Chapter 2
• Air
• Chapter 2
•
The Air Pollution Problem
• Air is a mixture of gases.
– Nitrogen ____ and Oxygen ___ followed by trace amounts of Argon,
CO2, and WV.
• Air pollution is the contamination of the atmosphere by wastes from
sources such as industrial burning and automobile exhausts.
• Earliest reference to air pollution dates back to ____________________.
• All major air pollution disasters have occurred in industrialized areas.
• Substances that pollute the air can be in the form of solids, liquids, or
gases.
• Most air pollution is the result of human activities, but some pollutants are
natural, including dust, pollen, spores, and sulfur dioxide from volcanic
eruptions.
Chapter 2
• Primary and Secondary Pollutants
• A primary pollutant is a _______________________________________ by
human or natural activity. An example would be soot from smoke.
• A secondary pollutant is a pollutant that forms in the atmosphere by
__________________________________________________. An example
would be ground-level ozone.
• Ground level ozone forms when the emission from cars react with the UV
rays of the sun and then mix with the oxygen in the atmosphere
• Outdoor Pollutants
• Particulates – __________________________________________.
– Ex. Ash, dust, and traces of metals.
Chapter 2
• Oxides – ________________________________________________.
– Forms acid when it chemically reacts with water.
– Most of the gaseous pollutants come from these chemicals.
• Photochemical Smog – _________________________________________
___________________________________.
• ___________________________ (CFCs) – compounds of C, Cl, and F once
used in refrigerators, air conditioners, aerosol cans, and in the production
of polystyrene.
• Smog
• Smog is urban air pollution composed of a mixture of smoke and fog
produced from industrial pollutants and burning fuels.
Smog results from chemical reactions that involve sunlight, air, automobile
exhaust, and ozone.
Pollutants released by vehicles and industries are the main causes of smog.
• Indoor Pollutants
• Improving air circulation can reduce the amount of pollutants in your
home.
• The combination of particulates, gases, and other chemicals contained in
cigarette smoke makes ______________________________________.
Chapter 2
• Radon System-________________________________________________
• Short-Term Effects of Air Pollution on Health
• Many of the effects of air pollution are short-term and reversible if their
exposure to air pollution decreases.
• For example: headache; nausea; irritation to the eyes, nose and throat;
coughing; tightness in the chest; and upper respiratory infections, such as
bronchitis and pneumonia.
• Pollution can also make the conditions of asthma and emphysema worse
for certain individuals.
• Long-Term Health Effects of Air Pollution
• Long-term effects on health that have been linked to air pollution include
___________________________________________.
• Long-term exposure to air pollution may worsen medical conditions
suffered by older people and may damage the lungs of children.
Chapter 2
• Air Pollution and Living Things
• Air pollution has been linked to many health problems.
• Carbon Monoxide (CO) – prevents _____________________________
hemoglobin reducing it from reaching cells and resulting in stress and death
at high levels.
• Cigarette smoking is a factor in causing lung cancer, emphysema, and heart
disease.
• Asbestos
• Asbestos is ____________________________________________________
____________________________________________-.
• Asbestos is primarily uses as an insulator and as a fire retardant, and it was
used extensively in building materials.
• However, for all of its uses, the government banned the use of most
asbestos products in the _____________.
• Asbestos fibers can cut and scar the lungs, causing the disease asbestosis.
• Victims of the disease have more and more difficulty breathing and may
eventually die of heart failure.
Chapter 2
• Other Health Issues
• Emphysema – _________________________________________________.
• Cancer – ____________________________________________________.
• The US loses up to $10 Billion worth of crops each year because of air
pollution.
• Industrial air pollutants can contaminate farmland and grazing areas
leading to high levels of lead and zinc.
• Global Effects of Air Pollution
• Three major air pollution problems threatening the global environment:
– Acid Precipitation
– Ozone Depletion
– Global Warming
• A temperature inversion is the atmospheric condition in which __________
________________________________________________________.
The warmer air above keeps the cooler air at the surface from moving
upward. So, pollutants are _________________________________.
If a city is located in a valley, it has a greater chance of experiencing
temperature inversions (as seen in LA).
Chapter 2
• What Causes Acid Precipitation?
• Acid precipitation is precipitation, such as rain, sleet, or snow, that contains
a high concentration of acids, often because of the pollution of the
atmosphere.
• When fossil fuels are burned, they _________________________________.
