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