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Re: chlorine
> From: IDMiamiBob at aol_com
> Subject: Re: Chlorine
>
> Someone over the weekend posted that he felt some of the dissolved chlorine in
> the tap water would react with the organic chemicals in a live aquarium to
> form carcinogens. However, every medical journal and environmentalist
> newsletter I have read that discusses chlorinated organic compunds states that
> there are NO naturally occuring chlorinated organics.
That is because you don't get things as aggressive as chlorine
in "natural" systems to make them.
> They are all
> manufactured.
It's not very difficult, either, if you start with Cl2.
> You might get some interaction causing the formation of NaCl,
> CaCl, or some other salt. But the measurable volume of the chlorine
I'm not sure what this means.
> will
> reduce to its simplest stable form, which is the diatomic chlorine gas
> molecule.
The chlorine gas molecule is a very strong oxidising agent.
That is why it kills bacteria. In an ideal situation, when it did that
job, it would all end up as Cl- ions. In practice, one can be pretty
sure that some of the Cl atoms will end up attached to carbon atoms,
hence the concern about trihalomethanes (chloroform in the case of
chlorine) and other chlorinated material.
If you add Cl2 to an aquarium, it will very soon all be gone -
either by reacting with fish, or with plants or with organic debris.
--
Paul Sears Ottawa, Canada