical forms that mercury exists in and each has a specific effect on human health, however for the purpose of this paper only two will be talked about. The first is elemental mercury (Hg), which also called metallic mercury. In this form the primary health effect is when it is breathes as vapor where it can be absorbed through the lungs. Symptoms of this kind include tremors, emotional changes, insomnia, neuromuscular changes, headaches, disturbances in sensations, changes in nerve responses, and performance deficits on tests of cognitive functions. At higher doses there can be kidney effects, respiratory failure, and even death. In this form it is emitted into the air from coal-fired power plants, waste incinerators, smelting plants, which is by far the leading man-made source of mercury in the Great Lakes. It is released into the air and transported by air currents and will eventually fall and be deposited in soil or water. This is particularly important to the people living in Michigan because in Detroit the mercury found in rain has been

Hat manufacturers once used a bright orange mercury wash to separate fur from pelts, and the common hatters who dredged around in the steamy vats, like the mad one in Alice in Wonderland, gradually lost their hair and wits. Eventually, I realized how poisonous mercury is. That explained why Dr. Rush’s Bilious Pills purged the bowels so well: the body will rid itself of any poison, mercury included. And as toxic as swallowing mercury is, its fumes are worse. They fray the “wires” in the central nervous system and burn holes in the brain, much as advanced Alzheimer’s disease does.

Karen Nelson, Neuroepidemiology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; and Margaret Bauman, Children’s Neurology Service, Harvard Medical School conducted a study on neuropathology of mercury toxicity. Nelson and Bauman asserted ethylmercury lacks the active transport mechanism across the blood-brain barrier that other found available to methylmercury however; they provided no evidence to support this assertion. The L system is the major transport

Once released into the environment, mercury is free to be taken up by plants and animals but is not toxic unless transformed through bacterial or chemical processes into its organic form, the most famous of which is methylmercury [6], [8], [10] Methylmercury impacts several critical organ systems and particularly toxic to the development of the fetus [11]. It also bioaccumulates in living organisms, which leads to higher levels of methylmercury with each increasing trophic level [10], [12], [13]

Mercury is an element that can be found in our environment through air, water and soil. Being exposed to constant levels of mercury may be detrimental to one’s overall health since it can impact the nervous, digestive and immune systems of human (WHO). In 1960, the demand of Mercury (Hg) increased significantly as it was needed in many commercial and medical practices, despite its high toxicity levels (dwivedi). Thus, the increase in mercury consumption was due to industrialization. Mercury should be gaining increased medical concerns as it can impact the lives of several classes of society. In Canada, it is found that the vast majority of marine mammals contain methylmercury (MeHg) (Laird). Methylmercury is highly more lethal than Mercury

These toxins more often than not can have fatal consequences. Mercury is definitely one of the number one most dangerously used elements in our history. The first written record of this element is credited to Aristotle Often called the element of the ancients, mercury was dated back to as far as the 15th century BCE when it was found in ceremonial cups in Egyptian Tombs (Czaika). It is known that the Romans were the first to actually mine and use this element for everyday needs. Even at these times humans were aware of the fact that the element was poisonous. They had a mine in Spain that was worked by slaves, prisoners, and other undesirables. After the mine was dry they would use it as a prison system for the workers. Most of them would die very slow and painful deaths, bringing a long end to a short life (Sloane). In ancient China, mercury was used for a variety of medical needs. From a contraceptive, to a cough serum, to a remedy for unknown sexually transmitted diseases (Kok). People would consume mercury as if it was candy. This practice also spread to India. People did not understand the harmful toxins that they were ingesting.

The health hazards for humans who come in contact with contaminants from exposure to polluted water can have long term effects on the body causing possible organ failure and death. Contaminants and chemicals such lead and mercury can bring about many minor illnesses ranging from nausea, lung irritation, skin rash, vomiting, and dizziness, to the major diseases that include cancer, liver and kidney damage, disorders of the nervous system, damage to the immune system, birth defects and even death.

Commercial salmon is an important source of nutrition for humans in both urban populations and aboriginal peoples. However, mercury contamination in salmonids has been a rising concern not only for the health of humans but for the health of wildlife and ecosystems that are affected by it. Mercury is distributed widely through the environment through natural processes, but anthropogenic processes have been increasing mercury concentrations in the environment to dangerous levels through direct deposition in soil and through atmospheric deposition. In this essay, I will review the processes in which mercury circulated through the ecosystems, how salmon is affected by it, and how the consumption of salmon affects human health.

The article describes briefly how the mercury ends up in the fish we eat, how the rain grabs the mercury from the atmosphere and deposits it into the lakes and oceans. Because of the food chain, the largest of the aquatic animals will have the highest amount of mercury, whales and sharks for example. So, communities high in whale and shark consumption will show the greatest risk of mercury poisoning.

The first organic mercury compounds were studied in the 1800s, with serious incidences of methylmercury poisoning reported in 1865. Initial reports indicated a divergent symptoms associated with methyl mercury poisoning. The symptoms include: loss of coordination, tunnel vision, deafness, extremities, impaired speech and altered face sensation. Approximately a century later, contrary to the decreased methylmercury effects, the clinical picture re-emerged. Therefore, development of more harm to human health was suspected. However, international agreement to control pollution by mercury was not reached until 2009. According to the historical evaluations made, the effects of methylmercury toxicity such as forgetfulness, lack of coordination affected the research on environmental health (Bernhoft, R. 2011).

Gas Exchange is a biological delivery of oxygen from the air or water to the bloodstream or cells in

The ozone layer is a specific area in the stratosphere of maximum ozone concentration. Ozone in the stratosphere forms naturally and protects us from damage that can be caused by solar radiation such as skin cancer. In the 1970s chemists discovered that certain chemicals could travel into the upper atmosphere and damage the protective ozone. Ever since this was discovered scientists, government, and citizens have been making efforts to control and reverse the damage done to the ozone. In 1987 a treaty called the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed by world leaders who were participating in the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer. Without this protocol the abundances of chlorine would

Global warming is the constant increase of temperature in the earth’s atmosphere that is caused by the increase of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, greenhouse gases and many other pollutants. Chlorofluorocarbons are any type of compounds of carbon, hydrogen, chlorine, and fluorine which are harmful to the ozone layer. Global warming can affect many things, one example is the rising of temperature which can result in different types of disasters like storms, heat waves, floods, and droughts. Global warming also causes Higher death rates, Dirtier air, Higher wildlife extinction rates, the increase of Acidic Oceans, and Higher seas levels. In this essay, I will provide information that will show how harmful global warming can be to not only the earth but to humans and animals, and what we can do to prevent it from increasing.