Chapter 15 APES
Describe the production of stratospheric ozone.
The production of stratospheric ozone is a closed loop cycle. It is formed from the reaction of O with O2 in the presence of ultraviolet radiation. Without interference, there is a steady state of ozone being created and destroyed. The ozone absorbs UV-B and decomposes into O2 and O.
How does the troposphere differ from the stratosphere? What are some important consequences of having ozone in the stratosphere?
The troposphere is where almost all of our weather occurs. The troposphere gets colder with altitude while the stratosphere gets warmer with altitude. The troposphere differs from the stratosphere in that it has 1,000 times less ozone by volume.
Be able to describe the two organisms involved in the mutualistic relationship exemplified in lichens. What are lichens useful for? What makes lichens good for tracking air pollution?
The two organisms involved in a mutualistic relationship in lichens are an alga and fungus. Lichens are very sensitive to air quality and so make excellent bioindicators of air quality. Lichens can track air pollution to its source because they have some species that sicken or die in the presence of certain types of air pollution. Lichens also live a long time, stay in one place and are widespread in their distribution.
What areas in the United States has air pollution affected trees the most? What sides of mountains?
U.S. air pollution has most seriously affected trees in the Appalachian mountains. Air pollution in the United States has most seriously affected trees on high-elevation slopes facing moving air masses.
The protective layer of oxygen and stratospheric ozone absorb over 99% of incoming?
UV-B and UV-C radiation.
What are volatile organic compounds (VOCs)? Give some examples.
VOCs refer to volatile organic compounds. Volatile organic compounds include Methane (CH4), Propane (C3H8), benzene, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
Photochemical smog is characteristic of urban areas with many vehicles and a climate that is?
Warm, dry, and sunny.
What city in the United States has the greatest air pollution problem but also has the toughest pollution control program? What are some of the air pollutants that aggravate this city's air problems?
A city with several million people and motor vehicles in an area with a sunny climate, light winds, mountains on three sides, and the ocean on the other has ideal conditions for photochemical smog worsened by frequent thermal inversions. This describes California's Los Angeles basin, which has 14 million people, 23 million motor vehicles, thousands of factories, and thermal inversions at least half of the year. Despite having the world's toughest air pollution control program, Los Angeles is the air pollution capital of the United States.
What is photochemical smog? What causes it? What are some major cities afflicted with photochemical smog? Urban areas in what types of climates are most affected? What determines the frequency and severity of smog in an area?
A photochemical reaction is any chemical reaction activated by light. Air pollution known as photochemical smog is formed when a mix of nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2, both called NOx) and volatile organic hydrocarbon compounds from natural and human sources chemically react under the influence of UV radiation from the sun to produce a mixture of more than 100 primary and secondary pollutants. Virtually all modern cities have photochemical smog. However, it is much more common in cities with sunny, warm, dry climates and lots of motor vehicles such as Los Angeles, California; Denver, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States, as well as Sydney, Australia; Mexico City, Mexico; andSao Paulo and Buenos Aires in Brazil. The frequency and severity of smog in an area depends on several things: The local climate and topography, the population density, the amount of industry, and the fuels used in industry, heating, and transportation. In areas with high average annual precipitation, rain and snow help cleanse the air of pollutants. Winds help sweep pollutants away and bring in fresh air, but they may also transfer some pollutants to downwind areas. Hills and mountains tend to reduce the flow of air in valleys below them and allow pollutant levels to build up at ground level. Buildings in cities generally slow wind speed,thereby reducing dilution and removal of pollutants. Areas prone to temperature inversions can especially be affected.
What are thermal inversions?
A temperature or thermal inversion occurs when a layer of dense, cool air trapped under a layer of less dense, warm air. This prevents upward-flowing air currents from developing. In a prolonged inversion, air pollution in the trapped layer may build up to harmful levels.
What is a thermal inversion?
A thermal inversion, which can lead to serious pollution events, occurs when cool air stays close to the surface and is blanketed by a layer of warm air that traps pollutants.
What are the four (4) most dangerous indoor air pollutants?
According to the EPA and public health officials, the four most dangerous indoor air pollutants in more-developed countries are tobacco smoke, formaldehyde emitted from many building materials and various household produces, radioactive radon-222 gas, which can seep into houses from underground rock deposits, and very small (ultrafine) particles of various substances in emissions from motor vehicles, coal-burning and industrial power plants, wood burning, and forest and grass fires.
Properly define acid deposition.
Acid deposition is the falling of acids and acid-forming compounds from the atmosphere to the earth's surface.It can include acid rain, acid fog, acid snow, etc.Acid deposition is commonly known as acid rain, a term that refers only to wet deposition of droplets of acids and acid-forming compounds.
What is acid shock? What are some strategies to reduce acid deposition?
