QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
BIOTRAC Science Saturday Activity: Clearing the
Year 5 Area – Environmental Health
Air
Insights
Last week, we discussed the sources of air pollution and
how those pollutants can affect our heath. Since the
1600s, industrialization has been one of the major sources
of pollution. When any product is made industrially, the
waste that is inevitably produced can add to the pollution
in the air. Since there has been a rise in pollution, the
government, as well as some industries, is looking for ways
to help decrease the amount.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tackled the
problem of cleaning the air by first identifying all the
pollutants that caused serious harm to human health. The
EPA then developed standards to reduce the emissions of
those pollutants. By doing this, they have been able to
cut annual toxic emissions by 125,000 tons!
Some of the common methods that have been used to either
eliminate pollutants or reduce them to an acceptable level
include destroying the pollutant by catalytic combustion,
changing the pollution to a less toxic form, or collecting
the pollution to prevent its escape into the atmosphere.
This pollution recovery can be accomplished by using
baghouses, cyclones, electrostatic precipitators, or wet
scrubbers.
Food for Thought
In what ways can you and your family help to clean the air?
What else has the EPA done to help clean our air? What
strategies would you utilize if the task of cleaning the
air was left entirely on your shoulders? What is emission
control technology? Which sources of pollution are more
likely to be controlled by emission control technology?
Which of the methods used to eliminate/reduce pollutants is
the best for removing particles? Which is the best for
removing gases? Are there any methods that can clean up
all or most of the different types of pollutants?
Vocabulary
Industrialization: an overall change in circumstances
accompanying a society's movement in population and
resources from farm production to manufacturing production
and associated services.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): US government agency
founded to "protect human health and to safeguard the
natural environment--air, water, and land--upon which life
depends."
Emissions:
humans)
releases of gases to the atmosphere (caused by
Catalytic combustion: a method used to avoid the formation
of nitric oxide in gas turbine combustors
Baghouses: fabric filters used to aid in the reduction of
air pollution
Cyclones:
materials
devices using centrifugal force to separate
Electromagnetic precipitators: a particulate collection
device that removes particles from a flowing gas with
electric forces.
Wet scrubbers: An apparatus that is used for removing
impurities from a gas
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Clearing the Air
Learn how an air filter cleans the air that you breathe.
Materials:
Vacuum Cleaner
Magnifying glass
Assorted filters:
A/C filters
Tissue paper
Cloth/handkerchief
Felt
Cotton balls
Nylon
Tubular supplies:
Toilet paper rolls
Paper towel rolls
Styrofoam cups
Paper cups
Assorted absorbents:
Water
Vaseline
Substances to mimic pollutants:
Flour
Glow-germ powder
Charcoal (crushed)
Smoke Bomb
1. Design your own air filter to simulate lungs. Use one
of the tubular supplies, with one of the types of
filters, with or without an absorbent, whatever you
think would work the best.
2. Place your air filter in front of the vacuum cleaner.
3. Choose one or more pollutants. Use the vacuum cleaner
to pass the pollutants through our filter.
4. Use your magnifying glass to determine how much of the
pollutant was stopped by the filter and how much of
the pollutant actually entered the lungs.
Questions:
1. Describe the design of you air filter.
choose the supplies that you used?
Why did you
2. Did you use an absorbent?
trapping the pollutants?
Did the absorbent help with
3. The substances used to simulate pollutants are all of
different particle sizes. Did this affect how well
your air filter worked?
4. Which of these substances, if they were in fact a
pollutant, do you think would be most harmful to your
health?
5. If you worked for an industry that produces air
pollution as waste, what type of air filter would you
design for that company to help decrease their
pollution emissions?