Atmosphere Part B
Clean Air Act
1970- established national standards
Electrostatic precipitator
99% of particulates can be remove
Negative Feedback Loop
A feedback loop that causes a system to change in the opposite direction from which it is moving. It is not necessarily negative.
Rock Dusting
Absorbs 2 billion tonnes of CO2 with limestone, as well as fertilize crops
Advection Temperature Inversion
Air moves horizontally, and is very dense. Gets trapped easily, especially in the presence of mountains, and tends to be from the ocean. Pollution gets trapped here easily, especially on California coast
Montreal Protocol (1987)
An agreement on the protection of the ozone layer in which states pledged to reduce and then eliminate the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). It is the most successful environmental treaty to date.
The drop in the stratospheric ozone levels in the Southern Hemisphere (the "ozone holes") is most evident during which season
Antarctic spring (October
Composed fibers known to cause lung disease
Asbestos
CFCL3 + UV --->
CCl2F + CL
CFCs enter the stratosphere:
CFCl3 + UV ---> CCl2F & Cl
A free oxygen atom pulls the oxygen atom from the CIO, liberating the chlorine and creating one oxygen molecule
CIO + O ---> Cl + O2
Negative Emission Engineering
CO2 reduction + Negative Emission Engineering = Reduced Global Temps
Has a stronger affinity for hemoglobin than oxygen has
Carbon monoxide
What part of car is designed to prevent smog
Catalytic Convertor
8% of humanities CO2 comes from
Cement
Milankovitch Theory
Change in orbital patterns, axial tilt, and precession can influence incoming solar radiation
How do hills, valleys, and buildings affect air flow at ground level
Channel / funnel air through different areas at different speeds (affects the ppm concentration in that area)
How can industrial pollution be found in the tissue of polar bears, a place where there is no industry?
Circulation cells: polar cell-->ferrel cell-->hadley cell
Uv radiation breaks apart CFCs
Cl breaks apart O3, Creates O2 & O1, Cl forms with O1, ClO2 forms
Addition of a Cl radical
ClO + O ---> O2 & Cl
Atmospheric Mercury is very problematic due to
Coal Burning
Compression Inversion
Cold air from high atmosphere falls, and an increase of pressure settles on earths surface. Cold, warm, cool, cold
Sea level Rise
Contributes: Land-based Ice: Yes Sea-Based Ice: No Increased Evaporation that leads to more precip: No Thermal Expansion: Yes ***Leading Cause
Which of the following human activities is most closely associated with depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer?
Disposal of refrigerators and air conditioners
Negative Emission Engineering
Even if we reduce our CO2 emissions TODAY, a 2 degree C increase will happen and some models predict a 5 degree C increase
Emitted from most manufactured building materials and furniture
Formaldehyde
Governmental Incentives/tax breaks
Increases subsidies and tax breaks for saving energy, and decrease subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuels
Types of anthropogenic activities
Industry, Deforestation, Cattle Farming, Rice Paddy Farming
Infrared Radiation
Is absorbed and re-emitted back to earth
What is true of the Clean Air Act
It established a cap-and-trade program for SO2 in 1990.
Of the following cities, which regularly experiences the worst levels of photochemical smog that is enhanced by thermal inversions?
Los Angeles, California
In addition to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which of the following components must be present in the atmosphere to create photochemical smog?
NOx and UV light
3 major components of acid deposition and rain
NOx, CO2, SO2
Which of the following correctly pairs a greenhouse gas with its primary anthropogenic source?
Nitrous Oxide and Agricultural process
Radiation temperature inversion
No clouds in the sky, its generally winter, hot air moves up, layer looks like : cold air, warm air, cold air, cold air. The hot air gets trapped between the cold air.
On a summer day what time is most likely to cause tropospheric ozone
Noon
Some O combines with O2 to form O3
O + O2 ---> O3
UVC radiation splits O2 molecules into free oxygen (O)
O2 + UVC --> O + O
Chlorine breaks the ozone bond and pulls off one atom of oxygen. forming a chloride monoxide molecule and O2
O3 + CL ---> CIO (chlorine monoxide) + O2
Ozone destruction
O3 + Cl --> O2 & ClO
O2 is a double bond (hard to break) where as
O3 is a single bond (easy to break)
Which of the following statements best describes photochemical smog in large cities in the United States?
Photochemical smog causes negative human health impacts such as eye and lung irritation.
One source of CFCs
Refrigerators, Coolers
Gypsum is created from removing _____
SO2
Lime stone pulls _____ out of the wet scrubber
SO2
What is removed in a coal burning power plant and a wet scrubber
SO2
Decrease in Land-based ice :
Shrinking ice sheets, decreased snow cover, decrease of arctic ice sea
North pole is made up of ocean the
South Pole is made up of land
Paris Agreement
Strengthen global response to the threat of climate change. Some see this as the Kyoto Protocol's Upgrade
Two out of the three primary pollutants that lead to Acid rain
Sulfur Oxide, Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen
Which of the following air pollutants is correctly paired with one of its major effects?
