Acetone - Environmental Effects

Environmental Effects

Acetone evaporates rapidly, even from water and soil. Once in the atmosphere, it has a 22-day half-life and is degraded by UV light via photolysis (primarily into methane and ethane). Acetone dissipates slowly in soil, animals, or waterways since it is sometimes consumed by microorganisms, but it is a significant groundwater contaminant due to its high solubility in water. The LD50 of acetone for fish is 8.3 g/L of water (or about 0.8%) over 96 hours, and its environmental half-life is about 1 to 10 days. Acetone may pose a significant risk of oxygen depletion in aquatic systems due to the microbial consumption.

Read more about this topic:  Acetone

Famous quotes containing the word effects:

    “If I had any doubts at all about the justice of my dislike for Shakespeare, that doubt vanished completely. What a crude, immoral, vulgar, and senseless work Hamlet is. The whole thing is based on pagan vengeance; the only aim is to gather together as many effects as possible; there is no rhyme or reason about it.”
    —Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)