Acid shock is caused by the sudden runoff of large amounts of highly acidic water and aluminum ions into lakes and streams when snow melts in the spring or after unusually heavy rains. Some strategies to reduce acid deposition include: removing sulfur from coal before it is burned, reducing energy use,switching to natural gas, and removing sulfur dioxide from smokestack gases.
How does acid shock affect aquatic life in the Northern Hemisphere?
Acid shock with its high levels of low pH water and dissolved aluminum especially damages the eggs and young developing organisms in aquatic ecosystems.
Air pollution, mostly ozone, has reduced crop production by 5 to 10% especially in what crop(s)?
Air pollution, particularly ozone, has reduced corn, wheat, and soybean production by 5 to 10%.
The effectiveness of the pollution prevention approach is best illustrated by the sharp drop what atmospheric substance?
An example of the power of prevention is that in the United States, the air pollutant with the largest drop (98% between 1970 and 2002) in its atmospheric level was lead, which was largely banned in gasoline. This is viewed as one of the greatest pollution success stories in the country's history.
Aspects of sulfur allowances as provided for in the Acid Rain Program of the Clean Air Act include:
An overall reduction in sulfur emissions in the U.S., companies can emit amounts of sulfur proportional to the amounts they emitted prior to 1990, companies can sell sulfur allowances that they do not use to other companies, and companies that emit quantities of sulfur above which they have allowances for must pay a fine.
What geographical areas tend to be more likely to have them?
Areas with lots of motor vehicles in areas with sunny climates, light winds, mountains on three sides, and the ocean on the other have their pollution problems exacerbated by frequent thermal inversions.
Asbestos is described as fibrous, what does this mean?
Asbestos is mined from several different minerals. It is composed of many small fibers(thin-like threads). Asbestos fibers are easily inhaled and carried into the lower regions of the lung causing respiratory and lung diseases.
Explain in detail what asthma is. What appears to be happening to asthma levels in the United States?
Asthma is typically an allergic reaction causing sudden episodes of muscle spasms in the bronchial walls, resulting in acute shortness of breath. This affliction has grown 160% among U.S. preschool children (ages 3 to 5) between 1980 and 1994.
When is the depletion of ozone over Antarctica greatest during the Northern Hemisphere months of?
August through November (spring in the Southern Hemisphere).
What are baghouse filters? Where and why are they used?
Baghouse filters are commonly used solutions to remove particulates from the exhaust gases of electric power and industrial plants. Baghouse filters are the only process that removes more of the hazardous fine particles than any other current air pollution technology.
Particulates can be removed from stack exhausts gases by?
Baghouse filters, wet scrubbers, cyclone separators, and electrostatic precipitators.
What class of anthropogenic compounds is responsible for the breakdown of stratospheric ozone?
Chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs.
Why does radon tend to be pulled into a house?
Because of the slightly lower atmospheric pressure inside most homes. Remember, air moves from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure.
What is beneficial ozone?
Beneficial ozone is stratospheric and the dangerous ozone is tropospheric. Stratospheric ozone screens out ultraviolet radiation, allowed the evolution of life on land, is linked with higher temperatures in that layer of the atmosphere, and prevents some sunburns because it absorbs some wavelengths of UV radiation.
In order to control tropospheric ozone, what is it necessary to limit?
Both VOC emissions and NOx emissions.
What is carbon monoxide and why is it a problem?
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless gas that is poisonous to air-breathing animals.
What are some sources of carbon monoxide?
Carbon monoxide forms during the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing fuels. Cigarette smoking and the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels create carbon monoxide. About 77% (95% in cities) comes from motor vehicle exhaust. Carbon monoxide reacts with hemoglobin in red blood cells and reduces the ability of blood to bring oxygen to body cells and tissues. This impairs perception and thinking, slows reflexes, causes headaches, drowsiness, dizziness, and nausea, can trigger hear t attacks an angina, damages the development of fetuses and young children, and aggravates chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and anemia. At high levels it causes collapse, coma, irreversible brain cell damage, and death.It can be dangerous indoors and outdoors.
Why does Chattanooga's location make it more susceptible to pollution?
Chattanooga. Tennessee's location is in a "bowl" formed by mountains that causes air pollution to get trapped.
What can chronic exposure of tree leaves and needles to air pollutants cause?
Chronic exposure of tree leaves and needles to air pollutants can increase the chance of damage from diseases, pests, drought, and frost.
What is a photochemical oxidant? Give some examples of this class of pollutants.
Collectively, NO2, O3, and PANs are called photochemical oxidants because they can react with and oxidize certain compounds in the atmosphere or inside your lungs that normally are not oxidized. Mere traces of these oxidants (especially ozone) and aldehydes in photochemical smog can irritate the respiratory tract and damage crops and trees).
What is the correct sequence of events for acid deposition?
