This incident actually occurred in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1980 injuring 48

Question

This incident actually occurred in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1980 injuring 480 people. A railcar placarded 1809 is involved in an accident and the contents of the car begin leaking. The liquid is headed towards storm drains and so firefighters apply water to the spilled liquid creating a tower of noxious fumes hundreds of feet high which the wind was blowing towards Boston and Cambridge. Ultimately 17,000 people were evacuated.

a)What is the chemical in the tank car?

b)Write a balanced chemical equation for the reaction of the chemical with water.

c)What types of health effects would you expect from exposure to both the leaking material from the tank car and from the products resulting from application of water?

Explanation / Answer

Placard uses ethanol as fuel.

a) Chemical is ethanol : C2H5OH

b) Ethanol acts as acid.

C2H5OH + H2O --->   C2H5O-   + H3O+

c)
Ethanol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. It can damage heart and liver. It can cause coronary heart disease. It is highly flamable and burns explosively

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