APES Chapter 19 + pg. 186

Atmosphere

a gaseous envelope surrounding the earth. The four gasses, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide, along with water vapor, comprise most of this. It blocks the Earth’s surface from much of the UV radiation coming from the sun, moderates climate, and redistributes water in the hydrologic cycle.

Photosynthesis

a process where plants, algae, and certain bacteria use carbon dioxide to manufacture sugars and other organic molecules, producing oxygen.

Cellular Respiration

a process where organisms use oxygen to break down food molecules and supply themselves with chemical energy, producing carbon dioxide.

Ulf Merbold

a German space shuttle astronaut who felt differently about the atmosphere after viewing it in space; realizing that the atmosphere was in fact not unlimited, but rather, fragile.

Air Pollution

various chemicals added to the atmosphere by natural events/human activities in high enough concentrations to be harmful. There are natural sources and human activities that cause this.

Primary Air Pollutant

a harmful substance that is emitted directly into the atmosphere. Examples are carbon oxides, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and hydrocarbons.

Secondary Air Pollutant

a harmful substance formed in the atmosphere when a primary pollutant reacts with substances normally found in the atmosphere or with other air pollutants. Examples are ozone and sulfur trioxide.

Particulate Matter

consists of thousands of different solid and liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere. It includes a variety of pollutants, such as soil particles, soot, lead, asbestos, sea salt, and sulfuric acid droplets.

Solid Particulate Matter

generally referred to as dust, whereas liquid suspensions are commonly called mists.

Particulate Matter Effects

it reduces visibility by scattering and absorbing sunlight. (Urban areas receive less sunlight than rural areas because of this pollutant) It also corrodes metals, erodes buildings and sculptures when the air is humid, and soils clothing and draperies.

Particulate Matter Hazards

may contain minerals that have toxic/carcinogenic effects (heavy metals, asbestos, or organic chemicals) If these toxins make contact/are absorbed by the body, then they have a range of effects. Extremely small particles can also get lodged deep in the lungs.

Lead

a soft metal that is used in industrial and chemical processes.

Lead Hazards

acute lead poisoning from outdoor exposure, permanently reduced cognitive ability, behavioral problems, slowed growth, hearing problems, and headaches. If airborne lead is inhaled or settled in water and on surfaces, it can be a problem too.

Nitrogen Oxides

gasses produced by the chemical interactions between atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen when a source of energy (ex: combustion of fuels) produces high temperatures. They consist of nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrous oxide.

Nitrogen Oxides Effects

involved in the production of photochemical smog and acid deposition, where nitrogen dioxide reactions with water and forms nitric and nitrous acids.

Nitrogen Oxides Hazards

inhibit plant growth, causes health problems when inhaled (asthma, airway constriction), traps heat in the atmosphere (contributing to global warming), depletes ozone in the stratosphere, and corrodes metals and textiles.

Sulfur Oxides

gasses produced by the chemical interaction between sulfur and oxygen.

Sulfur Oxides Hazards

causes acid deposition, corrodes metals, and damages stone and other materials. The acid and salts formed from this also damage plants and irritate the respiratory tracts of humans and other animals.

Sulfur Dioxide

a major sulfur oxide emitted as a primary pollutant. It’s colorless, nonflammable gas, with a strong, irritating, odor.

Sulfur Trioxide

a major sulfur oxide emitted as a secondary pollutant; when sulfur dioxide reacts with oxygen in the air.

Sulfuric Acid

a secondary pollutant formed when sulfur trioxide reacts with water.

Carbon Monoxide

a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas produced in largest quantities of any atmospheric pollutant. It’s poisonous and interferes with the blood’s ability to transport oxygen.

Carbon Dioxide

a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas; it’s also a greenhouse gas. Its buildup in the atmosphere is associated with global climate change.

Hydrocarbons

a diverse group of organic compounds that contain only hydrogen and carbon.

Hydrocarbons Hazards

some cause no adverse effects while others injure the respiratory tract and cause cancer.

Hydrocarbons Effects

they are important in the production of photochemical smog while methane is a potent greenhouse gas linked to global climate change.

Small Hydrocarbons

these types of hydrocarbons are gaseous at room temperature.

Medium-sized Hydrocarbons

the types of hydrocarbons are liquids at room temperature, but are volatile and evaporate readily.

Large Hydrocarbons

these types of hydrocarbons are solids at room temperature.

Methane

the most simplest hydrocarbon. It’s a colorless and odorless gas that’s the principal component of natural gas.

Ozone

a pale blue gas (a form of oxygen) that is both a pollutant in the troposphere and an essential component that screens out UV radiation in the stratosphere.

Ozone Effects

this becomes the most harmful component of photochemical smog, reducing air visibility and causing health problems.

Ozone Hazards

stresses plants (reduces their vigor). Chronic exposure lowers crop yields and contributes to forest decline, while the ground-level type is associated with global warming.

Stratosphere

this is where ozone prevents much of the solar UV radiation from penetrating to Earth’s surface. This ozone is formed when oxygen reacts with UV radiation coming from the sun.

Troposphere

this is where ozone becomes a human-made secondary air pollutant, formed when sunlight catalyzes reactions between nitrogen oxides and volatile hydrocarbons.

Hazardous Air Pollutants

also known as HAPs. They are air pollutants that are potentially harmful and may pose long-term health risks to people who live and work around chemical factories, incinerators, or other facilities that produce/use them.

Mobile Source

transportation; one of the main human sources of primary air pollutants. These include automobiles and trucks.