• When these oxides combine with water in the atmosphere they form
_________________________________________________________.
• Acid Precipitation
• Acid precipitation has become more common in the last 200 years due to
__________________________________-.
• What Causes Acid Precipitation?
• This acidic water flows over and through the ground, and into lakes, rivers,
and streams.
• Acid precipitation can kill living things, and can result in the decline or loss
of some local animal and plant populations.
Chapter 2
• What Causes Acid Precipitation?
• A pH number is ______________________________________________
(basicity) of a system.
• Each whole number on the scale indicates a tenfold change in acidity.
• A pH of _______________, a pH of _________________, and a pH of
________________________.
• Pure water has a pH of _________, while normal precipitation has a pH of
about ______.
• What Causes Acid Precipitation?
• Normal precipitation is slightly acidic because atmospheric carbon dioxide
dissolves into the precipitation and forms carbonic acid.
• Precipitation is considered acid precipitation if it has a pH of ____________
• The pH of precipitation in the eastern U.S. and Canada ranges from
____________, with the most acidic precipitation occurring around Lake
Erie and Lake Ontario.
Chapter 2
• Acid shock is __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________.
• This phenomenon causes large numbers of fish to die, and affects the
reproduction of fish and amphibians that remain. They produce fewer eggs,
and those eggs often do not hatch. The offspring that do survive often have
birth defects and cannot reproduce.
• International Conflict
• One problem in controlling acid precipitation is that pollutants may be
released in one geographical area and fall to the ground hundreds of
kilometers away.
• For example, much of the acid precipitation that falls in southeastern
Canada results from pollution produced in the northeastern United States.
• Ozone Depletion
• O3 – Ozone Gas
• Atmospheric ozone helps life on Earth by __________________________.
• Found in the ___________________________.
• _______________________ gas on Earth’s surface.
Chapter 2
• Hole in the Sky
• Early 1980’s, scientists discovered a thin area, or hole, in the ozone layer
over the South Pole.
• UV radiation can cause sunburn, blindness, and skin cancer as well as
severe crop damage.
• Causes of Ozone Depletion
• Ozone depletion will continue because _________________________.
• Chlorine and fluorine are the atoms responsible for destroying ozone
molecules.
• Global Warming
• Light energy enters the atmosphere and is absorbed at the surface. Light
energy is changed to heat. Heat energy is radiated back to space in the
form of infrared radiation.
Chapter 2
• The Greenhouse Effect
• CO2 is the most significant greenhouse gas emitted in large quantities by
humans.
• Greenhouse effect got its name because heat is _____________.
• Ice cores – long cylinders of ice that are drilled and removed from deep
within a sheet of polar ice.
• Ways to reduce Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere:
– Electric Cars
– Solar Power
– Increasing Fuel Efficiency Standards
• Effects of Greenhouse Gas Pollution
• During the past 150 years, levels of atmospheric CO2 has increased due to
increased fossil fuel use.
• Global Warming – an increase in Earth’s average surface temperature
caused by an increase in greenhouse gases.
• Some computer models project that Earth’s temperatures will rise by 2 – 4
degrees C.
• Ice Caps will melt, coastal areas will flood, weather patterns will change,
salt water will enter freshwater aquifers.
Chapter 2
• 22.4 Controlling Air Pollution
• The Clean Air Act, passed in 1970 and strengthened in 1990, gives the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to regulate vehicle
emissions in the United States.
• The EPA required the gradual elimination of lead in gasoline, decreasing
lead pollution by more than 90 percent in the United States.
• In addition, catalytic converters, required in all automobiles, clean exhaust
gases of pollutants before pollutants are able to exit the tail pipe.
• The ____________________ requires many industries to use scrubbers or
other pollution-control devices.
• Scrubbers remove some of the more harmful substances that would
otherwise pollute the air.
• ___________________ is a machine that moves gases through a spray of
water that dissolves many pollutants. Ammonia is an example of a pollutant
gas that can be removed from the air by a scrubber.
Chapter 2
• ______________________________ are machines used in cement
factories and coal-burning power plants to remove dust particles from
smokestacks.
• In an electrostatic precipitator, gas containing dust particles is blown
through a chamber containing an electrical current.
•
An electric charge is transferred to the dust particles, causing them to stick
together and to the sides of the chamber.
• Natural Air Pollution Controls
• Precipitation is the most effective natural method of removing particulates
and aerosols from the air.
• Two ways to remove CO2:
– _______________________________________________
– _______________________________________________