Tropospheric chemistry

takeaway from hydrostatic equation

pressure decreases exponentially with Z

source of heat in troposphere

earth radiating IR

Source of heat in stratosphere

absorption of UV by O3 leading to vibration

example of local horizontal mixing

offshore winds

sea breeze in day as land warms faster than sea, convection

land breeze at night as sea retains the heat of the day

example of regional horizontal mixing

weather events, air circulates in different directions in the two hemispheres

global horizontal mixing of air

hadley circulation, different cells

why does it take a long time for pollution to cross hemispheres

rising air at the equator where most sunlight, circulates in different directions

tropospheric ozone

secondary pollutant, causes health issues and damages vegetation and GHG

How do VOCs affect O3 levels

their oxidation forms NO2 which disrupts the equilibrium and leads to more O3 formation

what scale of issue is smog

regional

CO2 IR active modes

bend, asymmetric stretch

H2O active modes

symmetric/asymmetric stretch, bend

how is IR being absorbed transferred to heat?

IR absorption leads to vibration, which is transferred to heat as the molecule collides with other molecules

photodissociation quantum yield

no. of molecules that dissociate/no. of photons absorbed.

allowed mix of O3 photolysis products

all ground state or all excited state as deltaS = 0.

why is it important that these certain O3 photolysis transitions are spin forbidden?

because they occur at longer wavelengths where more sunlight is.

what fuels can be refined

oil, not coal

why does air staging not work for SO2

S2 not kinetically stable

what causes acid rain

Nox and sox emissions

how can acid rain be tracked

with SF6 marker, but also plumes often have distinctive signatures from the ratios of metals in smelting

why has there been a decrease in acid rain

less coal burning

why are the properties at the bulk liquid and surface quite different

lots of transfer at the surface

what affects no. of collisions between a gas molecule and droplet

SA of droplet and gas speed

how to validate climate models

run them backwards and compare with historical data