Combustion releasing SO2 and NOx, secondary pollutants are formed, dissociation of pollutants, deposition of ions on vegetation or soil.
What are some problems associated with acid deposition?
Compromised aquatic systems, lowered pH of lakes, increases the mobility of toxic metals, kills many species of fish, stunts plants and makes them more susceptible to disease, weathering and erosion of buildings and monuments made of marble, erosion of paint on painted surfaces, etc.
What are national ambient air quality standards? What do they specify?
Congress directed the EPA to establish national ambient air quality standards for six outdoor criteria pollutants (carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, suspended particulate matter, ozone, lead). The EPA regulates these chemicals by using criteria developed from risk assessment methods to set maximum permissible levels in outdoor air. National ambient air quality standards specify the maximum allowable level, averaged over a specific time period, for a certain outdoor pollutant.
What is Sick Building Syndrome?
EPA studies have linked various air pollutants found in buildings to a number of health effects, a phenomenon known as the sick-building syndrome. Such effects include dizziness, headaches, coughing, sneezing, shortness of breath, nausea, burning eyes, sore throats, chronic fatigue, irritability, skin dryness and irritation, respiratory infections, flu-like symptoms, and depression. EPA and Labor Department studies in the United States indicate that almost one in five commercial buildings in the United States is considered "sick" and is exposing employees to these health risks. Specific reasons for sick building syndrome as identified by the EPA include copy machines, mold and pollen, VOCs from carpet and furniture, and faulty ventilation.In sick building syndrome, toxic compounds build up in airtight space with improper ventilation.
What types of materials are most affected by air pollution? What types of materials are least affected by air pollution?
Each year, air pollutants cause billions of dollars in damage to various materials we use. The fallout of soot and grit on buildings, cars, and clothing requires costly cleaning. Air pollutants break down exterior paint on cars and houses, and they deteriorate roofing materials. Irreplaceable marble statues, historic buildings, and stained glass windows around the world have been pitted, gouged, and discolored by air pollutants. For example, the famous Greek ruins on the Acropolis in Athens have deteriorated more during the past 50 years than during the previous 2,000 years. Damage to buildings in the United States from acid deposition along is estimated at $5 billion per year.
Explain in detail what emphysema is. Who is most affected by this problem?
Emphysema is irreversible damage to air sacs or alveoli leading to abnormal dilation of air spaces, loss of lung elasticity, and acute shortness of breath. Elderly people, infants, pregnant women, and people with heart disease, asthmas, or other respiratory diseases are especially vulnerable to air pollution. Prolonged smoking and exposure to air pollutants can cause emphysema in anyone, but about 2% of emphysema cases result from a defective gene that reduces the elasticity of the air sacs in the lungs. Anyone with this hereditary condition, for which testing is available, should not smoke and should not live or work in a highly polluted area.
Name some important reasons why environmentalists criticize the Clean Air Act of 1990?
Environmentalists point to several deficiencies in the Clean Air Act. One is continuing to rely mostly on pollution cleanup rather than prevention. Second is the failure of Congress to increase fuel-efficiency standards for cars, sport utilities vehicles (SUVs), and light trucks. According to environmental scientists, increased fuel efficiency would reduce air pollution from motor vehicles more quickly and effectively than from any other method, reduce CO2 emissions, save energy, and save consumers enormous amounts of money. Third, there has also been inadequate regulation of emissions from inefficient two-cycle gasoline engines. These engines are used in lawn mowers, leaf blowers, chain saws, jet skis, outboard motors, and snowmobiles. According to the California Air Resources Board, a 1-hour ride on a typical jet ski creates more air pollution than the average U.S car does in a year and operating a 100-horsepower boat engine for 7 hours emits more air pollutants than a new car driven 160,000 kilometers (100,000 miles).
How do living organisms and their excrement pollute indoor air?
Evidence indicates that exposure to allergens such as dust mites and cockroach droppings found in some homes plays an important role in the increasing number of people suffering from asthma in the United States. Another living source of indoor air pollution is toxic airborne spores of fungal growths such as molds and mildew that can cause headaches and allergic reactions and aggravate asthma and other respiratory diseases. Some evidence suggests that spores from molds and mildew growing underneath houses and on interior walls are the single greatest cause of allergic reactions to indoor air.
Name some chronic diseases that are adversely affected by ozone in photochemical smog.
Evidence shows that inhaling ozone, a component of photochemical smog, causes coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath, and eye, nose, and throat irrigation. It also aggravates chronic diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, and heart disease and reduces resistance to colds and pneumonia. Many U.S. cities often exceed safe levels, especially during warm weather. A 1987 study also slowed that after factoring out smoking, long-time Los Angeles residents exposed to ozone had twice the risk of cancer compared to residents of cleaner cities.
