This document discusses air pollution and its causes, effects, and history. It begins by outlining potential test questions on various topics related to air pollution. It then provides examples of catastrophic air pollution events from the early 20th century. The rest of the document discusses sources and types of air pollution, how meteorology influences pollution dispersion, health and other impacts of pollution, and differences between primary and secondary pollutants.
This document discusses air pollution and its causes, effects, and history. It begins by outlining potential test questions on various topics related to air pollution. It then provides examples of catastrophic air pollution events from the early 20th century. The rest of the document discusses sources and types of air pollution, how meteorology influences pollution dispersion, health and other impacts of pollution, and differences between primary and secondary pollutants.
This document discusses air pollution and its causes, effects, and history. It begins by outlining potential test questions on various topics related to air pollution. It then provides examples of catastrophic air pollution events from the early 20th century. The rest of the document discusses sources and types of air pollution, how meteorology influences pollution dispersion, health and other impacts of pollution, and differences between primary and secondary pollutants.
1. List six of the major classes of air pollutants and describe their sources and effects.
2. Relate the adverse health effects of four specific air
pollutants and explain why children are particularly susceptible to air pollution.
3. Explain the differences between primary and secondary
air pollutants. Potential Test Questions:
4. Discuss the problem of the global distillation of
pollutants.
5. Summarize the influential changes that have occurred in
air quality due to the Clean Air Act.
6. Discuss the differences between industrial and
photochemical smog. Examples of Catastrophic Air Pollution 1911 in London - 1150 died from the effects of coal smoke. Author of the report coined the word smog for the mix of smoke and fog that hung over London. 1952 in London - 4000 died from smog. 1948 in Donora, Penn. Town of 14,000 people - 20 died and 6000 were ill from smog from the community's steel mill, zinc smelter, and sulfuric acid plant. 1963 in New York City - 300 people died from air pollution. London Smog 1952 London Smog 1952 In 13th century London - laws against burning outside because London was already heavily polluted since the middle ages London Smog 1952 London Smog 1952 Piccadilly – Noon 1955 Sources of Air Pollution According to the 1997 EPA report on air quality: Coal-Burning Power Plants are the Single Largest Source of Air Pollution!
In terms of volume and variety of contaminants emitted,
no other single pollution source comes close. Nationally, annual power plant emissions are responsible for 36% of carbon dioxide pollution, 64% of sulfur dioxide pollution, 26% of nitrogen oxide pollution, and 34% of mercury pollution in the USA. March 23, 2003 Earth Smog May 7, 2002 Los Angeles Houston An active adult inhales 10,000 to 20,000 liters of air each day, or 7 to 14 liters every minute. Effects of Air Pollution on Human Health
Contrary to popular belief, death as a result of a smog
siege is often not a result of air pollutant poisoning, but rather, a result of increasing susceptibility to diseases.
By and large, children, asthmatics, people with chronic
respiratory or pulmonary and heart disease, and the elderly are the most susceptible to air pollutants. Effects of Air Pollution on Human Health Because the lungs of children are not yet fully developed and because children inhale more air per unit of body weight than adults, they are prone to greater health effects as well as long-term damage to the lungs.
Similarly, because asthmatics and those suffering
from chronic diseases are already in a weakened state, smog adds stress to their bodies. For the elderly, smog increases their susceptibility to viral and bacterial attacks, as both lung and immune system functions decrease with age. Effects of Air Pollution on Plants Air pollution commonly leads to oxidation damage of both crop plants and wild species. Effects of Air Pollution on Plants Air pollution weakens plants by damaging their leaves, limiting the nutrients available to them, or exposing them to toxic substances slowly released from the soil. Quite often, injury or death of plants is a result of these effects of acid rain in combination with one or more additional threats. Effects of Pollution on Buildings For limestone, the acidic water reacts with the calcium to form calcium sulfate:
CaCO3 + H2SO4 CaSO4 + 2H+ + CO32-
The calcium sulfate is soluble so it is easily washed away
during the next rain storm.
Statue carved in 1702
photographed in 1908 (left) and 1969 (right). Costs of Pollution
Health: $36 billion in sickness annually - health care and
lost work.
Agriculture: up to 10% of nation's crops lost to all forms
of pollution.
Materials: corrosion - $5.5 billion annually.
Contribution of Climate - Inversion Layers Contribution of Climate - Inversion Layers Types of Smog
Industrial smog = the gray air in industrial cities in
cold winter areas, caused from burning fossil fuel.
