Chapter 12.1 outline Air pollution

Clean air mostly N , and O gas with a little CO , argon and water

Harmful amount of other substances = air pollution

Can be solids, liquids or gas

Usually come from humans, can come from natural sources like volcanoes, dust, pollen, spores

Primary pollution – put directly into air by humans

Secondary pollution – form when primary pollutants combine with naturally occurring substances such as water vapor,

Ground-level Ozone – formed when emissions from vehicles react with UV rays and then mix with Oxygen

Sources of Primary Air Pollutants (see table 1, p. 304)

VOC = volatile organic compounds

CO = carbon monoxide

NO = nitrous oxides

SO = sulfur dioxide

PM = particulate matter

History of Air Pollution = whenever something is burned

Motor Vehicle Emmisions source of about 1/3 of air pollution from gasoline powered vehicles

Try to control with catalytic converters, convert HC, CO, and NO to H2O, CO2 and N2

Clean air act of 1970, strengthened in 1990

Gives the EPA, Environmental Protection Act, the authority to regulate vehicle emissions

Gradually eliminated the use of lead in gasoline 90 reduction in lead pollution

Required catalytic converters to be used

California Zero-emmisions vehicle program by the California Air Resources Board

Promotes vehicles that have no emissions from gasoline

16% goal by 2016, use electric or natural gas (methanol)

Industrial Air pollution –

Power plants Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides

VOC = toxic fumes

Dry cleaning, oil refineries, chemical plants, furniture finishers, automobile repair shops

Regulating industrial air pollution

Clean air act requires some to use scrubbers or other pollution control devices

Scrubbers – spray of water that removes many pollutants

Electrostatic precipitators – remove dust particles from cement or coal fired power plants

Smog – visible pollution over urban areas, auto exhaust, sunlight, air, ozone

Temperature inversions – air above is warmer than the air below, this traps pollutants near the earth’s surface sometimes caused by surrounding mountains

Week 30, Environmental Science, Mr. Vaught Mar 31^st – April 4^th, 2008

Objectives:

1. HFACEnvironmentalScience.blogspot.com

2. Chapter 12, Learn the causes and solutions to Air pollution.

3. Extra credit: field guide and community garden and news articles.

4. Continue labs, Winogradsky column, look at water samples with microscopes

6. Please bring 20oz plastic bottles and 16oz glass jars before Wednesday

Monday: 033108

Discuss lab on Acids and bases

Make up quizzes and work from last week

Handouts/homework: See handout on acids and bases.

Research paper making, what resources are used and what pollutants are released in making paper? Write answer in paragraph form, 100-200 words.

Due Wednesday, April 2^nd.

Tuesday: 040108

Quiz on 12.3 Acid rain

Concept review or Critical thinking worksheet.

Handout/Homework: Chapter 12 review, due Thursday

Wednesday: 040208

Making paper from recycled paper, dryer lint, leaves, flowers.

Turn in: paper on paper making

Homework/handout: Chapter 12 review

Bring plastic bottles (20oz) and glass jars(16oz).

Thursday: 04-03-08

In class review

More paper making

Handout/homework:

Homework/handout:

Friday: 04-04-08

Exam on chapter 12.

Turn in journals and review

After completing exam, begin outline for chapter 13 on Atmosphere and climate change

Environmental Journal Topics

033108 If each whole number on the pH scale represents a tenfold change in acidity, with the lower numbers being more acidic, how much more acidic is lemon juice with a pH of 2 than tomato juice with a pH of 4?

040108 Describe a building that is most likely to have poor air quality.

040208 What steps have the EPA, the State of California and the automobile industry taken to reduce air pollution?

040308 What are five ways individuals can reduce air pollution?

040408 What heavy metals are leached out of the soil when the precipitation is acidic?

Chapter 12.3 outline Acid Precipitation = acid rain

What causes Acid precipitation

rain, sleet, snow that is more acidic than normal

when fossil fuels are burned they release primary pollutants SO2 and NOx, oxides of sulfur and nitrogen

these combine with water in the air and form surfuric and nitric acids

flows into streams, rivers and lakes

kills living things including plants and animals

pH (power of hydrogen) scale is used to measure how acidic or basic a substance is

lower #s are more acidic, 7 is neutral, higher #s are more basic

each # increase indicates a 10 fold increase in H+ concentration

pure water has pH of 7.0

normal rain has pH of 5.6, slightly acidic because CO2 in air forms carbonic acid

often acid rain occurs downwind of large cities and industries

plants and animals have evolved to live within a particular pH range, evolution takes very long time (thousands or millions of years)