What sort of risk do experts associate with acid rain? Name some things that acid deposition has been linked to.
Experts rate acid rain as a medium-risk ecological problem and a high-risk human health problem. Acid deposition has been linked to contamination of fish with highly toxic methylmercuy, excessive soil nitrogen levels, reduced nutrient uptake by tree roots, and the release from soil of water-soluble aluminum ions, which damage tree roots and stimulate mucus formation that clogs fish gills.
How do experts rate indoor pollution in terms of health risk?
Experts rate indoor air pollution as a high-risk health problem for humans.
What types of solid particles are not effectively captured by most air pollution control equipment? Why is this a problem?
Fine and ultrafine particles are not effectively capture by most air pollution control equipment and are able to penetrate the respiratory system's natural defenses against air pollution and cause significant respiratory related illnesses.
In most aquatic systems, at what pH does acid deposition have its greatest effects?
For most aquatic systems, acid deposition has harmful effects when the pH falls below 6.0 and especially below 4.5, which kills most fish.Most people define acid deposition as any deposition less than a pH of 5.6.
What is formaldehyde found in?
Formaldehyde is found in building materials (such as plywood, particleboard, paneling, and high-gloss wood used on floors and for cabinets), furniture, drapes, upholstery, adhesives(glue)in carpeting and wallpaper, urethane-formaldehyde foam insulation, fingernail hardener, and wrinkle-free coatings on permanent press clothing. The EPA estimates that 1 of every 5,000 people who live in manufactured (mobile) homes for more than 10 years are likely to develop cancer from formaldehyde exposure.
Gasoline is a VOC. What are some characteristics of gasoline that make it a VOC?
Gasoline evaporates at a typical atmospheric temperature, gasoline has a strong smell, gasoline is a hydrocarbon, and gasoline is an organic compound.
Which motor vehicle fuel cause the greatest amount of pollution?
Gasoline is the motor vehicle fuel that is the greatest polluter.
What causes the haze often seen in the Amazon basin from satellite photos?
Haze in the Amazon basin often comes from slash and burn methodologies used to remove trees.
Name some methods by which humans are protected from air pollution. For example, what do your nose hairs do?
Humans are protected from air pollution by sneezing and coughing, mucus in our noses capturing small particles, nasal hairs filtering out large particles, and cilia transporting mucus to the mouth.
How can a municipality (town or city) take measures to decrease its air pollution?
If a municipality wanted to take measures to decrease its air pollution, the largest impact would come from switching its city fleets of vehicles to natural gas from gasoline.
In 1997, the EPA proposed a voluntary emission trading program involving what smog-forming compound for 22 eastern states?
In 1997, the EPA proposed a voluntary emission trading program involving smog-forming nitrogen oxides for 22 eastern states.
What is gray-air smog and what types of suspended particles does it come from?
In the troposphere, some of the sulfur dioxide reacts with oxygen to form sulfur trioxide (SO3), which then reacts with water vapor in the air to produce suspended droplets of sulfuric acid (H2SO4). Some of these droplets react with ammonia in the atmosphere to form solid particles of ammonium sulfate [(NH4)2SO4]. The tiny suspended particles of such salts and carbon (soot) give the resulting industrial smog a gray color, explaining why it is sometimes called gray-air smog.
What are some problems associated with the thinning ozone layer?
Increased incidences of skin cancer, increased incidences of cataracts, reduction in photosynthetic activity in plants, suppressed immune system, etc.
What is indoor air pollution?
Indoor air pollution is a serious problem in developed areas of all countries mostly because of chemicals used in building materials and products used within the home.Levels of 11 common pollutants are generally 2 to 5 times higher inside U.S. homes and commercial buildings than they are outdoors, and in some cases they are as much as 100 times higher. Pollution levels inside cars in traffic-clogged urban areas can be up to 18 times higher than outside levels. The health risks from exposure to such chemicals are magnified because most people in developed urban areas spend 70-98% of their time indoors or inside vehicles.
What type of air pollution is MOST difficult to control?
It is better not to create the air pollution in the first place. It is always difficult and expense to try and remove air pollutants after they have been dispersed over a wide area.
Why is ground level ozone classified as a pollutant?
It reduces lung functionality and can degrade plant surfaces, disrupting photosynthesis.
Where are most of the lakes located in the United States that are threatened by excess acidity?
Most of the 9,000 or so lakes threatened by excess acidity in the United States are in the Northeast and upper Midwest.
What areas often have problems with high levels of particulates?
Large urban areas often have problems associated with high levels of particulate pollution. These areas often have levels of respiratory disease high above the national average. In addition, there often days with limited visibility due to haze. Haze is what we call a slight obscuration of the lower atmosphere typically caused by fine suspended particles.
Be sure you can name all six (6) "criteria" air pollutants as specified under the Clean Air Act.
