•Any visible or invisible particle or gas found in the air that is not part of the original, normal composition are called air pollutants

Natural: forest fires, pollen, dust storm

Unnatural: man-made; coal, wood and other fuels used in cars, homes, and factories for energy

AQI: Air Quality Index

•Indicates whether pollutant levels in air may cause health concerns.

•Ranges from 0 (least concern) to 500 (greatest concern)

Air Quality Air Quality Index Protect Your Health

Good 0-50 No health impacts are expected when air quality is in this range.

Moderate 51-100 Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting prolonged outdoor exertion.

Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups

101-150 Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.

Unhealthy 151-200Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion, everyone else, especially children should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.

Very Unhealthy (Alert) 201-300 Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion everyone else, especially children, should limit outdoor exertion.

5 Major Pollutants :5 Major Pollutants :

1 . . ) Carbon Monoxide

2. ) Sulfur Dioxide

3. ) Nitrogen Dioxide

4. ) Part iculate Matter

5. ) Ground Level

Ozone

Carbon MonoxideCarbon Monoxide

•colorless, odorless

•produced when carbon does not burn in fossil fuels

•present in car exhaust

•deprives body of O2 causing headaches, fatigue, and impaired vision

Sulfur DioxideSulfur Dioxide

•produced when coal and fuel oil are burned

•present in power plant exhaust

•narrows the airway, causing wheezing and shortness of breath, especially in those with asthma

Nitrogen DioxideNitrogen Dioxide

•reddish, brown gas

•produced when nitric oxide combines with oxygen in the atmosphere

•present in car exhaust and power plants

•affects lungs and causes wheezing; increases chance of respiratory infection

Particulate MatterParticulate Matter

•particles of different sizes and structures that are released into the atmosphere

•present in many sources including fossil fuels, dust, smoke, fog, etc.

•can build up in respiratory system

•aggravates heart and lung disease; increases risk of respiratory infection

Ground Level OzoneGround Level Ozone

•at upper level, ozone shields Earth from sun’s harmful UV rays

•at ground level, ozone is harmful pollutants

•formed from car, power and chemical plant exhaust

•irritate respiratory system and asthma; reduces lung function by inflaming and damaging lining of lungs

•Combination of gases with water vapor and dust

•Combination of words smoke and fog

•Forms when heat and sunlight react with gases (photochemical smog)

•Occurs often with heavy traffic, high temperatures, and calm winds

•1st smog related deaths were in London in 1873; death toll 500 people; can you imagine how much worse the atmosphere is now?!

•Limits visibility

•Decreases UV radiation

•Yellow/black color over cities

•Causes respiratory problems and bronchial related deaths

• The greenhouse effect is a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases, and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface and the lower atmosphere, it results in an elevation of the average surface temperature above what it would be in the absence of the gases.

• Solar radiation at the frequencies of visible light largely passes through the atmosphere to warm the planetary surface, which then emits this energy at the lower frequencies of infrared thermal radiation. Infrared radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases, which in turn re-radiate much of the energy to the surface and lower atmosphere. The mechanism is named after the effect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse, but the way it retains heat is fundamentally different as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow, isolating the warm air inside the structure so that heat is not lost by convection.

• If an ideal thermally conductive blackbody were the same distance from the Sun as the Earth is, it would have a temperature of about 5.3 °C. However, since the Earth reflects about 30% of the incoming sunlight, this idealized planet's effective temperature (the temperature of a blackbody that would emit the same amount of radiation) would be about −18 °C. The surface temperature of this hypothetical planet is 33 °C below Earth's actual surface temperature of approximately 14 °C. The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect.

• Earth’s natural greenhouse effect makes life as we know it possible. However, human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests, have intensified the natural greenhouse effect, causing global warming.

• Global warming is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of Earth's climate system. Since 1971, 90% of the increased energy has been stored in the oceans, mostly in the 0 to 700m region. Despite the oceans' dominant role in energy storage, the term "global warming" is also used to refer to increases in average temperature of the air and sea at Earth's surface. Since the early 20th century, the global air and sea surface temperature has increased about 0.8 °C (1.4 °F), with about two-thirds of the increase occurring since 1980. Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth's surface than any preceding decade since 1850.

• Scientific understanding of the cause of global warming has been increasing. In its fourth assessment (AR4 2007) of the relevant scientific literature, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that scientists were more than 90% certain that most of global warming was being caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human activities. In 2010 that finding was recognized by the national science academies of all major industrialized nations.

• Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. Governments have made efforts since the 1970s to reduce the release of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere with positive results. Nitrogen oxides can also be produced naturally by lightning strikes and sulfur dioxide is produced by volcanic eruptions. The chemicals in acid rain can cause paint to peel, corrosion of steel structures such as bridges, and erosion of stone statues.

• "Acid rain" is a popular term referring to the deposition of wet (rain, snow, sleet, fog, cloudwater, and dew) and dry (acidifying particles and gases) acidic components. Distilled water, once carbon dioxide is removed, has a neutral pH of 7. Liquids with a pH less than 7 are acidic, and those with a pH greater than 7 are alkaline. "Clean" or unpolluted rain has an acidic pH, but usually no lower than 5.7, because carbon dioxide and water in the air react together to form carbonic acid, a weak acid according to the following reaction:

•Ride your bike

•Tell your friends and family about pollution

•Make sure your parents get pollution checks on their cars

•Ride the school bus

•Learn more; stay up to date

•Join a group to stop pollution

•Encourage your parents to carpool to work

•Switch off lights, fan, heat, etc. when you leave the room

http://edugreen.teri.in/explore/air.htm

•http://www.oneworld.net/penguin/pollution/pollution_home.html

•http://www.rcc.org/oem/aqindex.html

•http://www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/air/monops/lessoms/mathlesson.html