Industrial smog is in the forms of dust, smoke, soot,
ashes, asbestos, oil, lead, heavy metals, and sulfur oxides.
In 1952, industrial smog held in place by a thermal
inversion caused the 4,000 deaths in London. Types of Smog
Photochemical smog = brown and smelly, found in
large cities in warm climates.
Most are the result of gases from auto exhaust.
This is the type of smog that hangs over Los
Angeles or Houston and causes air quality warnings many days each year. Photochemical Smog Industrial Smog Mexico City Smog Types of Air Pollution Primary air pollutants: harmful chemicals that enter directly into the atmosphere. Secondary air pollutants: harmful chemicals that form from other substances in the atmosphere. METEOROLOGY AND AIR POLLUTION • Meteorology specifies what happen to puff or plume of pollutants from the time it is emitted to the time it is detected at some other location. • The motion of the air causes a dilution of air pollutant concentration and we would like to calculate how much dilution occurs as a function of the meteorology or atmospheric condition. MET AND POLLUTION CONTD • Air pollutants emitted from anthropogenic sources must first be transported and diluted in the atmosphere before these under go various physical and photochemical transformation and ultimately reach their receptors. • Otherwise, the pollutant concentrations reach dangerous level near the source of • emission. MET AND AIR POLLUTION • Hence, it is important that we understand the natural processes that are responsible for their dispersion. • The degree of stability of the atmosphere in turn depends on the rate of change of ambient temperature with altitude VERTICAL DISPERSION OF POLLUTANTS • As a parcel of air in the atmosphere rises, it experiences decreasing pressure and thus expands. • This expansion lowers the temperature of the air parcel, and there fore the air cools as it rises. • The rate at which dry air cools as it rises is called the dry adiabatic lapse rate and is independent of the ambient air temperature. VERTICAL DISPERSION OF POLLUTANTS • The term adiabatic means that there is no heat exchange between the rising parcel of air under consideration and the surrounding air • The dry adiabatic lapse rate can be calculated from the first law of thermodynamics (1°C per 100m) • As the air parcel expands, it does work on the surroundings. VERTICAL DISPERSION OF POLLUTANTS • Since the process is usually rapid, there is no heat transfer between the air parcel and the surrounding air. Saturated adiabatic lapse rate, (Γs) • Unlike the dry adiabatic lapse rate, saturated adiabatic lapse rate is not a constant, since the amount of moisture that the air can hold before condensation begins is a function of temperature. • A reasonable average value of the moist adiabatic lapse rate in the troposphere is about 6°C/Km. Temperature lapse rate and stability • The ease with which pollutants can disperse vertically into the atmosphere is largely determined by the rate of change of air temperature with altitude • For some temperature profiles the air is stable, that is, air at a given altitude has physical forces acting on it that make it want to remain at that elevation. Temperature lapse rate and stability • Stable air discourages the dispersion and dilution of pollutants. • For other temperature profiles, the air is unstable. • In this case rapid vertical mixing takes place that encourages pollutant dispersal and increase air quality. • Obviously, vertical stability of the atmosphere is an important factor that helps Temperature lapse rate and stability determine the ability of the atmosphere to dilute emissions; hence, it is crucial to air quality. • Let us investigate the relationship between atmospheric stability and temperature. It is useful to imagine a “parcel” of Temperature lapse rate and stability air being made up of a number of air molecules with an imaginary boundary around them. • If this parcel of air moves upward in the atmosphere, it will experience less pressure, causing it to expand and cool. • On the other hand, if it moves dawn ward, more pressure will compress the air and its temperature will increase Temperature lapse rate and stability • As a starting point, we need a relationship that expires an air parcel’s change of temperature as it moves up or down in the atmosphere. • As it moves, we can imagine its temperature, pressure and volume changing, and we might imagine its surrounding adding or subtracting energy from the parcel. If we make small changes in these quantities, Temperature lapse rate and stability and apply both • the ideal gas law and the first law of thermodynamics, it is relatively straightforward to drive the following expression • dQ=CpdT –VdP Temperature lapse rate and stability • Where: dQ = heat added to the parcel per unit mass (J/kg) • Cp = Specific heat at a constant pressure (1005J/Kg-oC) • dT= Incremental temperature change(oC) • V = volume per unit mass (m3/kg) • dP = Incremental pressure change in the parcel(Pa) Temperature lapse rate and stability • Let us make the quite accurate assumption that as the parcel moves, there is no heat transferred across its boundary, that is, that this process is adiabatic • This means that dQ = 0; so we can rearrange as Dt/Dp=V/CP