Tag: chlorine

The Chemistry of Swimming Pools

Chlorination & Pee in the Pool: The Chemistry of Swimming Pools

Infographic on the chemistry of pool chlorination. Hypochlorite salts tend to be used to disinfect pools; they react with water to produce hypochlorous acid, the main bactericidal agent in pool water. It exists in equilibrium with hypocholorite ions, which are broken down by sunlight. Ammonia and ammonia-like compounds from human sweat and urine react with hypochlorous acid to produce chloramines, which cause the characteristic smell of swimming pools and can also cause wheeziness and sore eyes for some swimmers.
Click to enlarge

Swimming pools are a brilliant way of cooling off during a hot summer. Of course, this isn’t a particularly original idea, and hundreds of people might use a particular pool every day. Chemistry is on hand to help prevent us from swimming in water that harbours potential water-borne infections. It can also help out with the cardinal sin of pool-peeing, though not without consequence. It does this, as you likely already know, through the chlorination of pool water – although it’s less simple than you might think!

Read more

Chemical Warfare: Poison Gases in World War 1

An infographic on chemical warfare agents in World War I. Tear gases, chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas are highlighted. Tear gases such as ethyl bromoacetate were used to incapacitate rather than kill. Chlorine was initially devastating but less effective once gas masks were developed to protect from it. Most gas-related fatalities in WWI were caused by phosgene and disphosgene which were used to fill artillery shells. Mustard gas had a low mortality rate but had debilitating effects, leaving those affected by it requiring elaborate care.
Click to enlarge

I’ll be accompanying some of the students from my school on a history trip to Ypres and a few other World War 1 battlefields in a few weeks’ time. Obviously, they’d much rather be learning chemistry, so I’ve been reading up on the different chemical agents used during World War 1, and this graphic is a byproduct of that. As it turns out, several of them were used for the first time at Ypres, so it’ll even be topical!

Read more