Chapter 19 Test

Production of Photochemical Smog

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Describe industrial smog, photochemical smog, temperature inversions, urban heat islands, and dust domes.

1-Industrial smog: Is the traditional London-type-smog-that is, smoke pollution-is sometimes called industrial smog. The principle pollutants in industrial smog are sulfur oxides and particulate matter. 2-Photochemical smog: It is a brownish orange haze is called photochemical because light-that is, sunlight-initiates several chemical reactions that collectively form the ingredients in photochemical smog. Both nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons are involved in its formation. 3-Temperature inversions: During temperature inversions also called thermal inversion, the air near the ground is colder than the air at higher levels, and polluting gases and particulate matter remain trapped in high concentrations close to the ground, where people live and breathe. They usually persist for only a few hours before being broken up by solar heating that warms the air near the ground. 4-Urban heat island: Heat released by human activities such as fuel combustion is also highly concentrated in cities. The air in urban areas is therefore warmer than the air in the surrounding suburban and rural areas. Such localized heat buildup is known as an urban heat island. 5-Dust domes: Urban heat islands contribute to the buildup of pollutants, especially particulate matter, in the form of dust domes over cities. Pollutants concentrate in a dust dome because convection (that is, the vertical motion of warmer air) lift pollutants into the air, where they remain because of somewhat stable air masses produced by the urban heat island. If wind speeds increase, the dust dome moves downwind from the city, and the polluted air spreads over rural areas.

List the seven major classes of air polutants and describe their characteristics and effects.

1. Particulate matter a. Dust- Variable-Primary-Solid particles b. Lead-Pb-Primary-Solid particles c. Sulfuric acid-H2SO4-Secondary-Liquid droplets 2. Nitrogen oxides a. Nitrogen dioxide-NO2-Primary-Reddish brown gas 3. Sulfur oxides a. Sulfur dioxide-SO2-Primary-Colorless gas with strong odor 4. Carbon oxides a. Carbon monoxide-CO-Primary-Colorless, odorless gas b. Carbon dioxide*-CO2-Primary-Colorless, odorless gas 5. Hydrocarbons a. Methane-CH4-Primary-Colorless, odorless gas b. Benzene-C6H6-Primary-Liquid with sweet smell 6. Ozone-O3-Secondary-Pale blue gas with sweet smell 7. Air toxics a. Chlorine-Cl2-Primary-Yellow-green gas

Relate the adverse health effects of specific air pollutants and explain why children are particularly susceptible to air pollution.

Both sulfur dioxide and particulate matter irritate the respiratory tract and, because they cause the airways to constrict, actually impair the lungs' ability to exchange gases. The lungs continue to develop throughout childhood, and air pollution can restrict lung development. In addition, a child has a higher metabolic rate than an adult and therefore needs more oxygen. To obtain this oxygen, a child breaths more air-about two times as much air per pound of body weight as an adult. This means tat a child also breaths more air pollutants into the lungs.

Contrast air pollution in highly developed and developing countries.

In developing countries the leaders believe they must become industrialized rapidly to compete economically with highly developed countries. Environmental quality is usually a low priority in the race to develop. Outdated technologies are often adopted, and air pollution laws, where they exist, are not enforced. Thus, air quality is deteriorating rapidly in many developing nations.

Describe the physiological effects of noise pollution on the human body.

Noise pollution causes many physiological effects on the human body, and of the 28 million U.S. citizens with hearing impairments, as many as 10 million can attribute their impairments at least in part to noise pollution. Also noise pollution increases the heart rate, dilates the pupils, and causes muscle contractions. Evidence suggests that prolonged exposure to high level of noise causes permanent constriction of blood vessels, which can increase the blood pressure, thereby contributing to heart disease.

Summarize the sick building syndrome.

Sick building syndrome occurs in the presence of air pollution inside office buildings that can cause eye irritations, nausea, headaches, respiratory infections, depression, and fatigue.

Summarize the effects of the Clean Air Act on U.S. air pollution.

The Clean Air Act was first passed in 1970 it has been updated and amended twice in 1977 and 1990. This law authorizes the EPA (environmental protection agency) to set limits on the amount of specific air pollutants that are permitted everywhere in the United States. Individual states are responsible for meeting deadlines to reduce air pollution to acceptable levels, states may pass stronger pollution controls than the EPA authorizes, but they cannot mandate weaker limits than those stipulated in the Clean Air Act.

Describe the global distillation effect and tell where it commonly occurs.

The process in which volatile chemicals evaporate from land as far away as the tropics and are transported by winds to higher latitudes, where they condense and fall to the ground, is known as the global distillation effect. This process commonly occurs, in areas where the volatile chemicals move through the atmosphere from warmer developing countries where they are still used to colder highly developed nations, where they condense and are deposited on land and surface water.