ABSTRACT
The behavior of chemicals in the environment is governed by their physical-chemical properties as well as transformation and degradation processes, which are discussed in Chapter 3. The physical-chemical properties of compounds include such characteristics as boiling point (bp), melting point (mp), solubility in water, and similar properties. These properties are, in fact, measurements made in the laboratory of environmentally relevant characteristics. For example, compounds with low boiling points evaporate rapidly into the atmosphere, whereas compounds that are highly soluble in water disperse readily in streams and rivers. Thus, an understanding of these properties would be expected to give a clearer perception of how compounds will behave in the environment. This means that the measurement of the physicalchemical properties of a compound could be used to provide an evaluation of its environmental distribution in air, water, sediments, soil, and animals.