Lead (Pb), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), and tropospheric ozone (O3).
What are some possible economic benefits to legislation on air pollution?
Local businesses can capitalize on new "clean" technologies, local manufacturers of "clean" technologies can be established, municipal fleets of electric cars and buses can be created, and people may want to move to the area because of its cleaner air.
What are some examples of the long history of air pollution man has caused on Planet Earth?
Man has been polluting the air ever since he conquered the use of fire. Early man lit fires to stampede wildlife into narrow areas to kill for meat. People living in caves, smoky tipis, and other early shelters experienced some of the first indoor air pollution. Ice samples reveal lead from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Coal burning was banned in London during the Middle Ages because of how toxic the air became. In the early 1900s London had several lethal episodes with killer smog. There is even documented air pollution from wood-burning in Rome during the 1st Century A.D.
What types of materials are often most affected by acid deposition?
Marble headstones or statues, stained glass windows, exterior paint on cars, rubber tires. Granite is a more durable rock and it is fairly resistant to acid deposition.
What air pollutant is a metal and is released primarily from the combustion of coal?
Mercury.
What are some methods by which indoor air pollution can be sharply reduced?
Modify building codes to prevent radon infiltration, require exhaust hoods or vent pipes for stoves, refrigerators, or other appliances burning natural gas or other fossil fuels, set emission standards for building materials, find substitutes for potentially harmful chemicals, etc.
Catalytic converters in cars have been instrumental in removing what pollutants from vehicle emissions?
NOx and CO (nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide).
Early air pollution legislation in the United States sought to control what types of air pollution?
NOx emissions, open burning, the sulfur content in fuel, and emissions from industrial smokestacks.
What are nitrogenoxides?
NOx occur as NO2 and NO gases. They occur as products of combustion in the atmosphere. Motor vehicles and fossil fuel combustion are the primary anthropogenic sources. NOx plays role in the production of photochemical smog.
What can be some results of being exposed to them?
Nitrogen oxides (especially NO2) can irritate the lungs, aggravate asthma or chronic bronchitis, cause conditions similar to chronic bronchitis and emphysema, and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections such as the flu and common colds (especially in young children and elderly people). Recent evidence from test animals indicates that nitrogen dioxide exposure may also encourage the spread of some cancers -especially malignant melanoma -throughout the body
What are the major classes of outdoor pollutants?
Note that smog isn't listed. See chart.
In what layer of the Earth's atmosphere is ozone increasing and in which layer of Earth's atmosphere is ozone decreasing based on human activities? What does ozone contribute to in the troposphere?
Ozone is an air pollutant when found in the troposphere. Ozone in the troposphere contributes to smog. Stratospheric ozone is important because it helps to screen out ultraviolet radiation and prevents some ozone formation in the troposphere. Stratospheric ozone allowed the evolution of life on land and also prevents sunburn. Human health depends on having enough ozone in the stratosphere and little ozone in the troposphere.There is evidence that humans are increasing ozone in the troposphere and decreasing ozone in the stratosphere. Tropospheric ozone forms when various air pollutants undergo chemical reactions under the influence of sunlight.
The smog that frequently exists in major metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, California is known as brown smog and consists primarily of what component?
Ozone.
What are PSD standards? What do they prevent?
PSD standards stand for Prevention of Significant Deterioration. They prevent industries from moving into those areas with air cleaner than national requirements.
In order to reduce the amount of ground-level pollutants (e.g. VOCs, NOx, CO and tropospheric ozone), municipalities around the globe have instituted(put into place) many different policies. What are some of these?
Permitting automobiles to be driven only every other day, expanding public transportation networks, putting in carpool/high occupancy vehicle lanes on interstates, and charging user fees to use certain roads at certain times.
How do pesticides and lead get into the home?
Pesticide residues and lead particles can be brought indoors on shoes and can collect in carpets and furnishings. According to the EPA, pesticides are used indoors at least once a year in three of every four U.S. homes. Many chemicals containing potentially harmful organic solvents are also found in paints and various sprays.
What are primary pollutants?
Primary pollutants are those emitted directly into the troposphere in a potentially harmful form. Examples are soot and carbon monoxide. While in the troposphere, some of these primary pollutants may react with one another or with the basic components of air to form new pollutants called secondary pollutants.
What is Radon-222? What levels of radon are acceptable in homes? What levels are unacceptable? What is a picocurie?
Radioactive radon is a product of uranium decay and an indoor air pollutant. Radon-222 is basically a problem in confined spaces and underground wells over radon-containing deposits. According to the EPA, prolonged exposure to average radon levels above 4 picocuries (a picocurie is a trillionth of a curie, which is the amount of radioactivity emitted by a gram of radium) per liter of air in a closed house is considered unsafe. EPA indoor radon surveys suggest that 4-5 million U.S. homes may have annual radon levels above 4 picocuries per liter of air and that 50,000-1000,000 homes may have levels above 20 picocuries per liter. Because radon "hot spots" can occur almost anywhere, it's impossible to know which buildings have unsafe levels of radon without conducting tests.
