Air and Air Pollution

General Science
By yaSIR
is Air present Everywhere?
• it was filled completely with air even when you
turned it upside down.
• That is why you notice that water does not enter
the bottle when it is in an inverted position, as
there was no space for air to escape.
• When the bottle was tilted, the air was able to
come out in the form of bubbles, and water filled
up the empty space that the air has occupied.
WHAT IS AIR MADE UP OF?
 Water vapour
• When air comes in contact with a cool surface,
it condenses and drops of water appear on
the cooled surfaces.
• The presence of water vapour in air is
important for the water cycle in nature.
 Nitrogen
• The major part of air (which does not support
burning candle) is nitrogen. It takes up nearly
four-fifth of the space that air fills.
• 78%.
 Carbon dioxide
• In a closed room, if there is some material that
is burning, you may have felt suffocation. This
is due to excess of carbon dioxide that may be
accumulating in the room, as the burning
continues.
 Dust and smoke
• The burning of fuel also produces smoke.
Smoke contains a few gases and fine dust
particles and is often harmful.
• That is why you see long chimneys in factories.
Observing presence of dust in air with
sunlight
• We inhale air when we breathe through our
nostrils.
• Fine hair and mucus are present inside the
nose to prevent dust particles from getting
into the respiratory system.
Oxygen in Water?
• These bubbles come from the air dissolved in
water.
• When you heat the water, to begin with, the
air dissolved in it escapes.
• As you continue heating, the water itself turns
into vapour and finally begins to boil.
 Oxygen in Soil?
• When the water is poured on the lump of soil,
it displaces the air which is seen in the form of
bubbles.
• The organisms that live inside the soil and the
plant roots respire in this air. A lot
• A lot of burrows and holes are formed in deep
soil by the animals living in the soil.
• These burrows also make space available for air
to move in and out of the soil.
• However, when it rains heavily, water fills up all
the spaces occupied by the air in the soil.
• In this situation, animals living in the soil have to
come out for respiration.
 HOW IS THE OXYGEN IN THE
ATMOSPHERE REPLACED?
• Interdependence of plants and animals.
 Uses of Air
• The windmill is used to draw water from tubewells and to
run flour mills. Windmills are also used to generate
electricity.
• Air helps in the movements of sailing yachts, gliders,
parachutes and aeroplanes.
• Birds, bats and insects can fly due to the presence of air.
• Air also helps in the dispersal of seeds and pollen of flowers
of several plants.
• Air plays an important role in water cycle.
 What is Pollution?
• The presence in or introduction into the
environment of a substance which has
harmful or poisonous effects.
 Air Pollution
• Addition of such substances to the
atmosphere modifies it.
• When air is contaminated by unwanted
substances which have a harmful effect on
both the living and the non-living, it is referred
to as air pollution.
How does Air Get Polluted?
• The substances which contaminate the air are called air
pollutants. Sometimes, such substances may come
from natural sources like smoke and dust arising from
forest fires or volcanic eruptions.
• Pollutants are also added to the atmosphere by certain
human activities. The sources of air pollutants are
factories, power plants, automobile exhausts and
burning of firewood and dung cakes.
• Vehicles produce high levels of pollutants like
Carbon monoxide, Carbon dioxide, nitrogen
oxides and smoke.
• Carbon monoxide is produced from
incomplete burning of fuels such as petrol and
diesel. It is a poisonous gas. It reduces the
oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.
• Thick fog-like layer in the atmosphere, especially
during winters. This is smog, which is made up of
smoke and fog.
• Smoke may contain oxides of nitrogen which
combine with other air pollutants and fog to form
smog.
• The smog causes breathing difficulties such as
asthma, cough and wheezing in children.
 Industrial Pollution
• Many industries are also responsible for causing air
pollution.
• Petroleum refineries are a major source of gaseous
pollutants like Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
• Sulphur dioxide is produced by combustion of fuels like
coal in power plants.
• It can cause respiratory problems, including permanent
lung damage.
• Other kinds of pollutants are
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which are used in
refrigerators, air conditioners and aerosol
sprays.
• CFCs damage the ozone layer of the
atmosphere.
• In addition to the above mentioned gases,
automobiles which burn diesel and petrol,
also produce tiny particles which remain
suspended in air for long periods.
• These are called as Particulate Matter.
• Such particles are also produced during
industrial processes like steel making and
mining.
• Power plants give out tiny ash particles which
also pollute the atmosphere.
• PM2. 5 refers to the atmospheric particulate
matter that has a diameter of less than 2.5
micrometers.
• PM10 are the particles with a diameter of 10
micrometers and they are also called fine
particles.
