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Air Polllution

Air pollution involves harmful substances entering the atmosphere, leading to health issues and environmental damage, with approximately 7 million deaths attributed to it annually. Major pollutants include sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds, originating from both natural and anthropogenic sources. The health effects of air pollution are severe, particularly affecting respiratory and cardiovascular systems, with vulnerable populations such as young children in developing countries being disproportionately impacted.

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15 views3 pages

Air Polllution

Air pollution involves harmful substances entering the atmosphere, leading to health issues and environmental damage, with approximately 7 million deaths attributed to it annually. Major pollutants include sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds, originating from both natural and anthropogenic sources. The health effects of air pollution are severe, particularly affecting respiratory and cardiovascular systems, with vulnerable populations such as young children in developing countries being disproportionately impacted.

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bichoukrach
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Air pollution

Air pollution is the introduction of particulates, biological molecules, or other harmful materials
into Earth's atmosphere, causing disease, death to humans, loss of breath, damage to other living
organisms such as food crops, or the natural or built environment. Air pollution may come from
anthropogenic or natural sources.
The atmosphere is a complex natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet
Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has been recognized as a threat to
human health as well as to the Earth's ecosystems.
Indoor air pollution and urban air quality are listed as two of the world's worst toxic pollution
problems in the 2008 Blacksmith Institute World's Worst Polluted Places report.[1] According to
the 2014 WHO report, air pollution in 2012 caused the deaths of around 7 million people
worldwide.[2]

Pollutants
An air pollutant is a substance in the air that can have adverse effects on humans and the
ecosystem. The substance can be solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases. A pollutant can be of
natural origin or man-made. Pollutants are classified as primary or secondary. Primary pollutants
are usually produced from a process, such as ash from a volcanic eruption. Other examples
include carbon monoxide gas from motor vehicle exhaust, or the sulfur dioxide released from
factories. Secondary pollutants are not emitted directly. Rather, they form in the air when
primary pollutants react or interact. Ground level ozone is a prominent example of a secondary
pollutant. Some pollutants may be both primary and secondary: they are both emitted directly
and formed from other primary pollutants.

Major primary pollutants produced by human activity include:


Sulfur oxides (SOx) - particularly sulfur dioxide, a chemical compound with the formula SO2.
SO2 is produced by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Coal and petroleum often
contain sulfur compounds, and their combustion generates sulfur dioxide. Further oxidation of
SO2, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as NO2, forms H2SO4, and thus acid rain.[2] This
is one of the causes for concern over the environmental impact of the use of these fuels as power
sources.
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) - Nitrogen oxides, particularly nitrogen dioxide, are expelled from high
temperature combustion, and are also produced during thunderstorms by electric discharge. They
can be seen as a brown haze dome above or a plume downwind of cities. Nitrogen dioxide is a
chemical compound with the formula NO2. It is one of several nitrogen oxides. One of the most
prominent air pollutants, this reddish-brown toxic gas has a characteristic sharp, biting odor.
Carbon monoxide (CO) - CO is a colorless, odorless, toxic yet non-irritating gas. It is a product
by incomplete combustion of fuel such as natural gas, coal or wood. Vehicular exhaust is a major
source of carbon monoxide.
Volatile organic compounds - VOCs are a well-known outdoor air pollutant. They are
categorized as either methane (CH4) or non-methane (NMVOCs). Methane is an extremely
efficient greenhouse gas which contributes to enhanced global warming. Other hydrocarbon
VOCs are also significant greenhouse gases because of their role in creating ozone and
prolonging the life of methane in the atmosphere. This effect varies depending on local air
quality. The aromatic NMVOCs benzene, toluene and xylene are suspected carcinogens and may
to combined particles and gas. Some particulates occur naturally, originating from volcanoes,
dust storms, forest and grassland fires, living vegetation, and sea spray. Human activities, such as
the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, power plants and various industrial processes also generate
significant amounts of aerosols. Averaged worldwide, anthropogenic aerosols—those made by
human activities—currently account for approximately 10 percent of our atmosphere. Increased
levels of fine particles in the air are linked to health hazards such as heart disease,[3] altered lung
function and lung cancer.
Persistent free radicals connected to airborne fine particles are linked to cardiopulmonary
disease.[4][5]
Toxic metals, such as lead and mercury, especially their compounds.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) - harmful to the ozone layer; emitted from products are currently
banned from use. These are gases which are released from air conditioners, refrigerators, aerosol
sprays, etc. CFC's on being released into the air rises to stratosphere. Here they come in contact
with other gases and damage the ozone layer. This allows harmful ultraviolet rays to reach the
earth's surface. This can lead to skin cancer, disease to eye and can even cause damage to plants.
Ammonia (NH3) - emitted from agricultural processes. Ammonia is a compound with the
formula NH3. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odor. Ammonia
contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor
to foodstuffs and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or indirectly, is also a building block for
the synthesis of many pharmaceuticals. Although in wide use, ammonia is both caustic and
hazardous. In the atmosphere, ammonia reacts with oxides of nitrogen and sulfur to form
secondary particles.[6]
Odors — such as from garbage, sewage, and industrial processes
Radioactive pollutants - produced by nuclear explosions, nuclear events, war explosives, and
natural processes such as the radioactive decay of radon.