Sulfur Oxides... acid deposition
Photodissociation
Sun breaks up molecule
To keep air particulates closer to the Earth
Temperature inversion, mountains
Which of the following best exemplifies global collaboration for a sustainable environment?
The Montreal Protocol
Consumers who get their electricity from coal-fired power plants are not paying the true cost of energy production in their monthly utility bills. Which of the following is true about utility bills for these consumers?
The bills do not include public health costs, such as those associated with air pollution.
When you drive a car you release NO2 which produces
Tropospheric ozone
When a car uses gasoline and it burns NOx comes out NO reacts with oxygen to form nitrogen dioxide
UV light breaks apart Nitrogen dioxide, the nitrogen then breaks apart O3, O3 becomes O1 with a Nitrogen
O3 + UVB and/or UVC ----> O2 + O
UVB and or UVC is completely absorbed by atmospheric ozone and oxygen
Of all of the natural sources of air pollution a climate change which one is most likely to cause global cooling
Volcanic eruptions, sulfate particulates, water vapor
Natural Sources are
Volcanic eruptions, wetlands, sea spray, and forest fires
What part of the coal burning plant is designed to remove SO2
Wet Scruber
Mercury, Nitrous Oxide, lead, particulates, heavy metals, CO2
What comes from burning coal
Carbon Tax
a fee that the government charges polluters for each unit of greenhouse gas they emit
Smoke from forest fires is most likely to affect air quality over larger areas for many days when
a persistent atmospheric inversion exists in the region
Individual Action
action taken by a person to meet their needs based on their personal decisions EX: California reduced its greenhouse gas emission to 1990 levels by 2020, and 80% below by 2050 Pittsburgh's "Climates Plan 3.o" Plans to slash energy, water use, and transportation-related emissions by 50% by 2030
AV-A, UV-B, UV-C
amounts of energy from least to highest amount
UVC is completely absorbed by _______ and _________
atmospheric ozone, oxygen
Inversion increases with
calm winds
Albedo from the Poles
can attract heat if soil is exposed when snow melts.
The most common proxies are
coral, Ice Cores, and tree rings
Volcanoes release sulfur, Co2, and water. Volcanoes _______ temperature because sulfur reflects sunlight
decrease
Anthropogenic
derived from human activities
Coal is the _____ fossil fuel and is the leading cause of ___________
dirtiest, mercury pollutants
UV-C can Break O2's
double bond
The ______ of a smokestack removes particulates
electrostatic precipitator (ash / particulates are attracted to negatively charged particles and separates particulates)
positive feedback loop
enhances the current situation. It is not necessarily positive.
The catalytic converter
filters the majority of NO2
Cement has been used to seal
flyash and gypsum
Invest In Green Technology
generates clean technology which will pay itself back over the span of a couple years
The ozone whole is more prominent in the southern hemisphere because
in the winter ozone is neither created or destroyed, in the spring Ozone is destroyed but no creation occurs so the hole gets bigger, In the summer ozone is created and is destroyed so the hole shrinks.
Eliminating the source
is most plausible over small changes of a large population, over a long range of time (instead of everyone not driving their car, they supplement days of public transportation or carpooling)
Ice Cores
method for studying climate change by drilling cores in ice caps and glaciers that have build up over thousands of years
Motor Vehicles are
mobile sources
More complex molecules have more vibrations which leads to
more heat directed back at earth
The orbit of the Earth in our era is
not circular, and therefore the change in temperature is du to humans
Sun spots are
not effecting Earth's temperature at the moment
Green house gasses are based on
number of atoms and its vibration, EX : Carbon Dioxide, radiates/vibrates in different directions
Mountains can trap _______ from leaving an area
particulates
We can determine global warming from
plant fossils, coral, pollen, ice cores, tree rings, and caves
Secondary pollutants would not exist without
primary pollutants
O3 from stratospheric ozone absorbs _____ which is why it's necessary
radiation
UV-B can only break O3's
single bond
Fossil fuels are
stationary resources
The antarctic winter (in june) creates a polar vortex that traps ________
stratospheric gases
Volcanoes tend to cool the earth with
sulfur aerosols
Disease Spread increases because
temperatures increase and don't kill off eggs as frequently, diseases also have more range to spread as well due to this
Chlorine moxide is highly reactive to other oxygen particles leading to
the absorption of free radicals
The danger from radon gas would most likely be greatest in
well-insulated homes, where radon cant escape and builds up
What component of a coal burning power plant removes gasses
wet scrubber
There is a seasonal up-down fluctuation of Green House Gasses due to
winter and summer. In summer and spring leaves are on trees and no wood is being burned. In Winter and fall, there are no leaves and people burn wood for warmth