 Acid rain - Tajmahal
• The industries located in and around Agra like rubber
processing, automobile, chemicals and especially the
Mathura oil refinery, have been responsible for producing
pollutants like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
• These gases react with the water vapour present in the
atmosphere to form sulphuric acid and nitric acid.
• The acids drop down with rain, making the rain acidic. This
is called acid rain.
• Acid rain corrodes the marble of the monument. “Marble
Cancer”
• Suspended particulate matter, such as the
soot particles emitted by Mathura oil refinery,
has contributed towards the yellowing of the
marble.
 Greenhouse Effect
• The trapped heat warms the green house. The
trapping of radiations by the earth’s atmosphere
is similar. That is why it is called the greenhouse
effect.
• Without this process, life would not have been
possible on the earth.
• But now it threatens life. Excess of CO2 in the air
is one of the gases responsible for this effect.
• SAFAR-Air is the first mobile application
service in India to provide a current and
advanced forecast for air quality.
• The SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather
Forecasting and Research) is a project of
Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Air Quality Index
 Situation in India
• Twenty-one of the world's 30 cities with the worst air
pollution are in India, according to data compiled in IQAir
AirVisual's 2019 World Air Quality Report, with six in the
top ten.
• Ghaziabad, a satellite city of the capital New Delhi in
northern Uttar Pradesh state, is ranked as the world's most
polluted city, with an average PM 2.5 concentration
measurement of 110.2 in 2019. That's far more than double
the level which the US Environmental Protection Agency
regards as healthy -- it's nine times more.
 Global Warming
• Deforestation leads to an increase in the amount of
CO2 in the air because the number of trees which
consume CO2 is reduced.
• Human activities, thus, contribute to the accumulation
of CO2 in the atmosphere.
• CO2 traps heat and does not allow it to escape into
space. As a result, the average temperature of the
earth’s atmosphere is gradually increasing. This is
called global warming.
• Other gases like methane, nitrous oxide and
water vapour also contribute towards this
effect. Like CO2, they are also called
greenhouse gases.
• Many countries have reached an agreement to
reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. The
Kyoto Protocol is one such agreement.
 Kyoto Protocol
• The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which
extends the 1992 United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits
state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
based on the scientific consensus that (part one) global
warming is occurring and (part two) it is extremely
likely that human-made CO2 emissions have
predominantly caused it.
• The Kyoto basket encompasses the following
six greenhouse gases:
1. carbon dioxide (CO2),
2. methane (CH4),
3. nitrous oxide (N2O),
4. Hydrofluorocarbons
5. Perfluorocarbons
6. sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)
 Paris Climate Deal 2015
• The governments of 195 nations gathered in
Paris, France, and discussed a possible new
global agreement on climate change, aimed at
reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and
thus reduce the threat of dangerous climate
change.
 The aims of Paris Agreement is as
below:
• Keep the global temperature rise this
century well below 2 degrees Celsius above the
pre-industrial level.
• Pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase
even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• Strengthen the ability of countries to deal with
the impacts of climate change.
India’s INDC (Intended nationally
determined contribution)
 India plans to produce 175 GW of
renewable energy by 2022
• The Government of India has set a target of
installing of installing 175 GW of renewable
energy capacity by the year 2022, which
includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from
wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from
small hydro-power.
 What can be Done?
• A decision was taken to switch to fuels like CNG.
• The quality of air at various locations is
monitored regularly by government and other
agencies.
• Alternative Clean Sources of Energy: These could
be solar energy, hydropower and wind energy.
• Van Mahotsav, when lakhs of trees are
planted in July every year.
 Revision
• Air is found everywhere. We cannot see air, but
we can feel it.
• Air in motion is called wind.
• Air occupies space.
• Air is present in water and soil.
• Air is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon
dioxide, water vapour and a few other gases.
Some dust particles may also be present in it.
• Oxygen supports burning and is necessary for living
organisms.
• The envelope of air that surrounds the earth is known
as atmosphere.
• Atmosphere is essential for life on earth.
• Aquatic animals use dissolved air in water for
respiration.
• Plants and animals depend on each other for exchange
of oxygen and carbon dioxide from air.
• Air pollution is the contamination of air by impurities
which may have a harmful impact on the living
organisms and the non-living components.
• Pollutants are the substances which contaminate air
and water.
• Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide,
methane and sulphur dioxide are the major pollutants
of air.
• Increasing levels of greenhouse gases like CO2 are leading to global
warming.
• Water pollution is the contamination of water by substances
harmful to life.
• Sewage, agricultural chemicals and industrial waste are some of the
major contaminants of water.
• Water which is purified and fit for drinking is known as potable
water.
• Water is a precious natural resource. We must learn to conserve it.