How acidic precipitation affects soils and plants

Acidification – increase in the concentration of acid, lowers the pH

Causes some nutrients to dissolve and wash away

Causes aluminum and other toxic metals to be released by soil and absorbed by plants

Also causes root damage

SO2 in water vapor (fog) clogs the openings on the surface of plants (suffocating them)

Acid precipitation and aquatic ecosystems

Acidic water can kill plants, fish and other animals

Causes aluminum to leach out of soil and into the water, accumulates in the gills of fish and interferes with oxygen and salt exchange, fish slowly suffocate

Acid shock – very quick change in pH due to snow melting in spring,  large fish kills

Affects reproduction of fish and amphibians, produce fewer eggs and many do not hatch

Off spring that do survive often have birth defects and cannot reproduce

To offset the acidification some states spray powdered limestone (basic) to neutralize acidic lakes. Not feasible to do this with all lakes and streams.

Acid precipitation and humans

release of aluminum and mercury from the soil can pollute our food and poison our body

may also cause respiratory (breathing) problems in children

hurts the fishing industry and forestry

can dissolve calcium carbonate in building materials and monuments (Michael Angelo’s David) made of marble and black crusts to form on historic Greek monuments

International Conflict and Cooperation

Acid precipitation often falls (downwind) 100s of kM away from the source of the pollution – crosses state and international boundaries, making it necessary for countries to work together, be good neighbors, to solve problems.

Chapter 12.2 outline Air, noise and light pollution

Air pollution affects young and old the most

Contributes to existing diseases

Emphysema, heart disease, and lung cancer

$ Americans 10s of billions of dollars to treat respiratory diseases related to air pollution

Short Term Effects (reversible)

Headache, nausea, irritation to eyes, nose, throat, tightness of chest, coughing, upper respiratory infections like pneumonia and bronchitis,

Also contribute to asthma and emphysema

Long term effects

Emphysema, heart disease, and lung cancer

Indoor Air Pollution

Plastics and industrial chemicals

In carpets, building materials, paints, furniture

Sick-building syndrome – buildings that have poor air quality, caused by tightly sealed buildings.

Need to identify and remove the source of indoor air pollution

Ventilation in another way of removing indoor air pollution

Radon Gas – colorless, tasteless, odorless, radioactive, natural

Element produced by the radioactive decay of uranium

Comes from the earth through racks in floors

Can destroy genetic material and cause lung cancer

2^nd leading cause of lung cancer

Asbestos – long, thin fibers made of minerals, used for insulation, strength and resistance to heat or as a fire retardant

Inhaled fibers cut and scar the lungs, caused the disease asbestosis

Difficulty breathing can lead to heart failure

Noise pollution – affects human health and quality of life

Air planes, traffic, construction, factories, home appliances, lawn mowers

Can cause loss of hearing, high blood pressure, stress, loss of sleep, decreased productivity

Intensity of sound measured in decibels (dB)

0 is the faintest sound that can be heard by human ear

Each increase in decibel intensity is 10* louder than previous level

Light pollution – is not a direct hazard to human health

Does affect our environment

Diminishes view of night sky

Is wasted light/energy the source of which is polluting

Solutions are shielding of light so that it is directed downward, using time controls, using low pressure sodium light sources that are very efficient

Week 29, Environmental Science, Mr. Vaught Mar 24^th-28th, 2008

Objectives:

1. HFACEnvironmentalScience.blogspot.com

2. Chapter 12, Air polution

3. Extra credit: field guide and community garden and news articles.

4. Continue labs, Winogradsky column, look at water samples with microscopes

6. Please bring 20oz plastic bottles and 16oz glass jars before Wednesday

Monday: 032408

Discuss: Primary and secondary air pollutants, their sources and effects

Handouts/homework:

Turn in: outline 12.1 and recycled art project (assigned before spring break)

Tuesday: 032508

Read in class about sources and effects of primary pollutants and how we can prevent them

Handout/Homework: outline 12.2

Wednesday: 032608

Quiz 12.1

Turn in: outline 12.2

Homework/handout:

Bring plastic bottles (20oz) and glass jars(16oz).

