Chapter 10 assignment review

Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide are increasing by about ______ each year.

0.5%

India has ______ of the 20 smoggiest cities in the world.

10

The Clean Air Act does add cost since removing pollutants costs more than not doing so. However, the economic benefits (reduced illness, less property damage, increased productivity, etc.) have been shown to outweigh the costs by a factor of ______.

25 to 1

Identify all the particulate removal techniques in the list below.

Employing electrostatic precipitators Filtering air using a mesh of material (e.g., cotton cloth)

what does HAP stand for

Hazardous Air Pollutants

______ are specially regulated in the Clean Air Act because of their adverse impact on human health, often at low doses; they include carcinogens, neurotoxins, mutagens, teratogens, and endocrine disruptors.

Hazardous air pollutants

Urban residents in the country of ------ are six times more likely to die of lung cancer when compared to rural people

India

Identify the statement below that best describes the comparison between indoor and outdoor air quality.

Indoor air quality is often much worse than outdoor air quality.

Congress, in 1977's "new source review," agreed to allow companies to keep using older equipment that did not meet updated pollution limits since the companies argued it would be better just to upgrade when they bought new equipment. Select the best summary below of how well this worked.

Many companies today still are using this equipment that was "grandfathered" in and are among the biggest contributers to smog and acid rain.

The ozone hole is best described as ______.

a thinning of stratospheric ozone concentrations

Current WHO estimates are that approximately 6.5 million people die prematurely every year due to ______.

air pollution

The Clean Air Act of 1963 was the first national law in the United States for ______.

air pollution control

The past few decades of EPA regulations in the United States have taught us that ______.

air quality can be improved and economic growth can continue

As referenced in U.S. pollution regulations, the air around us is called ______ air.

ambient

A neurotoxin is a substance that primarily damages the ______.

brain and nervous system

Dominant sources of criteria pollutants are ______.

cars and power plants

Sulfur, not removed before coal is burned, can be removed after combustion by using ______ to oxidize or reduce sulfur in the effluent gas.

catalytic converters

Approximately 70% of airborne mercury is derived from ______.

coal-burning power plants

Air pollution can damage buildings and infrastructure by ______. (Choose all that apply.)

corroding steel creating a buildup of smoke and soot causing flaking dissolution

Health advocates argue that companies should pay for air pollution prevention upfront. Although it may save companies money to spend less on pollution prevention, the net result of this would be that the public would have to pick up these ________.

costs; expenses

The difference between point source and nonpoint-source emissions is that nonpoint-source emissions ______.

do not vent from a single location like a smokestack

In general, the forests of the ______ United States suffer the most from acid rain deposition.

eastern

True or false: Because ozone is valuable in the stratosphere as a shield from ultraviolet radiation, its occurrence at ground level is also positive.

false

How quickly would it take for air visibility to improve dramatically if all human-sources of pollution were shut down?

in a few days

Clean air legislation seems like regulation everyone could agree on, yet it is often controversial. This is because ______.

it is easier and more profitable for polluters to externalize the cost of pollution

Gasoline with _____, which was banned and phased out in the 1980s in the United States, was formerly the main source of this pollutant.

lead

The pollutants which the EPA classifies as "criteria pollutants" are thought to contribute most to air quality degradation, and include _____. (Choose all that apply.)

lead carbon monoxide and ozone sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides total suspended particle matter

Despite high population growth and economic growth for the past 40 years in the United States, EPA regulations have ______.

led to an overall improvement in air quality

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

Coal combustion, smelting, and waste combustion are the primary sources of_______ in the atmosphere

mercury

Mercury is an example of a ______ in that exposure to mercury damages the brain and nervous system, especially in young organisms and developing fetuses.

neurotoxin

The Clean Air Act has led to a great reduction in levels of most of the "criteria" pollutants. However, two pollutants have not dropped significantly. Identify those two below.

nitrogen oxides particulate matter

Rain, and other types of precipitation, are made acidic by industrial emissions of ______. (Choose all that apply.)

nitrogen oxides sulfur dioxide carbon dioxide sulfates

The pollution that leaks out from loose joints, fittings, and holes in pipes directly into the air are known as ______ emissions.

nonpoint-source

Nitrogen and oxygen combine in the heat of combustion to form nitric oxide. Nitric oxide further ______ in the atmosphere to form nitrogen dioxide (the reddish-brown gas in smog).

oxidizes

Carbon monoxide (CO), which is produced by internal combustion engines, land clearing, and cooking fires, blocks ______ uptake in blood by binding irreversibly to hemoglobin.

oxygen

The filtering of emissions to remove ash from effluent gas after burning is called ______ removal.

particulate

A meeting in Montreal, Canada, produced the Montreal ______, an international agreement to phase out the use of ozone-destroying CFCs by 2000.

protocol

What spurred the cleanup of Cubatao, Brazil, once so polluted it was known as the "Valley of Death"? (Choose all that apply.)

public complaints restoration of democracy investment of public and private money

Conservation techniques such as reducing energy consumption, using public transportation, and insulating buildings better all help to ______ air pollution.

reduce

The goal of the Montreal Protocol, to ______, has largely been achieved by reducing CFCs and HCFCs.

restore stratospheric ozone

_______ ions are second only to particulate matter from smoke in terms of damage caused to human health by air pollutants. (Use just one word for you answer.)

sulfur

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that is was ______ responsibility to limit greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

the EPA's

What is the current trend of carbon dioxide emissions by humans?

they are increasing

Wind can carry air pollutants up to ______ of miles away from the original source of the pollution, as exemplified by Chinese particulates being traced to Seattle, Washington.

thousands

power plants and ______ are the primary sources of criteria air pollutants

transportation

True or false: Electrostatic precipitators are used to filter air emissions from factories.

true

True or false: It is not uncommon for particulate pollution to be blown across the Pacific Ocean from China to the U.S. West Coast.

true

Higher temperatures are often found in cities than in the surrounding countrysides. The low albedo of concrete and brick, and the lack of water for evaporation, both add to the ______.

urban heat island