Importance of a Pesticides Vapor Pressure Blog Post #5 Unit 5: Gases and Atmospheric Chemistry
Link to my article: http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/vaporpressure.html
Pesticides are used a lot in the industry of agriculture to produce food . A lot of the food we eat contain pesticides within them. For my fifth blog post, I will be discussing the importance of a pesticides vapour pressure. Throughout our discussion of unit 5, we looked at a number of topics. My blog post will be touching specifically on vapour pressure. Vapour pressure is the pressure exerted by a vapour. Temperature plays an important role in vapour pressure. If the temperature increases, more molecules fill will the air which causes the vapour pressure to increase. If the temperature were to decrease, less molecules will fill the air causing the vapour pressure to go down. If the vapour pressure of a pesticide is low it will turn into vapour and go into the air, whereas if the vapour pressure is high it will get into the air immediately. Vapour pressure is normally measured be heating a sample of liquid on top of mercury to see how it exerts at different temperatures.
The article "Pesticide Vapour Pressure", is all about the importance of knowing the vapour pressure of a pesticide A pesticides vapour pressure is determined when it is placed in a container. It will be seen that some of it will be visible at the bottom of the container. The pressure from the vapours that are pushing outward can be measured. This is normally done using gauges which can detect low pressures. the reason why the vapour pressure of a pesticide is important, because it can tell us many things about the pesticide. It can tell us where the pesticide will go once it has applied on crops, the duration of the pesticide on water, the soil and the crops. It can also tell us how much pesticide will pollute the air and whether animals and humans are at risk of inhaling the pesticide. Pesticides with high vapour pressures can increase this risk factor. It is important when applying pesticides that the vapour pressure is known. Certain pesticides contain high vapour pressure which can pollute the air and are toxic. Once a pesticide becomes a vapour, it can break down and move away from the treated areas to new areas.
After reading this article, I have learned a lot of things about the vapour pressure of a pesticide. It is very important that when using pesticides, the vapour pressure is known. If the vapour pressure is low for the pesticide it is very usage, but if the vapour pressure is high then it can go into the air and pollute it which is not good for the environment. Is there a way to decrease the vapour pressure in certain pesticides? How will the pesticide affect affect the air when it is released into the atmosphere?