Air Pollution Part 2

Question 1

What is the anthropogenic era?

Answer 1

The era of humans

Question 2

There are ___ as many trees now as there were

Answer 2

Half

Question 3

Humans altered ___% of the land

Answer 3

50%

Question 4

How long does CO2 last?

Answer 4

Thousands of years

Question 5

The extinction rate is ___% higher now than before

Answer 5

55%

Question 6

What is radon?

What is the solution?

Answer 6

A carcinogen from uranium that seeps in through the soil, ventilation

Question 7

What is an indoor VOC? Where is it found?

Answer 7

Formaldehyde, carpets and stuffing

Question 8

What is black carbon?

Answer 8

PM and CO from heating and cooking fires

Question 9

What’s another word for reflectivity?

Answer 9

Albedo

Question 10

What does dark PM do?

Answer 10

It warms surfaces

Question 11

What are 2 solutions to increase albedo?

Answer 11

Green roofs and more efficient cook stoves

Question 12

What are 5 causes of an urban heat island?

Answer 12

Heat retention, low albedo, lack of wind, lack of evapotranspiration, urban canyon effect

Question 13

What is the urban canyon effect?

Answer 13

Multiple hot surfaces amplify and release heat

Question 14

What are 3 solutions to urban heat islands?

Answer 14

Green roofs, trees, reflective white surfaces

Question 15

Where do we want ozone? Why?

Answer 15

The stratosphere bc it protects us from UV radiation

Question 16

What 3 things does UV radiation cause?

Answer 16

Cancer, cataracts, kills phytoplankton

Question 17

Why are phytoplankton important?

Answer 17

They eat CO2 and start the aquatic food chain

Question 18

Where don’t we want ozone? Why?

Answer 18

The troposphere bc it’s a component of smog

Question 19

What 3 things does ozone in the troposphere cause?

Answer 19

Eye irritation, decreased lung function, decreased photosynthesis

Question 20

Ozone blocks UV-___ but not UV-___

Answer 20

B, A

Question 21

The ozone thinned by ___% when discovered in ____

Answer 21

50-90%, 1985

Question 22

When is the ozone hole the largest?

Answer 22

When it’s cold (winter/spring)

Question 23

What element tears apart ozone in the stratosphere?

Answer 23

Chlorine

Question 24

What are 3 CFCs?

Answer 24

Cl, F, C

Question 25

What were CFCs used for?

Answer 25

Coolants and refrigerants

Question 26

CFCs migrate from the ______ to the ______

Answer 26

Troposphere, stratosphere

Question 27

What does UV light do to CFCs?

Answer 27

It splits Cl from CFCs

Question 28

What effect does Cl have on O3?

Answer 28

Cl tears O3 into O2 and O

Question 29

What are the 4 steps of creating an ozone hole?

Answer 29

1) make CFCs (1930s) 2) CFCs migrate from troposphere to stratosphere 3) UV light splits Cl from CFCs 4) Cl tears O3 into O2 and O

Question 30

What 2 things did the Montreal protocol do?

Answer 30

Banned production of CFCs, substituted HCFCs for CFCs

Question 31

What can nitrogen do to the ozone layer?

Answer 31

It can erode it

Question 32

What are 5 benefits of reducing nitrogen emissions?

Answer 32

It reduces eutrophication, blue baby syndrome, acid rain, climate change, and O3 hole issues

Question 33

What happens in temperature inversion?

Answer 33

A layer of warm air overlays cool air and traps pollutants near surface

Question 34

Where do temperature inversions typically happen?

Answer 34

Cities surrounded by mountains

Question 35

What happened in London 1952?

Answer 35

A cold December led to increased coal burning, temp inversion lasted 5 days

Question 36

What were the consequences of the London temp inversion?

Answer 36

2000 died in 5 days, 2000 more died in 2 weeks

Question 37

What 3 things were trapped near the ground during the London temp inversion?

Answer 37

Soot, tar, SO2

Question 38

What was the solution to the London temp inversion, and did it work?

Answer 38

Building smokestacks, no it didn't work

Question 39

What's another name for atmospheric deposition?

Answer 39

Long range transport

Question 40

What's are 2 examples of long range transport?

Answer 40

Dust from Sahara settles on Miami, POPs detected in animals in Antarctic

Question 41

What 4 things do volcanoes release?

Answer 41

PM, SO2, COx, hydrogen sulfide

Question 42

What are 4 effects of air pollution on humans?

Answer 42

Asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, COPD

Question 43

What are 3 effects of air pollution on plants?

Answer 43

Cell membranes are weakened, growth and reproduction are disrupted, phytoplankton are killed

Question 44

What was Sudbury Ontario doing since 1886? What happened?

Answer 44

Smelting, SO2 was released and made sulfuric acid rain

Question 45

What happened to Sudbury bc of the acid rain?

Answer 45

Plants within 20 square miles were destroyed

Question 46

What was done to lessen the effect Sudbury had on the environment?

Answer 46

Environmental monitoring and scrubbers were installed in the 1970s

Question 47

What are the 2 forms of acid rain?

Answer 47

H2SO4 | HNO3

Question 48

What is acid shock?

Answer 48

When snow or ice with acid thaws first leading to concentrated release

Question 49

What are 4 ways to lessen sulfur emitted by coal?

Answer 49

Anthracite coal, Burning crushed limestone with crushed coal, limestone wet slurry scrubber, fluidized bed combustion

Question 50

What is a benefit of using anthracite coal?

Answer 50

It has a naturally low sulfur content

Question 51

Why does burning crushed limestone with crushed coal work?

Answer 51

The Ca in the limestone binds with the S in the coal

Question 52

What is a limestone wet slurry scrubber?

Answer 52

Soupy limestone is sprayed in smokestacks to bind with S

Question 53

What is fluidized bed combustion? | Why is it a good way to decrease sulfur?

Answer 53

Coal and limestone are burned together on an upward blowing jet, mixing action provides more efficient removal of S and heat transfer

Question 54

What are 3 ways to decrease the amount of PMs?

Answer 54

Electrostatic precipitators, bag filters, sediment chambers

Question 55

How does an electrostatic precipitator work?

Answer 55

Ash is electronically charged and sticks to an oppositely charged plate

Question 56

What is a bag filter?

Answer 56

A series of bags

Question 57

How does a sediment chamber work?

Answer 57

The chamber is closed off and gravity settles the heavy things

Question 58

What are 3 things catalytic converters do?

Answer 58

Reduces NOx, converts CO into CO2, oxidizes hydrocarbons into CO2 and H2O

Question 59

What is biofiltration?

Answer 59

Gas effluent is directed through soil so micro organisms break down the contaminants

Question 60

Why is air quality in less developed countries bad?

Answer 60

Lack of infrastructure, lack of legislation, mass burning