...Joann Lee Geology Research Paper December 1, 2014 Air Pollution Air pollution can be described as any contaminate or harmful substance to the atmosphere that disturbs the natural composition and chemistry of the air, causing damage to the environment, human health and the quality of life. The air that we breathe is filled with substances and pollutants that are hazardous to our health and these pollutants in the air can take many forms such as gases, solid particles or liquid droplets. Pollution enters the Earth’s atmosphere in many different ways. Air pollution can be created naturally, for example smoke from wildfires or ash from volcanoes, but most air pollution is created by humans, especially from the release of emissions from factories, cars, planes and etc. Air pollution that occurs naturally is considered as a natural source and air pollution caused by humans are called anthropogenic or man-made sources. Air pollution is the most common in large cities due the high volume of people and some of the most polluted cities in the world are Beijing, New Delhi, Los Angeles and Cairo. Although air pollution is usually thought of as smoke from large factories or exhaust from vehicles, air pollution can come from indoors also. Burning kerosene, wood, or coal to heat a house can contaminate the air inside the house, resulting in air pollution indoors. The ash and smoke from the burning of the substances can make breathing difficult and can also stick to the walls, food or clothing...
Words: 2116 - Pages: 9
...Air Pollution CaTina Massey Environmental Science November 12, 2011 Instructor: Professor Mahoney AIR POLLUTION Air pollution is the biggest problem we as Americans face today. The problem arose during the industrial revolution and has just gotten worse since then. However, the industrial revolution brought many great changes to the world; better transportation, cheaper merchandise, and has made our life better. In the beginning of the industrial revolution, the problem of pollution was not something that people paid attention too. As the science involved, people began to realize the problem with pollution. Many different sources cause air pollution. Automobiles that are burning gasoline produce very harmful gases and incineration of products. Factories produce millions of particles that are carried off into the air. Gaseous by-products produced by chemical plants release these toxic gases when their concentration is at a high enough level. As the world has become more industrialized, the increased amount of air pollution and new health hazards have developed. Air pollution can arise from different sources that we cannot control. For example, forest fires, dust storms, and volcanoes. One of the sources of air pollution is acid rain. Raindrops that are combined with polluted air create acid rain. Acid rain mainly causes the erosion of buildings, destruction of crops, and many other assets. Global warming is also caused by acid rain. Many scientists...
Words: 891 - Pages: 4
...Air pollution There are many different types of air pollution that effect’s us on an everyday basis. I never realized how many different kinds of air pollution until I have read this chapter. Humans are the main cause of air pollution. The sad part is we continue to pollute. We poison the air every day by throwing out enormous piles of garbage, burning tons of fossil fuels, and driving. Primary pollutants are suspended particle matter, radon, lead, air toxics, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. The secondary pollutants are ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrates (Environmental Science 11e). These are mixed in with multiple air pollutions. Air pollution is caused by a brown cloud that hangs over the valleys, especially on hot days. That is caused by the ozone. The ozone is a colorless gas that is in the air. When the ozone gets closer to the earth’s surface it is called ground zero. At that point it is very harmful. It is very harmful to the plants, animals and is very highly reactive in the lungs and can cause respiratory disease too. The ozone can cause choking, coughing and stinging eyes. Ground zero chemicals are created by automobiles, trucks, and buses; large industry; utility companies; gas stations; print shops; paint stores; cleaners; and off-road equipment, such as aircraft, locomotives, construction equipment, and lawn and garden equipment (Environmental Science 11e). Also to reduce the risk of this is to reduce...
Words: 933 - Pages: 4
...Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a complex dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the Earth's ecosystems. Indoor air pollution and urban air quality are listed as two of the world's worst pollution problems in the 2008 Blacksmith Institute World's Worst Polluted Places report.[1] Pollutants Main articles: Pollutant and Greenhouse gas Before flue gas desulfurization was installed, the emissions from this power plant in New Mexico contained excessive amounts of sulfur dioxide. Schematic drawing, causes and effects of air pollution: (1) greenhouse effect, (2) particulate contamination, (3) increased UV radiation, (4) acid rain, (5) increased ground level ozone concentration, (6) increased levels of nitrogen oxides. A substance in the air that can cause harm to humans and the environment is known as an air pollutant. Pollutants can be in the form of solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases. In addition, they may be natural or man-made.[2] Pollutants can be classified as primary or secondary. Usually, primary pollutants are directly emitted from a process, such as ash from a volcanic...