What is radon? Why does radon tend to get pulled into a house?
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that you cannot see, taste, or smell and is produced by the radioactive decay of uranium-238. But this isotope is much more concentrated in underground deposits of minerals such as uranium, phosphate, granite, and shale. When radon gas from such deposits seeps upward through the soil and is released outdoors, it disperses quickly in the atmosphere and decays to harmless levels. However, in buildings above such deposits radon gas can enter through cracks in foundations and walls, openings around sump pumps and drains, and hollow concrete blocks. It tends to be pulled into a house because of the slightly lower atmospheric pressure inside most homes. Once inside it can build up to high levels, especially in unventilated lower levels of homes and buildings. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking.
What are some descriptions of Radon-222.
Radon-222 is a radioactive gas resulting from the natural decay of uranium. It seeps into homes through cracks in the foundation or soil, the effects can be reduced by simply increasing ventilation, it exists in the igneous rock granite around the world.
What is an effective way to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from the burning of coal?
Reduce or lower the temperatures the coal is burned at.
What are some costs associated with atmospheric brown clouds such as those covering large areas in Asia?
Reduced light absorption causing reduced photosynthesis in plants, human respiratory problems, diminished attraction and allure of recreation areas, and loss of tourism dollars.
Acid deposition is best classified as a?
Regional problem.
What is an excellent way to clean up pollution from motor vehicles?
Require vehicles to use emission-control devices.
What are some medical problems that volatile organic compounds and particulates can cause?
Research indicates that any volatile organic compounds (such as benzene and formaldehyde) and toxic particulates (such as lead, cadmium, PCBs, and dioxins) can cause mutations, reproductive problems, or cancer.
What are fine and ultrafine particles? Where do they come from? How do they damage human lungs?
Research indicates that invisible particles -especially fine particles with diameters less than 10 microns (PM-10) and ultrafine particles with diameters less than 2.5 microns (PM-2.5)-pose a significant health hazard. Such particles come from a variety of sources. Ultrafine particles are invisible particles with diameters less than 2.5 microns (PM-2.5). These extremely small particles pose significant health hazards. Inhaling suspended particulate matter aggravates bronchitis and asthma, and long-term exposure can contribute to the development of chronic respiratory disease and cancer. Fine and ultrafine particles are emitted by incinerators, motor vehicles, and power and industrial plants. Such tiny particles, much thinner than a human hair, are not effectively captured by modern air-pollution control equipment, and they are small enough to penetrate the respiratory system's natural defenses against air pollution. They can also bring with them droplets or other particles of toxic or cancer-causing pollutants that become attached to their surfaces. Once they are lodged deep within the lungs, evidence suggests that these fine and ultrafine particles can cause chronic irritation that can trigger asthma attacks, aggravate other lung diseases, cause lung cancer, and interfere with the blood's ability to take in oxygen and release CO2. This strains the heart, increasing the risk of death from heart disease.
What is most likely to cause respiratory illnesses in developing countries?
Respiratory illnesses in developing countries are most likely to be caused by particulate matter.
What are some reasons some scientists and politicians want to add carbon dioxide to the list of air pollutants?
Scientists give three reasons for classifying carbon dioxide as an air pollutant. First, in high enough concentrations any chemical in the air can become a pollutant. Second, we have been increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the troposphere by burning fossil fuels and clearing CO2 absorbing trees faster than they are growing back in many areas. Third, the troposphere is warming and there is considerable evidence that the additional CO2 (a greenhouse gas) added to the troposphere by human activities play a role in this change.Carbon dioxide is also linked with the acidification of our oceans.
Tropospheric ozone, O3, is a secondary pollutant involved in photochemical smog. What does this mean?
Secondary air pollutants arise as a result of a chemical reaction that primary air pollutants undergo.
What are secondary pollutants?
Secondary pollutants are not emitted directly into the air. Secondary air pollutants are synthesized in the environment by chemical reactions involving primary air pollutants.Secondary pollutants are harmful chemicals formed in the atmosphere when a primary air pollutant reacts with normal air components or other air pollutants.
The EPA typically focuses their attention on particulate matter less than 10 microns. What are some examples of particulate matter in this category that they work to control?
Since 1987, the EPA has focused on fine particles smaller than 10 microns (known as PM-10). These include fly ash, pain pigments cement dust, milled flour, coal dust, oil smoke, metallurgical dust and fumes, photochemical smog, and insecticide dusts. In 19977, the agency began focusing on reducing emissions of ultrafine particles with diameters less than 2.5 microns (known as PM-2.5) because these particles are small enough to reach the lower part of human lungs and contribute to respiratory diseases. PM2.5 sized particles most adversely (negatively) affect respiratory tracts.
