BIO - Air Quality Smartbook
Normal, unpolluted rain has a pH of about ______. 4 5.6 8.1 7
5.6
Select the statement below that accurately compares relative air quality in different locations. Air quality is generally better in developed richer countries as compared to fast-developing poorer countries. Air quality generally cannot be linked to the economic stage of development of a country. Air quality is generally worse in developed rich countries as compared to fast-developing poorer countries.
Air quality is generally better in developed richer countries as compared to fast-developing poorer countries.
Which of the following are natural sources of sulfur in earth's atmosphere? Volcanoes and hot springs Combustion of fuel Biogenic emissions Sea spray evaporation
Biogenic emissions Sea spray evaporation Volcanoes and hot springs
What is the current trend of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere? CO2 levels are decreasing. CO2 levels are remaining steady. CO2 levels are increasing.
CO2 levels are increasing.
The country of ______ is rapidly growing. Many of its 400,000 factories have no pollution control, and home coal burners and factories emit 10 million tons of soot and 15 million tons of sulfur dioxide annually. Argentina Mexico Brazil China
China
The highly coal-dependent country of ______ has 16 of the 20 cities with the world's worst air quality, as their need for energy has outpaced pollution controls. Brazil China Japan Mexico
China
First signed into law in 1963, the ______ was the first national law for air pollution in the United States. It has seen many amendments added to it since it was first passed. Breathe Free Law Kennedy-Johnson Act Clean Air Act Blue Skies Law
Clean Air Act
True or false: Because ozone is valuable in the stratosphere as a shield from ultraviolet radiation, its occurrence at ground level is also positive. True False
False
True or false: Nitrous oxide is hazardous for a number of reasons, but it is not a greenhouse gas. True False
False
True or false: Pollutants distributed by wind travel no farther than about 1,000 km (621 mi) from their source. True False
False
______ are specially regulated in the Clean Air Act because of their adverse impact on human health; they include carcinogens, neurotoxins, mutagens, teratogens, and endocrine disruptors. Total suspended solids Volatile organic compounds Hazardous air pollutants Large industrial sources
Hazardous air pollutants
What does the EPA call the air pollutants that are especially toxic and particularly dangerous? Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) Dangerous aloft chemicals (DACs) Released airborne contaminants (RACs)
Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)
Identify the statement below that best describes the comparison between indoor and outdoor air quality. The diffusion of particles in the air generally results in the same level of air quality indoors and outdoors. Outdoor air quality is always worse than indoor air quality, especially in cities. Indoor air quality is often much worse than outdoor air quality.
Indoor air quality is often much worse than outdoor air quality.
What is the difference between primary and secondary air pollutants? Primary air pollutants are released directly into the air in a harmful form, whereas secondary air pollutants form in the air. Secondary air pollutants are made by humans, whereas primary air pollutants occur naturally. Primary air pollutants are deadly or hazardous pollutants, whereas secondary air pollutants are considered irritants only. Primary air pollutants are larger than 10 micrometers, whereas secondary air pollutants are 10 micrometers or smaller.
Primary air pollutants are released directly into the air in a harmful form, whereas secondary air pollutants form in the air.
A 1987 meeting in Montreal, Canada, produced the Montreal ______, an international agreement to phase out the use of ozone-destroying CFCs by 2000. Agreement Protocol Summit Covenant
Protocol
Which pollutant listed below reacts with oxygen and hydrogen in the atmosphere to form a major component of acid rain? Sulfur Radon Lead Mercury
Sulfur
What is the most common level of air quality found in areas where people live? The air is contaminated to some degree. Air pollution is the worst it has been in human history. The air is free of pollution.
The air is contaminated to some degree.
What is the main argument industry and energy groups have used against the passage of clean air legislation? The proposed regulations do not do enough to make a difference in human health. The costs of meeting tighter air pollution standards is too high. Existing air pollution regulations have done little to improve air quality. Current technologies, whatever the cost, could not further reduce the amount of pollution released.
The costs of meeting tighter air pollution standards is too high.
True or false: Indoor air pollution is often higher than it is outdoors. True False
True
True or false: Most of the sulfur in the atmosphere comes from anthropogenic sources. True False
True
True or false: Of the 37 cities in the Global Environmental Monitoring System, more than 2/3 have declining sulfur and particulate levels. True False
True
True or false: Your chances of dying from a heart attack, respiratory disease, or lung cancer are higher if you live in a city with high amounts of air pollution. True False
True
What are aerosols? Any plant species that absorbs sulfur dioxide from the atmosphere Very fine solid or liquid particulates suspended in the atmosphere A class of disease-causing bacteria that live in the air and feed on criteria pollutants Soils that have been degraded by air pollution
Very fine solid or liquid particulates suspended in the atmosphere
The results of the Clean Air Act overall can be described as ______. an overall failure a success having had mixed results
a success
Air pollutants are commonly inhaled, but direct ______ through the skin is also an important pathway of pollution exposure affecting human health. ingestion exhalation absorption
absorption
Very fine solid or liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere are called ______. greenhouse gases aerosols ozone VOCs
aerosols
NAAQS is the acronym for national ambient ______ _______ standards; these standards are based on health and environmental criteria.
