Flashcards
air pollution
Cards in this deck (16)
- 1Human healthtwo million
premature deaths worldwide per year.
- esp worst Air pol. deaths i n China and India - 2COorless, odorless, tasteless, and toxic air pollutant—is produced in the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing fuels, such as gasoline, natural gas, oil, coal, and wood.
- 3why's NOx Bad- NOx gases react to form smog and acid rain
-central to the formation of fine particles (PM) and
ground level ozone, both of which are associated with adverse health effects. - 4where do CO and NOx come from?cars/transportation
- 5industrial smog• mixture of sulfur
oxides & particulates
-- most severe in
winter. - 6Photochemical smog• the chemical reaction of sunlight, NOx
and VOCs in the atmosphere
• occurs mostly in summer around mid-day - 7Clean Air Act1970
high smoke stacks
vehicle pollution control devices
electrostatic precipitators to remove particulates
scrubbers to remove sulfur - 8CAFE Standardsstandards that make fuel efficient cars economically better
- 9Solid fuel• Cooking (or heating) with solid fuels like
– Wood
– Charcoal
– Coal
– Animal dung
– Crop waste - 10solid fuel health threatsCooking with solid fuel fills a home with enough smoke to be
equivalent to smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day.
• Air quality levels can be measured in micrograms/cubic meter
(ug/m3) of small particles - 11Acid Deposition (rain)• Due to sulfur and nitrogen oxides that:
♦Are resident in the air in very fine
particles
♦Are transported great distances
• Are transformed into nitric acid (HNO3) and
sulfuric acid (H2SO4) - 12Clean Air Act Revisions-- 1990• Tradable pollution permits
• “cap & trade”
• Scrubbers
• Low sulfur fuels - 13Ozone Depletion• First predicted in 1974
• First measured over the Antarctic during the late winter
• Since 1989 have observed reduced ozone layer over the North Pole
• Significant reductions now seen over Canada, Europe, China, Japan, Australia, etc. - 14CFCs• Invented by Thomas Midgley, 1920s
• Air conditioning/refrigerators
• Aerosol can propellant
• “persistence” – stay in the
atmosphere, continuing to do
damage, for decades (55-140 yrs) - 15agreements to reduce then get rid of the ozone hole• 1978-- U.S., Canada and most Scandinavian countries banned CFCs in aerosol spray cans.
• 1987-- Montreal Protocol: treaty to reduce CFC production
• 1992-- Copenhagen agreement: phase out CFC production - 16CFCs Nowthey're legally out of production and ozone is slowly being recovered but it looks like there is somewhere someone making them again (FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKK)
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- Environmental Studies Flashcards on air pollution, created by Harper Danielson on 27/10/2022.
- Created by
- Harper Danielson
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