What is smog? What type of radiation must be present for smog to form?
Smog was originally described as a combination of smoke and fog but the term is now used to describe other mixtures of pollutants in the atmosphere. In order for smog to form ultraviolet radiation must be present.
Name some strategies used to reduce emission of pollutants from stationary sources.
Some examples include burning low-sulfur coal, removing sulfur from coal, shifting to less polluting fuels, and coal gasification. See Figure below for methods for reducing emissions of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter from stationary sources such as coal burning power plants and industrial plants.
Name some primary pollutants from burning coal.
Some of the primary pollutants caused from burning coal include: carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and soot.
What are some practices that would act to reduce vehicular exhaust in urban areas?
Some thoughts are to establish "no idling" zones, require enhanced auto inspections, and retrofit gasoline pumps with sleeves to collect VOCs.
What effects do CFCs have on ozone in the stratosphere?
Stratospheric ozone is destroyed by the chlorine contained in certain chemicals (other substances also "eat" ozone, but chlorine is the most important). Many of these chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs), were widely used until 1980 in spray cans, plastic foams, refrigerants, and fire fighting equipment. CFCs remain intact in the lower atmosphere and eventually drift into the stratosphere(the concentration of chlorine in the stratosphere is now about four times the natural level). There, they are broken down by UV radiation. Millions of tons of chlorine atoms have been released, each one able to destroy thousands of ozone molecules before it sinks down to the troposphere. Governments have banned the use of CFCs, but it will take several decades to halt damage to the ozone layer.
What is SO2?
Sulfur dioxide commonly results from the combustion of coal and oil. It is a corrosive gas and a respiratory irritant. It can adversely affect plant tissues.
What are solid or liquid suspended organic particles? Give some examples. What causes them?
Suspended organic particles that are solid include dust, soot, asbestos, lead, nitrate, and sulfate salts. Suspended organic particles that are liquid droplets include sulfuric acid, PCBs, dioxins, and pesticides.
What role to tall chimneys play in air pollution?
Tall chimneys are an output approach to pollution. They keep the pollution from affecting local areas but wind up increasing pollution in downwind areas. What is an output approach? Current air pollution laws are a useful output approach to controlling air pollution. To environmentalists, however, the next step is to shift to preventing air pollution. With this approach, the question is not What can we do about the air pollutants we produce?But How can we avoid producing such pollutants in the first place?
What is worse, indoor or outdoor air pollution?
The EPA has placed indoor air pollution at the top of the list of 18 sources of cancer risk. It causes as many as 6,000 premature cancer deaths per year in the United States. At greatest risk are smokers, children younger than age 5, the elderly, the sick, pregnant women, people with respiratory or heart problems, and factory workers.Scientists have research that shows indoor air pollution causes more deaths than outdoor air pollution. According to the WHO and the World Bank, indoor air pollution is the world's most serious air pollution problem, especially for poor people. This is a glaring example of the connections between poverty, environmental quality, and human health.
What agreement allowed for a reduction, and eventual elimination of CFC production and use?
The Montreal Protocol.
What is formaldehyde?
The chemical that causes most people in more-developed countries difficulty is formaldehyde (CH2O, a colorless, extremely irritating chemical). Formaldehyde is a volatile organic compound (VOC). According to the EPA and the American Lung Association, 20-40 million Americans suffer from chronic breathing problems dizziness, rashes, headaches, sore throats, sinus and eye irritation, skin irritation,wheezing, and nausea caused by daily exposure to low levels of formaldehyde emitted from common household materials.
What is the correct sequence of layers of the atmosphere from the Earth's surface outward? What are these layers based on?
The correct sequence of layers of the atmosphere from the ground up is: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. Scientists divide the atmosphere up into layers based on the temperature changes from variations in how each layer absorbs solar energy.
What types of soils are most vulnerable to acid deposition?
The ecosystems most harmed by acid deposition are those containing thin, acidic soils without natural buffering, and those where the buffering capacity of soils has been depleted because of decades of exposure to acid deposition.
What members of a municipality (city or town) are involved in the air pollution issues of the urban area?
The local government, the public, and the local industries.
What is indoor air pollution in developing countries?
The major source of indoor air pollution in developing countries is indoor cooking with biomass as a fuel. In developing countries, indoor air pollution is often caused by open fires and leaky and inefficient stoves that burn wood, charcoal, or coal could be reduced if governments gave people inexpensive clay or metal stoves, which burn biofuels more efficiently while venting their exhaust to the outside, or stoves that use solar energy to cook food (solar cookers) in sunny areas. Doing this would also reduce deforestation by using less fuelwood and charcoal.Indoor air pollution affects BOTH developing and developed countries.
