Unit 7 Atmospheric Pollution

Carbon Dioxide Pollutant Effects

Human Health Effect: n/a unless in high quantities.

Environmental Effect: traps heats leading to melting, ice caps, rising sea levels, and coastal flooding; causes climate change

Ways To Prevent: carbon sequestration.

Sulfur Dioxide Pollutant Effects

Human Health Effect: makes it difficult to breathe, particularly for people with asthma.

Environmental Effect: harms trees and plants by damaging leaves and decreasing growth; leads to acid rain

Ways to Prevent: gas scrubbing or by using fluidized bed combustion.

Nitrogen Oxides Pollution Effects

Human Health Effect: photochemical smog because of the formation of ozone molecules; cause acid rain

Environmental Effects: chronic lung disease and damage o the respiratory system.

Ways To Prevent: catalytic converters in vehicles; H20 or sodium hydroxide scrubbers in manafacturing plants.

Toxic Metals Pollution Effect

Human Health Effects : the type of toxic Metal will determine the environmental and human health effects.

Environmental Effect: the type of toxic metals will determine the environmental and human health effects.

Ways To Prevent: catalytic reduction, electrostatic precipitators, and other technologies.

Particulates Pollution Effects

Human Health Effect: can get into the lungs; small enough to get into blood stream.

Environmental Effects: causes haze, acidify lakes and streams, deplete the soil of nutrients and damage materials.

Ways To Prevent: baghouse filters or electrostatic precipitators

Ozone

photochemical smog can cause ground level ozone to occur in the afternoon when it gets hot. Can cause health effects like chest pain, throat irritation, coughing, and congestion. Dangerous for people with bronchitis, asthma, and emphysema.

Photochemical smog

this type of smog occurs in wamr places that have a lot of people, cars, factories, power plants, etc. It is formed when voltaile organic hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, heat, and sunlight mix. Causes eye irritation and respiratory illness; ground level ozone is produced.

Acid Rain (Deposition)

nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxides (SO2) in the atm. mix with rain, snow, fog, hail, or dust, they can become acid rain and fall to Earth. This can be in wet and dry forms.

Clean Air Act

law that regulates the use of lead in fuels and the atmosphere. Eliminated lead from gasoline.

Lead

lead to permanent nerve damage, anemia, or mental retardation.

Voltaile organic hydrocarbons

when they mix with nitrogen oxides and heat it can form photochemical smog.

Thermal inversion

occurs when pollution gets trapped near the Earth’s surface because of warm air trapping cooler, denser air near Earth.

Radon-222

a gas that comes from uranium decay and is the second leading cause of cancer in America.

Catalytic converter

a device that converts pollutants into less dangerous things.

Vapor recovery nozzle

a device added to gasoline fuel pumps that traps the vapors before they can be released in to the atmosphere.

Wet and dry scrubbers

air pollution devices that remove particulates so they don’t get into the atmosphere.

Electrostatic precipitators

remove fine particles like dust, smoke, soot, and ash before they leave the smokestack.

Anthropogenic

caused by humans.

Noise Pollution

sound that is loud and long enough to cause harm to humans and animals.