Words: 2220 - Pages: 9
...Beijing Air Pollution Beijing has suffered from serious air pollution for many years. The Chinese Capital has issued its first pollution red alert as the capital became notoriously polluted and enveloped by a wave of acrid smog for the second time in December 2015. Much of the blame for Beijing’s air pollution will be its burgeoning automobile industry producing 24 million vehicles every year (Jack, 2016). Although this served as a capital booming development, the increase in vehicle population has also led to practical problems like traffic congestions. It causes a decrease in average car speed, which in tend increase the total emission from the vehicle exhaust (Tao Yang, 2009). PM2.5, which was said to be the smallest and deadliest smog particles emitted from vehicles’ exhaust, can rise to as high as 500 micrograms per cubic meter in some parts of Beijing. This is 20 times the level that is considered safe by the World Health Organisation. The rising use of automobiles has become an issue of environmental sustainability as the pollutants given off by the vehicles’ exhaust affects the cleanliness of the air in Beijing. This in turns cause the quality of the environment that the people are living in to deteriorate. It has put public health at risk everyday because of the presence of PM 2.5 particles in the air (Katrina, 2016). When inhaled, it can contribute to a myriad health issues like respiratory and cardiovascular problems, and even increase the risk of cancer especially...
Words: 579 - Pages: 3
...3. Results and Discussion According to the questionnaire analysis, the 16 respondents of 20, amount to 80% of total, have driven car 3.1 Air Pollutants in Melbourne Figure 1 presents air pollutants in Melbourne by the pie chart and horizontal bar chart above.Firstly, the pie chart about Frequency of driving & Transport choice shows that, 30% of the respondents drive car equal to or great than 5 days per week. There is also the same percentage of respondents drive car between 3 to 5 days. Another 20% respondents still drive car between 1 to 3 days per week. And 10% of the rest of respondents who do not drive chose the bus as transport. Both train and tram are preferred by 5% of those interviewed. Secondly, the horizontal bar chart provides the percentage about warm facilities choice of respondents. It can be seen that, 55% of the respondents would like to choose gas heater. There are 25% of the respondents to choose electric heater as well. Both wood heater and air condition are chosen by 10% of the rest respondents. According to research, there are nearly 60% of the respondents who drive car at least 3days per week. And the percentage of the respondents who drive car has reached to 80%. Living in so rapid pace of modern society, car has become anindispensible part of Melbournian’s lives, not only for work and study, even daily life. As one of the most pervasive pollutants, car should not be ignored which is closely linked to Melbournian’s lives. Moreover, because...
Words: 1182 - Pages: 5
...AIR POLLUTION Name Name of institution Describing the extent of PM2.5 in Indiana is problematic since the PM2.5 monitors are located in cities which make it rather problematic to know the concentration of PM2.5 in rural areas. Children are at grander risk from exposure to air pollution than grown-ups because their bodies are still growing. In relation to PM2.5 and air pollution in Indiana, children have elevated the level of absenteeism in school, asthma exacerbation and new on set asthma (Kunzli et al, 2003). My area of residence is Illinois, Chicago. The ambient airborne particulate matter concentration for Chicago is PM2.5 36 µg/m3. The Air Quality Index as of July 12, 2013 for Chicago was 58 and 42 on the thirteenth with the critical pollutant being the Ozone. The ambient air particulate Matter for Beijing china for PM10 is approximately 55µg m-3 and for PM2.5 is 152 µg m-3. The particulate matter between Chicago and Beijing has a huge significant difference. The PM2.5 of the city of Beijing is extremely higher than that of Chicago. The U.S. National ambient air quality standard for PM2.5 is 12.0µg m-3. The particulate matter level for the two cities is very high above the ambient air quality standard for US. The current air quality index of Beijing is at 152 while in Chicago is currently at 42. The air quality index of Beijing is very unhealthy in comparison to the standard air quality index figures. Also in comparison to Chicago, Beijing’s air quality index is on the extreme...
