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Arsenic: Arsenic Poisoning
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Arsenic was and is applied for medical purposes. In water from safe sources it probably aids curing asthma, haematological illnesses, dermatosis and psychosis. In the 19th century watery solutions of potassium arsenide (Fowler solution) were applied to treat chronic bronchial asthma and other diseases. At the beginning of the 20th century other arsenic compounds were applied to treat syphilis. Arsenic may assist in curing sleeping sickness and leukaemia.
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Arsenic is used in large quantities in the manufacture of glass to eliminate a green color caused by impurities of iron compounds. A typical charge in a glass furnace contains 0.5 percent of arsenic trioxide. Arsenic is sometimes added to lead to harden it and is ... used in the manufacture of such military poison gases as lewisite and adamsite. Until the introduction of penicillin, arsenic was of great importance in the treatment of syphilis. In other medicinal uses, it has been displaced by sulfa drugs or antibiotics. Lead arsenate, calcium arsenate, and Paris green are used extensively as insecticides.
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Arsenic occurs in different forms and some is transported between different parts of the environment where it may change its form. Arsenic in weathered rock or soil can be picked up and moved by the wind and water. Many arsenic compounds bind to soil and only move short distances when water percolates down through the soil. If arsenic is released into the atmosphere by industrial processes or volcanic activity, it attaches to particles that are dispersed by the wind and fall back to the ground. Microbes in soil and sediment ... release substances containing arsenic into the atmosphere. These are then converted to other arsenic compounds that settle back onto the ground.
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Arsenic is a gray, brittle, metal-like substance that is a natural part of the earth's soil and rocks. Arsenic compounds are present in many kinds of rocks, especially in ores that contain copper or lead. Arsenic levels in soil vary from one part arsenic per million parts soil (ppm) up to about 100 ppm. It can be released into the environment by natural sources such as erosion from mineral deposits and volcanic eruptions. Arsenic is found in water, both above-ground and underground. Arsenic is released into the air as dust from the soil.
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Arsenic compounds are abundant in the earth's crust. Particles are released during mining, and spread throughout the environment. Arsenic from weathered rocks and soils dissolves in groundwater. Arsenic concentrations in groundwater are particularly high in areas with geothermal activity. In aquatic ecosystems inorganic arsenic derived from rocks such as arsenic trioxide (As2O3), orpiment (As2S3), arsenopyrite (AsFeS) en realgar (As4S4) is most prevalent.
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Arsenic possesses a steel-grey colour, and a decided metallic lustre; it crystallizes on sublimation and slow condensation in rhombohedra, isomorphous with those of antimony and tellurium. It is very brittle. Its specific gravity is given variously from 5.395 to 5'959; its specific heat is 0.083, and its coefficient of linear expansion 0.0000-0559 (at 40° C.). It is volatile at temperatures above 1oo° C. and rapidly vaporizes at a dull red heat. It liquefies when heated under pressure, and its melting point lies between 446° C. and 457° C. The vapour of arsenic is of a golden yellow colour, and has a garlic odour. The vapour density is 10.6 (air =1) at 564° C., corresponding to a tetratomic molecule As; at a white heat the vapour density shows a considerable lowering in value, due to the dissociation of the complex molecule.
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Arsenic Poisoning