Environmental Engineering - Atmosphere and Air Pollution

Vocabulary flashcards about Environmental Engineering - Atmosphere and Air Pollution

Troposphere

The layer of atmosphere where temperature decreases with altitude, allowing for convection and weather patterns.

Stratosphere

The layer of atmosphere where temperature increases with altitude, containing the ozone layer.

Mesosphere

Layer of the atmosphere with low air density and no ozone chemistry.

Thermosphere

The layer of atmosphere with extreme temperature but low air density.

Convection

The transfer of heat through a fluid (gas or liquid) by currents.

Air Pollution

Any alteration of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the atmospheric air that is harmful or injurious to public health, safety, or welfare.

Stationary Sources

Any building, immobile structure, facility, or installation which emits or may emit any air pollutant.

Mobile Sources

Any vehicle propelled by combustion of carbon-based fuel for conveyance of persons or transportation of property.

Air Pollutant

Any matter found in the atmosphere other than oxygen, nitrogen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and inert gases in normal concentrations, that is detrimental to health or the environment.

Primary Pollutant

A pollutant found in the atmosphere in the same form as it exists when emitted.

Secondary Pollutant

A pollutant formed in the atmosphere as a result of chemical reactions.

Particulate Matter

Solid or liquid airborne particles.

Dusts

Solid particles that are entrained by process gases directly from the material being handled or processed.

Fumes

Solid particles formed by the condensation of vapors by sublimation, distillation, calcination, or chemical processes.

Mists

Entrained liquid particles formed by the condensation of a vapor and by chemical reaction.

Smoke

Entrained solid particles formed as a result of incomplete combustion of carbonaceous materials.

Sprays

Liquid particles formed by the atomization of a parent liquid.

Nitrogen Oxides

An important precursor to smog and acid rain that forms when fuel is burned at high temperatures.

Sulfur Dioxide

A colorless gas that is toxic and irritating to the respiratory system and a primary contributor to acid deposition.

Carbon Monoxide

A colorless, odorless, and poisonous gas produced by incomplete burning of carbon in fuels.

Hydrocarbons

A diverse group of organic compounds containing only hydrogen and carbon.

Stratospheric Ozone

Essential component that screens out UV radiation in the upper atmosphere by trapping UV rays.

Ground Level (Tropospheric) Ozone

Man-made pollutant in the lower atmosphere and a major component of smog.

Lead

Can cause seizures, mental retardation and/or behavioral disorders.

Criteria Air Pollutants

Affects human health and environment. EPA uses six "criteria pollutants" as indicators of air quality.

National Ambient Air Quality Guidelines Valves (RA 8749)

A maximum concentration above which adverse effects on human health may occur.

AirShed

Areas with common weather or meteorological conditions and sources of air pollution which affect the interchange and diffusion of pollution in the surrounding atmosphere.

Air Quality Index (AQI)

Index for reporting daily air quality focusing on health effects you may experience within a few hours or days after breathing polluted air.

Good

Air quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk.

Moderate (Fair)

Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people.

Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups

People with lung disease, older adults and children are at a greater risk from exposure to ozone, whereas persons with heart and lung disease, older adults and children are at greater risk from the presence of particles in the air.

Unhealthy (Very Unhealthy)

Everyone may begin to experience some adverse health effects, and members of the sensitive groups may experience more serious effects.

Very Unhealthy (Acutely Unhealthy)

This would trigger a health alert signifying that everyone may experience more serious health effects.

Photochemical Smog

A mixture of pollutants formed when nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) react to sunlight, creating a brown haze above cities.

Thermal Inversion

A condition when warm air becomes trapped between two layers of cold air and acts like a lid on the valley.

Global Warming

Increase in temperature of earth due to greenhouse effect of gases

Greenhouse effect

The warming thought to occur from the increase of greenhouse gases.

Climate Change

Is the variation in the Earth's global climate or in regional climates over time.

Greenhouse Gases

Those gases that can potentially or can reasonably be expected to induce global warming

Kyoto Protocol

It is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) aimed at fighting global warming.

Ozone

A molecule that consists of three atoms of oxygen (O3).

Ozone Layer

Layer found in the stratosphere with high concentration of ozone molecules.

Ozone Depleting Substances

Those substances that significantly deplete or otherwise modify the ozone layer

Montreal Protocol (1987)

Landmark international environmental accord that was negotiated, entered into force, and amended in record time, in response to scientific information on the damage to the ozone layer by synthetic chemicals.

Acid Deposition

Accumulation of potential acid-forming particles on a surface.

Acid Rain

Form of precipitation resulting from the acid-forming reactions.