Words: 738 - Pages: 3
...Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulates, biological materials, or other harmful materials into Earth's atmosphere, possibly causing disease, death to humans, damage to other living organisms such as food crops, or to the natural or built environment. The atmosphere is a complex natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the Earth's ecosystems. Indoor air pollution (see Airlog) and urban air quality are listed as two of the world’s worst toxic pollution problems in the 2008 Blacksmith Institute World's Worst Polluted Places report.[1] ------------------------------------------------- Pollutants[edit] An air pollutant is a substance in the air that can have adverse effects on humans and the ecosystem. They can be solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases. A pollutant can be of natural origin, or man-made. Pollutants are classified as primary or secondary. Primary pollutants are usually produced from a process, such as ash from a volcanic eruption. Other examples include the carbon monoxide gas from motor vehicle exhaust or the sulfur dioxidereleased from factories. Secondary pollutants are not emitted directly. Rather, they form in the air when primary pollutants react or interact. Ground level ozone is a prominent example of a secondary pollutant. Some pollutants may be both primary and secondary: they are...
Words: 621 - Pages: 3
...I'm interested in the air pollution problem in Los Angeles, CA, because I used to live ther and they have a lot of problems caused by air pollution. Presently, there are many other environmental problems in the world, for example, global warming, desertification, ozone depletion, etc. Air pollution however, remains as one of the biggest environmental problems throughout the world. It can be the cause of disease like cancer or environmental problems like global warming. Actually, human products, from factories, vehicles and buildings, produce exhaust fumes and also produce microscopic particles which are known causes of diseases like cancer, heart disease, pneumonia and premature death (Danelski, 2006). We have to consider the air pollutants, and we need to improve the emission control systems of factories that emit the gas that produces air pollution to solve the problem. According to Gwen Williams, an exponent of Muskegon Family Care, patients who develop respiratory disease are really high around these factories, not only the people who live near the factories but also the people who live far from the factories (Prichard, 2005). This is proof that the gas of air pollutant is easily spread. Nowadays, our air has become polluted as we have developed our technologies to make our lives more convenient. Surely, living standards of our lives have improved and are much better than during the past. However, the environment has been certainly destroyed with these improvements. Therefore...
Words: 807 - Pages: 4
...about 20,000 liters of air. Every time we breathe, we risk inhaling dangerous chemicals that have found their way into the air. Air pollution includes all contaminants found in the atmosphere. These dangerous substances can be either in the form of gases or particles. Air pollution can be found both outdoors and indoors. Pollutants can be trapped inside buildings, causing indoor pollution that lasts for a long time. The sources of air pollution are both natural and human-based. As one might expect, humans have been producing increasing amounts of pollution as time has progressed, and they now account for the majority of pollutants released into the air. Air pollution has been a problem throughout history. Even in Ancient Rome people complained about smoke put into the atmosphere. The effects of air pollution are diverse and numerous. Air pollution can have serious consequences for the health of human beings, and also severely affects natural ecosystems. Because it is located in the atmosphere, air pollution is able to travel easily. As a result, air pollution is a global problem and has been the subject of global cooperation and conflict. Some areas now suffer more than others from air pollution. Cities with large numbers of automobiles or those that use great quantities of coal often suffer most severely from problems of air pollution. AIR POLLUTION CAUSES - There are many different chemical substances that contribute to air pollution. These chemicals come...
Words: 947 - Pages: 4
...For many years air pollution has been a problem in some of the world’s most populated cities. Lately, Beijing’s smog has been a concerning topic throughout China. On March 3rd, 2014 Richard Silk, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal reported in his article titled “Beijing’s Smog Ain’t Going Nowhere” problems that are arising due to the quality of the severely polluted air. Usually, when an individual thinks of air pollution the first thing that comes to mind is cars. However, in Beijing’s case that is not the big issue in 2014. The article entitled “Beijing’s Smog Ain’t Going Nowhere”, discusses the problems and causes of the heavy air pollution in Beijing. Chinese officials have been troubled due to China’s unhealthy air quality. It is a major problem because it contributes to health problems, and poses health threats to all kinds of people, including Americans. With all of the problems that the smog is causing, Chinese officials and citizens are trying to come up with ways to clean up the smog. However, cleaning up the smog sounds impossible because Beijing is the home of some of the heaviest manufacturing industries in the world. The city houses many factories such as steel, coal, cement, and brick factories. According to the article, the smog is a result of the heavy industrial production. In recent years, the amount of pollution in the air has increased significantly. This article is relevant because air pollution is a serious issue that people do not take serious...
