Overview of Air Pollution, The Chemistry Behind Pollution - page 4
Keywords: Environmental Studies
By Vickiduduu on 10/11/2007
Level: Foundation Degree
Page Number: 4 of 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
particles can reach deep into the chest cavity and cause damage to lungs, and difficulty breathing. They also cause deposition of heavy metals, having a toxic effect on plants. When leaves are exposed to air pollutants it can lead to excessive water loss from the plant, due to the waxy coating of the leaf being destroyed by the pollutants. This leaves the plant open to attack by disease, pests and frost.
Carbon monoxide is toxic to humans, combining with haemoglobin in the blood preventing uptake of oxygen. This then causes cells and tissues to die. However, CO is at minimal concentrations in the atmosphere. The greater worry is that CO readily oxidises to form Carbon dioxide, which is responsible for Global Warming. Global warming occurs because the “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere absorb infrared radiation that is released from the earth. This heat would normally escape through the earth’s atmosphere and be lost but due to these gases it is trapped, causing the earth to warm up. This will eventually result in rising sea levels and radical changes in local climate.
As mentioned above, secondary pollutants such as photochemical smog and coarse particulates can have dangerous affects on our day to day lives; reducing visibility around urban areas hinders movement of traffic and can prove dangerous for pedestrians trying to negotiate busy roads. Resulting in more road deaths and traffic accidents. Ozone, a component of photochemical smog, is a toxic gas and a powerful oxidising agent causing damage to buildings, crops and animals.
Acid Precipitation caused by SOx and NOx causes many problems for all life forms contained on out planet. It has adverse effects on vegetation and causes forest damage at high levels. It causes acidification of rivers and streams causing serious losses of many aquatic species.
There are hundreds of environmental chemists employed worldwide to find solutions to these pollution problems. At present governments internationally are taking part in the Kyoto agreement, UN legislation challenging countries to cut down their emissions of greenhouse gases. There are tight restrictions in industry on quantities of pollutants released into the atmosphere, with “greener” companies being rewarded for their efforts.
There are many ways in which industry can cut its emissions. By adding “emission cleaning” devices such as scrubbers to flue gases you can adsorb acid gases or SOx before the gases are released in to the atmosphere. These work by passing the
flue gases through
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