What is ultimate way to help protect the atmosphere?
The ultimate way to protect the atmosphere is the same as the best way to solve many other environmental problems -control population growth.
What are some methods by which particulates can be removed from stack exhaust gases?
There are four commonly used output or control methods for removing particulates (see figure below), and SO2(see wet scrubber below) from the exhaust gases of electric power and industrial plants. Of these, only baghouse filters remove many of the more hazardous fine particles. All these methods produce hazardous materials that must be disposed of safely, and except for cyclone separators, all of them are expensive. Modern wet scrubbers remove 98% of the SO2 and 98% of the particulate matter in smokestack emissions, but they are expensive to install and maintain.
What is asbestos? What are some sources of asbestos? What is asbestos used for and why? What is the best way to treat undamaged asbestos? What is asbestosis?
There is intense controversy over what to do about possible exposure to tiny fibers of asbestos, a name given to several different fibrous forms of silicate minerals widely used since the 1940s for fireproofing and thermal insulation. Unless completely sealed within a product, asbestos easily crumbles into a dust of fibers tiny enough to become suspended in the air to be inhaled deep into the lungs, where they remain for many years. Prolonged exposure to asbestos fibers can cause asbestosis (a chronic, sometimes fatal disease that eventually makes breathing nearly impossible and was recognized as a hazard among asbestos workers as early as 1924), lung cancer, and mesothelioma (an inoperable cancer of the chest cavity lining). Epidemiological studies have shown that lung cancer death rates for non-smoking asbestos workers were 5 times higher than for nonsmokers in a control group, and 53 times higher for asbestos workers who smoked. After much controversy and huge expenditures on asbestos removal, there is now general agreement that the degree of risk from low-level exposure to asbestos fibers in unclear and asbestos should not be removed from buildings where it has not been damaged or disturbed. Instead it should be sealed or wrapped, with removal only as a last, carefully conducted resort.
What role do they play in air pollution?
Thermal inversions exacerbate pollution problems.
Why are sulfates considered secondary pollutants?
They result from the transformation of primary pollutants.
What is an emissions trading policy? What air pollutant was cut by 30% using this policy?
To help reduce SO2 emission, the Clean Air Act of 1990 allows an emissions trading policy, which enables the 110 most polluting power plants in 21 states (primarily in the Midwest and East) to buy and sell SO2 pollution rights. This process begins with each of the coal-burning plants measuring the sulfur dioxide emitted from their smokestacks. Each year, a coal-burning power plant is given a certain number of pollution credits, or rights to emit a certain amount of SO2. A utility that emits less SO2 than its limit has a surplus of pollution credits. It can use these credits to avoid reductions in SO2 emissions at another of its plants, keep them for future plant expansions, or sell them to other utilizes, private citizens, or environmental groups. An emissions trading policy tried on sulfur dioxide cut U.S. emissions by 30%.
How does tropospheric ozone form?
Tropospheric ozone forms when various air pollutants undergo chemical reactions under the influence of sunlight.Ozone contributes to the formation of smog which is found in the troposphere.
What are wet scrubbers? Where and why are they used?
Wet scrubbers are air pollution control devices that remove 98% of the sulfur dioxide and 98% of the particulate matter in smokestack emissions but they are expensive to install and maintain.
What was asbestos once used for?
Why asbestos? Simple: It was cheap, durable, flexible and naturally acted as an insulating and fireproofing agent. The construction and manufacturing industries fell in love with its potential and used asbestos-containing products whenever possible.It was used in insulating materials(like pipe or heating ducts), floor coverings (like vinyl ceiling and floor tiles), household appliances, etc.
The movement of large polluted air masses across the Pacific Ocean into the northern United States is an example of?
Why collaborative international air quality legislation would be useful.
What diseases are linked to years of smoking or exposure to air pollutants? Who is most vulnerable to air pollution? Who is least vulnerable to air pollution?
Years of smoking and exposure to air pollutants can contribute to the incidence of emphysema, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, and asthma. People most vulnerable to air pollution are pregnant women, infants, elderly people, and individuals with heart and respiratory diseases. Young adults and most early middle-aged people are least vulnerable.
What are some methods by which the human body is protected from air pollution?
Your respiratory system has a number of mechanisms that help protect you from much air pollution. Hairs in your nose filter out large particles. Sticky mucus in the lining of your upper respiratory tract captures smaller (but not the smallest) particles and dissolve some gaseous pollutants. Sneezing and coughing expel contaminated air and mucus when pollutants irritate your respiratory system. In addition, hundreds of thousands of tiny mucus-coated hairlike structures called cilia line your upper respiratory tract. They continually wave back and forth and transport mucus and the pollutants they trap to your throat (where they are swallowed or expelled).