Words: 280 - Pages: 2
...Air Pollution Air pollution is one of the major problems we have today. A lot of the people have to suffer from air pollution, which affects people’s health and life. Air pollution can affect people chemically, physically and mentally. Air pollution is basically when air comes together with some harmful gases. A lot of chemical factories and power plants released chemical gases into air and air becomes polluted. Air pollution is also harmful to animals and their habits. Air pollution causes asthma, skin cancer and acid rain Firstly, air pollution contributes to asthma. A lot of people suffered from this disease. Asthma is chronic inflammatory disease. Some air pollutants lead to asthma where chemicals in our bodies make the muscles constrict and effects the skin pores for airways. It makes the airways very small and can cause coughing, wheezing and general breathing problems. Asthma is one of the major diseases in the world. Secondly, skin cancer occurs due to the ultra violet radiation from the sun. The pollutant air is known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) do major damaged to our environment. The CFC combines with the earth’s upper atmosphere of ozone layer. The ozone layer protects the earth from the ultra violet radiation of the sun. The CFC’s gas molecules transfer and destroy the ozone layer and cause the skin cancer. So, skin cancer is another disease contributed to air pollution. Thirdly, air pollution also causes acid rain on the environment. Factories, power plants...
Words: 396 - Pages: 2
...Urban Air Pollution Analysis for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia An updated study report is now published as a journal article Particulate Pollution in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Journal article in Air Quality, Atmosphere, & Health (2013) Download ************** This study "Urban Air Pollution Analysis for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia" was conducted in 2007 to discuss possible long-term strategies for reducing air pollution and related problems in the city. Given the exponentially changing demographics, industrialization, and motorization, the air pollution problems are escalating in the city and there is an immediate need to address this issue in an integrated manner. These trends have spurred an increase in the demand for energy (primarily met by coal combustion) in several sectors including transport, construction, heating, industrial production, and have resulted in challenges related to the secondary effects of growth such as pollution from transport, waste disposal, and natural resource mining among others. [pic][pic] left: Google map of Ulaanbaatar center with growing traffic right: total vehicule population statistics, as of 2006 What are the main air pollution sources in Ulaanbaatar? A summary of air pollution sources is presented here as a series of photos taken in May, 2007 as part of this study. The main sources of air pollution in Ulaanbaatar, in no particulate order, include - Gers, Improved stoves, coal and briquettes, household heating systems, industrial boilers, power plants...
Words: 449 - Pages: 2
...environmental pollution. Especially, air pollution is one of the serious environmental pollution problems because of the impact it has had on organisms on the earth. For this reason, it is necessary for governments to spend more money in order to stem this pollution. In this essay, I will explain about this point of view. Firstly, people struggle to live with the severe diseases which are caused by air pollution. Respiratory and cardiovascular diseases are representative diseases. In East Asia, For example, 130,000 premature deaths and 50-70 million incidents of respiratory illness occur each year. Moreover, according to research, the incidence of cardiovascular disease and death are associated with the long-term exposure to air pollution. For these reasons, it is clear that air pollution has a harmful effect on human’s health. Another reason is that air pollution has resulted in serious complications in the natural environment. For instance, global warming, which is caused by greenhouse gas in turn caused by air pollutants, increase the average temperature of Earth’ atmosphere and oceans. Acid rain is caused by air pollution, it makes manmade structures, rock formations, forests and other natural landmarks quickly deteriorate. It also causes fish kills and other detrimental effects to aquatic environments. Therefore, air pollution brings significant problems to the natural environment. Finally, governments should spend more money on solving the problem of air pollution. Governments...
Words: 379 - Pages: 2
...Air Pollution Air pollution in Egypt is a real, harmful and serious problem. It is caused by a wide variety of things. From these causes is the great amount of smoke that come from chimneys of factories that were built near the cities as it release great amount of harmful, poisonous, black smoke which is quickly spread in the air and change its color into black. Also the black color of car exhaust has a serious, bad effect on human's respiration and which unfortunately we breeze it daily as we walk on the streets. This car exhaust causes many horrible diseases in the human lungs and many other organs in the human body. In addition to all the means of transportation like buses and many others in Egypt that increases the rate of the black smoke in the air. All these effects affect mostly the houses which surround the streets and near chimneys as they can be easily polluted by this smoke. Such effects can easily help to increase the percent of viruses in the air and affect the human's health. Although the filters of the factories chimneys help to reduce the amount of smoke in the air, they are not used in the right way and sometimes they are not used at all. Aside from all of the usual and attempted supposed solutions, some real solutions, if implemented, would actually help reduce the air pollution problem. These solutions fall under the following title: Pollution Reduction Strategies. The set of proposed solutions was contributed by the Environmental Protection Agency in...
Words: 972 - Pages: 4
