Chapter 1 - Basic Microbiology and Chemistry Flashcards
A US government agency responsible for implementing federal laws designed to protect the environment.
US Environmental Protection agency (USEPA)
Anything found in water other than water itself.
Contaminant
A disease-causing organism.
Pathogen
An organism too small to be seen by the naked eye and visible only with a microscope.
Microorganism
An organism that lives within, and may cause harm to, other organisms.
Parasite
A one-celled microscopic organism that has no chlorophyll. Usually has a spherical, rodlike, or curved shape.
Bacteria
A bacterium of the coliform group used as a substitute for fecal coliforms in the regulations of the Total Coliform Rule.
Escherichia coli (E. coli)
A porous layer of paper, glass fiber, or cellulose acetate used to remove particulate matter from water samples and other chemical solutions.
Filter
The smallest and simplest form of life.
Virus
Small single-celled animals including amoebae, ciliates, and flagellates.
Protozoa
A protozoan that can survive in water and that causes human disease.
Giardia
A group of bacteria predominantly inhabiting the intestines of humans or animals, but occasionally found elsewhere.
Coliform bacteria
A laboratory method used for coliform testing that uses a nutrient broth placed in tubes.
Multiple-Tube Fermentation (MTF) method
Approved bacterial procedures for the detection of total coliforms.
MNO-MUG method and the
Presence-Absence (P-A) method
A laboratory method used to detect bacteria by capturing them on a membrane filter.
Membrane Filter (MF) method
A regulation that became effective December 31, 1990; doing away with the previous MCL relating to the density of organisms and relating only to the presence or absence of the organisms in water.
Total Coliform Rule
A laboratory method used to estimate the bacteria population present in the water (by culturing them on a specific agar).
Heterotrophic Plate Count (HPC)
The smallest particle of an element that still retains the characteristics of that element.
Atom
A positively charged particle located in the nucleus of an atom.
One of the three elementary particles of an atom (along with neutrons and electrons).
Proton
An uncharged elementary particle that has a mass approximately equal to that of the proton.
These are present in all known atomic nuclei except the lightest hydrogen nucleus.
Neutron
A tiny, negatively charged particle that orbits around the nucleus of an atom.
One of three elementary particles of an atom (along with protons and neutrons).
Electron
The center of an atom, made up of positively charged particles called protons and uncharged particles called neutrons.
Nucleus
The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.
Atomic Number
The sum of the number of protons and the number of neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.
Atomic Weight
An atom of the same element but containing varying numbers of neutrons in the nucleus.
Isotope
An atom that is electrically unstable because it has more or fewer electrons than protons.
Ion
A positive ion.
Cation
A negative ion.
Anion
A chart showing all elements arranged according to similarities of chemical properties.
Periodic Table
The standard abbreviation, either one or two letters, for an element.
Chemical Symbol
Anything that occupies space and has weight (mass).
Matter
Two or mor elements joined together by a chemical bond.
Compound
Two or more atoms joined together by a chemical bond.
Molecule
Two or more elements, compounds, or both, mixed together with no chemical reaction (bonding) occurring.
Mixture
An electron in the outermost electron shell.
Valence Electron
A group of elements chemically bonded together and acting like a single atoms or ion in their ability to form other compounds.
Polyatomic Ion
Using the chemical symbols for each element; a shorthand way of writing what elements & how many elements of each are present in a molecule.
Chemical Formula
The proportion, calculated as a percentage, of each element in a compound.
Percent by Weight
The sum of the atomic weights of all atoms in the compound.
Molecular Weight
A shorthand way, using chemical formulas, of writing the reaction that takes place when chemicals are brought together, with reactants on the left and products on the right of an arrow indicating the direction of the reaction.
Chemical Equation
A liquid containing a dissolved substance.
Solution
The liquid used to dissolve a substance.
Solvent
The solvent dissolved in a solution.
Solute
In chemistry, a measurement of how much solute is contained in a given amount of solution, commonly measured in milligrams per liter (mg/L).
Concentration
A chemical substance of mineral origin not having carbon in its molecular structure.
Inorganic Compound
Any substance that releases hydrogen ions (H+) when it is mixed into water.
Acid
Any substance that produces hydroxide ions when it dissociates in water.
Base
A measurement of how acidic or basic a substance is, from 0 (most acidic) to 14 (most basic).
A measurement of 7 indicates that the substance is neutral.
pH
A measurement of water’s capacity to neutralize an acid.
Alkalinity
A chemical substance of animal or vegetable or vegetable origin having carbon in its molecular structure.
Organic Compound
Disinfection by-product compounds formed by the reaction of organic material in water with chlorine or other disinfectants, consisting of chloroform, dichlorobromomethane, bromodichloromethane, and bromoform.
Trihalomethanes (THMs)
The maximum permissible level of a contaminant in water as specified in the regulations of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL)
Chemicals formed as a reaction of disinfectants with contaminants in water, consisting of monochloroacetic acid, dichloroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid, monobromoacetic acid, and dibromoacetic acid.
Haloacetic Acids (HAA5s)
A chemical produced by humans that can contaminate water.
Synthetic Organic Chemical (SOC)
Non-enforceable health-based goals published along with the promulgation of an MCL.
Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG)
Behavior of a material that has an unstable atomic nucleus, which spontaneously decays or disintegrates, producing radiation.
Radioactivity
The quantity radiation (other than X-rays or other generated radiation) that produces in one gram of human tissue ionization equivalent to the quantity produced in air by one roentgen of radiation or X-rays (equivalent to 83.3 ergs of energy).
Roentgen Equivalent Physical (rep)
A measure of the dose absorbed by the body from radiation (100 ergs of energy in 1 gram of tissue).
Radiation Absorption Dose (rad)
A quantification of radiation in terms of its dose effect on the human body; the number of rads times a quality factor.
Roentgen Equivalent Man (rem)
