Question

Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) can be defined as:
a.) The amount of oxygen required by bacteria to break down the organic matter of a simple water.
b.) The amount of chemicals required to break down the organic matter of a sample of water
c.) The amount of phosphate required to break down the organic matter of a sample of water
d.) The amount of organic matter present in the given sample of water.

Answer 1

Hint: The biological oxygen demand (BOD) is a quality parameter of the water. Depending upon the high biological oxygen demand and low biological oxygen demand, we can determine the quality of water.

Complete step by step answer:
We know that in different water sources, the quality of water will be different. There are several parameters to determine the quality. One of such a quality parameter to determine the quality of water is biological oxygen demand. As the name suggests, it is a demand of oxygen required by the aerobic bacteria to break down the organic matter over a specific time period. A high value of biological oxygen demand implies a high amount of oxygen is required by bacteria to decompose the organic matter. So, the amount of organic matter present in the water is also high.
 So, biological oxygen demand is the amount of oxygen required by bacteria to break down the organic matter of a simple water.
So, the correct answer is “Option A”.

Note:Chemical oxygen demand (COD) is also a parameter which used to measure the quality. Here, the amount of oxygen required for chemically oxidation of the organic matter is determined. In both cases, chemical oxygen demand is less specific than BOD.