CHLORAMINES CHLORINE FILTRATION ION EXCHANGE PRETREATMENT REVERSE OSMOSIS TDS TOC

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Abstract

ﾓWhatﾒs an atom?ﾔ, asked a woman in the back row of a presentation on water chemistry many years ago, just as the speaker was moving into a description of the fairly advanced topic of oxidation states. It was very apparent there was a need to ﾓgo back to the basicsﾔ. Speaking on behalf of many who have dealt with water and water chemistry for many years, perhaps all of us could learn something by going back-to-the-basics. Atomic Building Blocks An atom represents the basic building block of the universe as we know it. Composed of sub-atomic particles (e.g., electrons, neutrons, protons, and others), the atom could be equated to the bricks that build the building, and the sub-particles are the sand, water, and clay that make up the brick. Our focus is how the various bricks, or atoms, affect our water chemistry. The different atoms are made up of a nucleus containing a unique number of protons (positively charged sub-atomic particles), and often neutrons (neutral sub-atomic particles). Orbiting around the nucleus are electrons (negatively charged sub-atomic particles), which, in normal circumstances, are found in a quantity equal to the number of protons. Atoms with an imbalance of electrons versus protons are called ﾓionsﾔ. Atoms of the same species, but containing different numbers of neutrons, are called ﾓisotopesﾔ.

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