Ask Question
12 October, 11:17

An oil storage area, abandoned 19 yr ago, had spilled oil on the ground and saturated the soil at a concentration of perhaps 400 mg/kg of soil. A fast food chain wants to build a restaurant there and samples the soil for contaminants only to discover that the soil still contains oil residues at a concentration of 20 mg/kg. The local engineer concludes that, since the oil must have been destroyed by the soil microorganisms at a rate of 20 mg/kg each year, in one more year the site will be free of all contamination. a. Is this a good assumption? Why or why not? (Hint: Consider kinetics.) b. How long would you figure the soil will take to reach the acceptable contamination of 1 mg/kg?

+4
Answers (1)
  1. 12 October, 11:46
    0
    The answer is 19 years.

    Explanation:

    A) One year is wrong, This will decrease as an asymptote, never reaching exactly zero. In 19 more years, the contamination will likely by mg/kg.

    B) L = LoE^-kt

    20 = 400 (e^-K (19))

    K = 0.158

    L = Loe^-kt

    1 = 20 (e^-0.158t)

    t = 19 years.
Know the Answer?
Not Sure About the Answer?
Find an answer to your question 👍 “An oil storage area, abandoned 19 yr ago, had spilled oil on the ground and saturated the soil at a concentration of perhaps 400 mg/kg of ...” in 📗 Geography if the answers seem to be not correct or there’s no answer. Try a smart search to find answers to similar questions.
Search for Other Answers