Lindsay Freschi

*Air Pollution

*What is Air Pollution???

*Air pollution is the introduction into the atmosphere of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause discomfort, disease, or death to humans, damage other living organisms such as food crops, or damage the natural environment or built environment.

*Where Does Air Pollution Come

FromThere are actually two different kinds of air pollution:

*Natural Occurring- Easy for the Earth to handle

*Human Caused- Too much is being emitted and the Earth cannot handle it all.

*What are Some of the Causes of Natural Air

Pollutants??

*Volcanoes- ash, acid mist, hydrogen sulfide, other toxic gases

*Sea spray-sulfur compounds

*Bacterial Metabolism of decaying vegetation and cellulose from guts of termites and ruminant animals- together they are responsible for 2/3 of the methane in the air.

*Wind erosion

*Forrest Fires

*What are Some Human Causes of Air Pollution

*Factories-emitting harmful substances into the air

*Automobiles-emitting harmful substances into the air

* Deforestation-cutting down trees and taking away a natural way to clean the air

*Smoking-releases substances into the air

*Agriculture-fertilizers we use are contributing to air pollution

*Why is this Topic Important?

*Humans account for much of the world's air pollution problem.

*Air pollution is becoming an increasingly greater risk to our health and our planet. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that "acid rain, global warming, smog and the depletion of the ozone layer" are some of the results of human-caused air pollution

*Six Conventional Pollutants

*Sulfur Dioxide

*Nitrogen Oxides

*Carbon Monoxide

*Ozone

*Lead

*Particulate Matter

*Sulfur Dioxide*Natural sources: evaporation of sea spray,

fumes from volcanoes and hot springs.

*Human Caused Sources: combustion of sulfur-containing fuel (coal and oil), purification of sulfur-containing natural gas or oil, industrial processes.

*China and the U.S. are the two largest sources of anthropogenic sulfur.

*Colorless corrosive gas is directly damaging plants and animals.

*Nitrogen Oxides*Highly reactive gases formed

when nitrogen in fuel or in the air is heated above 1,200 degrees F in the presents of oxygen.

*Natural Causes:

*Human Causes: Continued increase in miles driven every year, abundant use of electricity, excess nitrogen from agricultural fertilizers.

*Nitrogen Oxides are a major component of acid rain when they combine with water

*Carbon Monoxide

*Colorless, Odorless, Nonirritating, but highly toxic gas.

*Human Causes: mainly by incomplete combustion of fuel.

*In the U.S. 2/3 of CO emissions are created by internal combustion engines.

*90% of CO is converted to CO2

*Ozone*High in the stratosphere it provides a shield for the biosphere by absorbing incoming ultraviolet radiation. At ground level it damages plants, building materials, and sensitive body tissue

*Natural Causes:

*Human Causes:Ground-level or "bad" ozone is not emitted directly into the air, but is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of sunlight. Emissions from industrial facilities and electric utilities, motor vehicle exhaust, gasoline vapors, and chemical solvents are some of the major sources of NOx and VOC.

*Has a bitter odor

*Lead

*Most abundantly produced metal in the air, toxic to our nervous system.

*Natural Causes:

*Human Causes: Airborne lead comes from metal ores, mining, and burning of coal and municipal waste. And until recently leaded gasoline was a major factor in lead pollution.

*Particulate Matter*Airborne Particles- Solid particles or liquid

droplets. Very fine solid of liquid particles suspended in a gaseous medium are aerosols; including dust, ash, soot, lint, smoke, pollen, and many other suspended materials.

*Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) may include a wide range of organic air pollutants, from pure hydrocarbons to partially oxidized hydrocarbons to organic compounds containing chlorine, sulfur, or nitrogen.

*Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are compounds which are resistant to degradation and persistent in the environment, and may include dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides such as DDT.

*Natural causes: dust in the major natural cause

*Human causes: asbestos and cigarette smoke

*Most obvious form of pollution because they reduce visibility.

*Carbon Dioxide

*One of the key greenhouse gases

*370 Billion tons of CO2 are emitted by respiration each year. This is usually balanced by photosynthesis in green plants. However, there is an increase in the amount of CO2 emitted due to human activities. The excess amount of CO2 being emitted is contributing to climate change.

*Ocean Acidification is a major concern for ocean animals, and is a direct result from too much carbon dioxide in the air.

*How is this Important to

you???*Your health and well being are at risk

*Global Warming

*Cancer

*Nerve Damage just to name a few.

*What is being done?

*The Clean Air Act is implemented by EPA

*Better automobiles

*Finding better fuels

*More awareness of the issue

*Are we the only ones being effected?/*The answer is no. Animals are also being

effected by air pollution.

*Not only can they suffer illness for the polluted air but they also have to try and cope with the climate change.

*http://news.discovery.com/videos/global-warming-videos/

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0WA3PIknCM

*It is important to protect the animals for pollution because if we do not, many of them will die. We have no idea what the death of these animals will do to the environment.