Question

Environmental scientists calculating pollutant half-lives often define a transport rate constant that is analogous to a reaction rate constant and describes how a pollutant moves out of an ecosystem. In a study of the gasoline additive MTBE in Donner Lake, California, scientists from the University of California, Davis, found that in the summer the half-life of MTBE in the lake was 26.01 days. Assume that the transport process is first order. What was the transport rate constant of MTBE out of Donner Lake during the study

Answer 1

k ≈
`2.7 *10^(-2) d^(-1)`

Step-by-step explanation:

For a first order reaction

Half life (
`t_(1/2)` ) = 0.693 / k

k = rate constant

`t_(1/2)` = 26.01

hence k = 0.693 / ( 26.01)

k ≈ 2.7 * 10^-2 d^-1

This is a detailed simple solution as required