Donald Mackay (scientist)

Donald Mackay, OC, O.Ont ( born October 30, 1936 in Glasgow ) is a Canadian chemist.

Life

He has dedicated his thesis to the fate of chemicals in the environment. In 2003 he was awarded the Order of Canada and in 2005 with the Order of Ontario. He taught and conducted research at the University of Toronto and later at Trent University. He is now professor emeritus.

Services

According to him, the well-known Mackay Fugazitäts model is named. It represents the world as a large box in which some compartments are available: soil, sediment, water, air, biota. The distribution of a substance takes place according to the distribution laws of thermodynamics. Depending on the degree of complexity of the Mackay models are named with the Roman numerals I to IV:

Level I: distribution according to thermodynamics, equilibrium constants Kow ( octanol - water partition coefficient), KHenry ( Henry constant ), KSorption ( sorption )

Level II: additional consideration of global emissions (eg from factories ) and degradation rates (eg, biological or photolytic )

Level III: additional consideration of kompartimentsspezifischen emissions and possibly retarded mass transfer between the compartments

Level IV: additional consideration of the time dependence of the emissions (eg periodic fluctuating function)

Works

• Multimedia environmental models. The Fugacity approach, Lewis Publ, Chelsea, Mich.. 1991
• Illustrated handbook of physical- chemical properties and environmental fate for organic chemicals, Lewis, Boca Raton, Fla. [ inter alia ] 1992-97 (5 volumes)