Vocab 80-102 (Pollution and Air)

• Source: burning fossil fuels and diesel exhaust • Effect: reduces visibility • Reduction: filtering, electrastic precipitators,alternative energy

• Source: 50% from transportation, 50% from industry • Effects: acidification of lakes, respiratory irritation, leads to photochemical smog and ozone formation • Equation for acid formation: NO + O2 + H2O –> HNO3 • Reduction: selective catalytic reduction unit, more efficient combustion processes like FBC (fluidized bed combustion), lower combustion temps, find alternatives to fossil fuels

• Source: coal burning • Effects: acid deposition, respiratory irritation, damages plants • Equation for acid formation: SO2 + O2 = SO3 + H2O = H2SO4 • Reduction: scrubbers, burn low sulfur fuel

• Source: auto exhaust, incomplete combustion • Effects: CO binds to hemoglobin, reducing blood’s ability to carry O2 –> contributes to global warming • Reduction: Catalytic converter, emissions testing, oxygenated fuel, mass transit, increase efficiencies, find alternatives to FF

• Formation: secondary pollutant • NO2 + uv –> NO + O^* • O^* + O2 –> with VOCs • Effects: respiratory irritant and plant damage • Reduction: reduce NO and VOC emissions • Tropospheric ozone is BAD, stratospheric ozone is GOOD

• naturally occurring colorless, odorless, radioactive gas • found in some types of soil and rock, can seep into homes and buildings, formed from the decay of uranium • causes cancer

formed by chemical reactions involving sunlight (NO, VOC, O^*); associated with automobile traffic

caused by sulfuric and nitric acids (H2, SO4, HNO3), resulting in lowered pH of surface waters, soil acidification and destruction of building materials

• Examples: H2O, CO2, O3, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), methane (CH4) • Effect: trap outgoing infrared energy causing Earth to warm

rising sea level (thermal expansion), extreme weather, drought, famine, extinctions

caused by ozone-depleting chemicals (ODCs) such as CFCs; the Cl or Br atoms “attack” the ozone molecules and cause the thinning of this layer

increased UV light that results in skin cancer, cataracts, decreased plant growth, impairs immune system

produced by humans and nature (CO, CO2, SOx, NOx, Hydrocarbons, particulates)

produced as a result of reactions that primary air pollutants undergo

burning coal, and compact fluorescent bulbs

coal-burning power plants

• Point - from a specific location such as a pipe • Non-point - from over an area such as runoff

: good= disinfection of water; bad = forms trihalomethanes when organics are present in the water; many systems now use chloramines to treat waste water before it is discharged. Alternatives to chlorine disinfection – ozone 6 or UV light

: indicator of sewage contamination ; found in the intestines of all warm blooded mammals (coliform bacteria)

biological oxygen demand, amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic decomposers to break down organic materials in water

may result in rapid algal growth caused by an excess of nitrates (NO3)^- and phosphates (PO4)^3- in water

when aquatic plants die, the BOD rises as aerobic decomposers break down the plants, the DO (dissolved O2) drops & the water cannot support life; very low DO levels; dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico

no DO (dissolved O2) in the water