Download WHAT’S IN OUR AIR?

WHAT’S IN
OUR AIR?
THE STRUCTURE OF THE
ATMOSPHERE
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78% Nitrogen (N2)
21% Oxygen (O2)
0.035 % Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Rest trace gases such as H2O, CH4, SOX, N0X, O3, CO
ATMOSPHERIC LAYERS
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TROPOSPHERE:
weather occurs here;
birds and planes fly
here
STRATOSPHERE:
contains Ozone
MESOSPHERE: Radio
waves travel up to here
THERMOSPHERE:
aurora borealis
MAJOR AIR POLLUTANTS AND
THEIR SOURCES
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VOC: Volatile Organic
Compounds (incomplete
combustion of fossil fuels)
PM: Particulate Matter (soot,
smoke, metals, dust and dirt)
NOX: high combustion
temperatures
SOX: combustion of sulfur
containing fuels such as coal
Rn: Rocks and soil as radium
and uranium break down
WHAT ARE GREENHOUSE GASES?
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CO2: Humans breathing, fossil
fuels
H20: Water cycle
CH4: fermentation, rice, cows,
wetlands
N20: agriculture (major
component of fertilizer)
Ozone: Sunlight on pollutants
creates ozone in the troposphere
CFC: aerosol cans, refrigerants,
styrofoam (most potent
greenhouse gas!)
WHAT IS ACID RAIN?
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Acid rain is formed from sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and
nitric acid (HNO3) in a ratio of about 2 to 1.
Sources include burning of fossil fuels and natural
sources such as volcanoes.
Massive Volcanism in Human History
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1980 Mt St Helens
1883 Krakatau: created a
140 ft high tsunami and
killed 34,000 people in
South Pacific
1815 Tambora killed
100,000 people in
Indonesia and decreased
global temperature by 3° C
630,000 years ago
Yellowstone National Park
left a 45 x 30 mile wide
caldera and dumped 2,500
times the ash of Mt St
Helens
EFFECTS ON HUMAN HEALTH
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Asthma
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Cancer
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Lung Disease
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Heart Disease
EFFECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT
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Crop Damage
Forest damage
Aquatic Ecosystem
damage due to rise in
pH
Visibility (smog)
Chemical weathering
of rocks, buildings and
monuments
CLEAN AIR ACT OF 1970
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Main goal to regulate emissions of air pollutants
Clean Air Act Amendment 1990 (CAAA): Targeted cars,
trucks and buses by adding catalytic converters
Demands by the year 2010, reduce SO2 levels by 10 million
tons (Title IV)
KYOTO PROTOCOL
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38 industrial nations met in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 and agreed on reducing
greenhouse gases (stabalization at 450 ppm)
Developing countries refused to agree to reductions
In 2001, 110 parties ratified treaty
Two countries pulled out of the treaty, US and Australia
Kyoto Protocol will not stabilize GHG, but is an important step
WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS FOR
MITIGATION OF GHG EMISSION?
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Place a worldwide cap on GHG emission
Invest in renewable forms of energy
Stop loss of tropical forests and encourage planting
Make energy conservation rules much more stringent
Reduce amount of fuel used by raising mileage
standards
Capture CO2 emission at site, convert to liquid and
pump it to deep oceans where high pressure and low
temperatures would preserve it as a solid mass
Slow down human population