Thursday: 03-27-08

Handout/homework:

Homework/handout:

Friday: 03-28-08

Begin lab on acid and bases

Turn in journals and outline 5.3

Environmental Journal Topics

032408 What is the difference between a primary and a secondary air pollutant?

032508 Would you voluntarily breathe carbon monoxide, Particulate matter or Volatile Organic compounds? Why or why not?

032608 What are short-term and long-term effects of noise pollution?

032708 Identify 3 long term and 3 short term health effects from air pollution.

032808 How are the Winogradsky columns different than from before spring break?

Chapter 12.1 outline Air pollution

Clean air mostly N , and O gas with a little CO , argon and water

Harmful amount of other substances = air pollution

Can be solids, liquids or gas

Usually come from humans, can come from natural sources like volcanoes, dust, pollen, spores

Primary pollution – put directly into air by humans

Secondary pollution – form when primary pollutants combine with naturally occurring substances such as water vapor,

Ground-level Ozone – formed when emissions from vehicles react with UV rays and then mix with Oxygen

Sources of Primary Air Pollutants (see table 1, p. 304)

VOC = volatile organic compounds

CO = carbon monoxide

NO = nitrous oxides

SO = sulfur dioxide

PM = particulate matter

History of Air Pollution = whenever something is burned

Motor Vehicle Emmisions source of about 1/3 of air pollution from gasoline powered vehicles

Clean air act of 1970, strengthened in 1990

Gives the EPA, Environmental Protection Act, the authority to regulate vehicle emissions

Gradually eliminated the use of lead in gasoline 90 reduction in lead pollution

Required catalytic converters to be used

California Zero-emmisions vehicle program by the California Air Resources Board

Promotes vehicles that have no emissions from gasoline

16% goal by 2016, use electric or natural gas (methanol)

Industrial Air pollution –

Power plants Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides

VOC = toxic fumes

Dry cleaning, oil refineries, chemical plants, furniture finishers, automobile repair shops

Regulating industrial air pollution

Clean air act requires some to use scrubbers or other pollution control devices

Scrubbers – spray of water that removes many pollutants

Electrostatic precipitators – remove dust particles from cement or coal fired power plants

Smog – visible pollution over urban areas, auto exhaust, sunlight, air, ozone

Temperature inversions – air above is warmer than the air below, this traps pollutants near the earth’s surface sometimes caused by surrounding mountains

Recycled Art Project Due Monday the 24^th.

It is possible to make art out of practically anything. Old paper, magazines, cardboard, glass, plastic bottles, shoe boxes, shoes, clothes, scraps of wood, sticks, stones, bones, aluminum cans… The list goes on and on.

You can make collages, dioramas, sculpture, furniture, jewelry, etc.

You are only limited by your creativity and the amount of effort you put into it.

Your assignment is to come up with an art project that uses primarily recycled materials.

You can choose one of the two options below.

1. If you have the materials to do the art project you should do so over spring break and bring it to class on the following Monday to present to the class (Tell the class what it is made of and how you made it).

2. If you do not have the material on hand, need additional materials or advice, or think it might be a good project to do as a class, then you can write a one page proposal to turn in when we return. The proposal should be well thought out. It should list:

• all the materials needed to do the project

• instructions on how to do the project

• an estimate on how long it will take to do the project.

The objective of this project is to have you think about recycling and do something creative over spring break. It should be fun. You should spend at least a couple of hours and put some effort into it (if you just glue two bottle caps together and call it art, your grade will reflect your effort).

If you find that you are stuck in thinking of a project, there are several web sites with examples and suggestions on how to make art from found objects and trash.

In addition to these projects, Outline 12.1 for homework. Due Monday the 24^th.