air quality
The Clean Air Act of 1963 was the first national law in the United States for ______. air pollution control air pollution research limiting indoor air pollution limiting greenhouse gases
air pollution control
As referenced in U.S. pollution regulations, the air around us is called ______ air. ambient clear adjacent idealized
ambient
Normal, unpolluted rain has a pH of about 5.6, which is slightly acidic due to ________ acid.
carbonic
A regulated criteria pollutant under the Clean Air Act, nitrogen oxides are reactive gases formed during _______ or burning, when the nitrogen in fuel or in the air is heated in the presence of oxygen.
combustion
When rapid nighttime ______ in a valley occurs, the temperature differential can prevent mixing and trap pollutants such as ozone close to the ground. warming drying cooling
cooling
Atmospheric levels of carbon ______ are increasing by about 0.5 percent per year. dioxide dioxin sulfate monoxide
dioxide
Fugitive emissions ______. do not vent from a single location such as a smokestack are human-made pollutants contain chemicals that are traceable to a specific source contain chemicals that are not traceable to a source
do not vent from a single location such as a smokestack
The pollution that leaks out from loose joints, fittings, and holes in pipes directly into the air are known as ______ emissions. fugitive direct ghost point-source
fugitive
Clean air legislation seems like regulation everyone could agree on, yet it is often controversial. This is because ______. there are too few options to reduce the amount of pollution industry and energy groups insist that controls are too expensive few scientists believe pollution can be fully linked to health problems many believe air regulations are at odds with religious beliefs
industry and energy groups insist that controls are too expensive
Temperature _______ occur when a stable layer of warmer air lies above cooler air, often when cold air settles in a valley surrounded by hills or mountains.
inversions
Air pollutants that are strong ______ include sulfates, SO2, NOx, and O3, which can cause damage to the eyes and respiratory pathways. Choose the most specific answer. acids chemicals irritants
irritants
Atmospheric acids can quickly destroy buildings made out of marble and ______. shale granite limestone
limestone
Your life expectancy statistically is ______, from five to ten years, if you live in a city with lots of air pollution. lower higher
lower
U.S. national ambient air quality standards are the ______ allowable emissions for six pollutants that contribute the largest volume of air degradation and are also the most serious threat to human health and welfare. maximum average minimum least
maximum
The health effects of _______ poisoning are severe; they are neurological in nature and include mental retardation, deafness, blindness, cerebral palsy, numbness, and dementia.
mercury
Carbon _______ is a colorless, odorless, highly toxic gas produced by the incomplete combustion of fuel.
monoxide
The Clean Air Act does add management costs since removing pollutants costs more than not doing so. The economic benefits (reduced illness and property damage, increased productivity, etc.) of reducing air pollution have been ______. much greater than the costs roughly equal to the costs much less than the management costs
much greater than the costs
Nitrogen _______ are formed naturally when bacteria consume nitrogenous materials in soil or water.
oxides
Carbon monoxide (CO), which is produced by internal combustion engines, land clearing, and cooking fires, blocks ______ uptake in blood by binding irreversibly to hemoglobin. carbon dioxide nitrogen oxide sulfur dioxide oxygen
oxygen
Ground-level ______, which is a three-atom molecule of oxygen, is formed when volatile organic compounds react with other pollutants in the presence of sunlight. ozone carbon monoxide oxygen chlorine
ozone
The filtering of emissions in order to remove ash from effluent gas after burning is called ______ removal. particulate hazard pollution toxin
particulate
_______ matter includes solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in a gaseous medium. Examples are smoke, pollen, ash, and dust.
particulate
Small, solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in a gaseous medium (i.e., the air) are called ______. particulate matter lower energy state pollutants suspended sediments vapor particles
particulate matter
_______ pollutants are released directly from the source into the air in a harmful form, while ______ pollutants are converted to a hazardous form after they enter the air following exposure to other chemicals and sunlight.
primary secondary
Major problems associated with the various types of nitrogen oxides include the ______. production of photochemical smog contribution to atmospheric acidification and acid rain formation of extremely poisonous compounds that affect living organisms
production of photochemical smog contribution to atmospheric acidification and acid rain
The chloroflurorocarbons, or CFCs, that are the principle agents of stratospheric ozone depletion were once commonly used in ______. agriculture paints and gasoline refrigerators and spray cans home construction
refrigerators and spray cans
The goal of the Montreal Protocol, to ______, has largely been achieved by reducing CFCs and HCFCs. reduce carbon emissions reduce global warming restore stratospheric ozone ban greenhouse gases
restore stratospheric ozone
European countries such as Germany, Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland saw drastic reductions in ______ emissions between 1970 and 1985. sulfur nitrate ozone
sulfur
_______ ions are second only to particulate matter from smoke in terms of damage caused to human health by air pollutants.
sulfur
Ambient air is ______. the average composition of a planet's air an air mass at room temperature the air around us air devoid of pollutants
the air around us
While air pollution dispersion and dilution formerly were the strategies used to control air pollution, we now realize that ______. these practices are the cause of some of the worst pollution problems they are too expensive to be cost effective air pollution is no longer a large-scale problem
these practices are the cause of some of the worst pollution problems
Wind can carry air pollutants up to ______ of miles away from the original source of the pollution. thousands millions hundreds
thousands