Stationary Source

industries; one of the main human sources of primary air pollutants. These include electric power plants and other industrial facilities.

Smog

air pollution localized in urban areas where it reduces visibility. There are two types.

Traditional London-type Smog

known as industrial smog. It is smoke pollution, and the principal pollutants are sulfur oxides and particulate matter. They are the worst typically during the winter months, where the combustion of household fuels increases dramatically.

Photochemical Smog

a brownish-orange haze formed by chemical reactions involving sunlight, nitrogen oxide, and hydrocarbons. They are worst typically during the summer months.

Volatile Organic Compounds

also known as VOCs. Automobiles and emissions from stations and oil refineries release these. They contribute to smog production.

Temperature Inversion

also called thermal inversion. Polluting gasses and particulate matter remain trapped in high concentrations close to the ground, where people live and breathe. They usually persist for only a few hours before being broken up by solar heating.

Topography

temperature inversions may change based on \________________. Cities located in valleys, near the coat, or on the leeward side of mountains are prime candidates.

Emphysema

a disease caused by exposure to air pollution, in which the air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs becoming irreversibly distended, decreasing the efficiency of respiration and causing breathlessness and wheezy breathing.

Chronic Bronchitis

a disease caused by exposure to air pollution, in which the air passages (bronchi) of the lungs become permanently inflamed, causing breathlessness and chronic coughing.

Command-And-Control Technologies

equipment that limits emissions after they have been generated. These technologies have been used to reduce emissions, however, they are more expensive than alternatives.

Smokestacks

fitted with an electrostatic precipitator (uses positive charged walls to attract negative charged pollutants), fabric filters, scrubbers (liquid water mixed with dirty gas to create sludge, or other technologies to remove particulate matter.

Vapor Recovery

the removal of unburned gasoline vapors from gasoline containers, including underground tanks at gas stations and automobiles gas tanks. Recovered vapors are either burned and condensed.

Phase I Vapor Recovery

involves underground storage tanks at gas stations. One hose from a delivery truck fills the underground tank, another returns the vapor in the tank to the truck (preventing the vapor from releasing into the atmosphere). Then the truck combusts/condenses the vapor into gasoline at the gasoline depot.

Phase II Vapor Recovery

involves removing vapor from gas tanks in cars as the gas is pumped in. These vapors are returned back to the underground tank to go through the phase I process.

Catalytic Converters

these oxidize most unburned gasses and are used immediately following combustion. It reduces carbon monoxide and volatile hydrocarbon emissions by about 85%.

Corporate Average Fuel Economy

also known as CAFE. Standard required that the average fuel economy of all covered vehicles (sold by a single company) be 27.5 miles per gallon.

Clean Air Act

created in 1970. It set the standard for modern air quality regulation. It sets limits on the amount of specific air pollutants permitted everywhere in the United States. They establish the maximum acceptable concentrations for lead, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and ozone.

Acid Deposition

also known as acid precipitation. Sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide emissions react with water vapor in the atmosphere to form acids that return to the surface as either dry/wet deposition. It poses a serious threat to the environment in many forms, whether acid rain, sleet, snow, or fog.

Robert Angus Smith

a British chemist who coined the term acid rain in 1872; after noticing that buildings in areas with heavy industrial activity were being worn away by rain.

Acid Deposition Hazards

corrodes metals and building materials, declines aquatic animal populations, dissolves toxic metals in lakes and streams, causes forest decline (soil acidification), and affects animals (fish, birds, etc.)

Acid Deposition Control

this can be achieved by reducing the emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides. If they aren’t released into the atmosphere, they can’t come down. Scrubbers in smoke-stacks along with clean-coal technologies effectively diminish this.

Forest Decline

symptoms associated with this are reduced vigor and growth. It’s more pronounced at higher elevations (trees at high elevations are at the limits of their normal range, so they’re more susceptible to stressors).

Lead Pollution

a serious problem in developing countries because the vehicles are old and have no pollution control devices. The gasoline refineries in these countries are not equipped to remove this substance from gasoline.

Global Distillation

the process whereby volatile chemicals evaporate from land as far away as the tropics and are carried by air currents to higher latitudes, where they condense and fall to the ground. Many air toxics involved in this process are persistent, so they don’t readily break down and instead they accumulate in the environment.

Smoking

causes serious diseases such as lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. It also causes substantial property damage through fires, burns, smoke odor and discoloration. It’s responsible for the premature deaths of nearly half a million people in the U.S. each year.

Cigarette Smoke

a mixture of air pollutants including hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particular matter, cyanide, and a small amount of radioactive materials (fertilizer used to grow tobacco)

Radon

a serious indoor pollutant in many places in highly developed countries. It seeps through the ground and enters buildings, where it sometimes accumulates to dangerous levels. It can also be emitted into the atmosphere, where it gets diluted and dispersed and is of little consequence outdoors.

Radon Hazards

emits alpha particles (a form of ionizing radiation that damages tissue), harms the body when ingested/inhaled, and increases the risk of lung cancer.

Dust Dome

a dome of heated air that surrounds an urban area and contains a lot of air pollution.

Sound

caused by vibrations in the air (or some other medium) that reach the ears and stimulate a sensation of hearing.

Noise Pollution

when sound becomes loud or disagreeable, particularly when it results in physiological and psychological harm. Vehicles, appliances, and heavy traffic are a few examples. It can damage hearing, increase heart rate, dilate the pupils, and cause muscle contractions.