Secondary pollutants include:


Particulates created from gaseous primary pollutants and compounds in photochemical smog.
Smog is a kind of air pollution. Classic smog results from large amounts of coal burning in an
area caused by a mixture of smoke and sulfur dioxide. Modern smog does not usually come from
coal but from vehicular and industrial emissions that are acted on in the atmosphere by
ultraviolet light from the sun to form secondary pollutants that also combine with the primary
emissions to form photochemical smog.
Ground level ozone (O3) formed from NOx and VOCs. Ozone (O3) is a key constituent of the
troposphere. It is also an important constituent of certain regions of the stratosphere commonly
known as the Ozone layer. Photochemical and chemical reactions involving it drive many of the
chemical processes that occur in the atmosphere by day and by night. At abnormally high
concentrations brought about by human activities (largely the combustion of fossil fuel), it is a
pollutant, and a constituent of smog.
Peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) - similarly formed from NOx and VOCs.
Minor air pollutants include:
A large number of minor hazardous air pollutants. Some of these are regulated in USA under the
Clean Air Act and in Europe under the Air Framework Directive
A variety of persistent organic pollutants, which can attach to particulates
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organic compounds that are resistant to environmental
degradation through chemical, biological, and photolytic processes. Because of this, they have
been observed to persist in the environment, to be capable of long-range transport,
bioaccumulate in human and animal tissue, biomagnify in food chains, and to have potentially
significant impacts on human health and the environment.
Sources

There are various locations, activities or factors which are responsible for releasing pollutants
into the atmosphere. These sources can be classified into two major categories.
Anthropogenic (man-made) sources:
These are mostly related to the burning of multiple types of fuel.
Stationary sources include smoke stacks of power plants, manufacturing facilities (factories) and
waste incinerators, as well as furnaces and other types of fuel-burning heating devices. In
developing and poor countries, traditional biomass burning is the major source of air pollutants;
traditional biomass includes wood, crop waste and dung.[7][8]
Mobile sources include motor vehicles, marine vessels, and aircraft.
Controlled burn practices in agriculture and forest management. Controlled or prescribed
burning is a technique sometimes used in forest management, farming, prairie restoration or
greenhouse gas abatement. Fire is a natural part of both forest and grassland ecology and
controlled fire can be a tool for foresters. Controlled burning stimulates the germination of some
desirable forest trees, thus renewing the forest.
Fumes from paint, hair spray, varnish, aerosol sprays and other solvents
Waste deposition in landfills, which generate methane. Methane is highly flammable and may
form explosive mixtures with air. Methane is also an asphyxiant and may displace oxygen in an
enclosed space. Asphyxia or suffocation may result if the oxygen concentration is reduced to
below 19.5% by displacement.
Military resources, such as nuclear weapons, toxic gases, germ warfare and rocketry

Health effects
Air pollution is a significant risk factor for a number of health conditions including respiratory
infections, heart disease, COPD, stroke and lung cancer.[2] The health effects caused by air
pollution may include difficulty in breathing, wheezing, coughing, asthma and worsening of
existing respiratory and cardiac conditions. These effects can result in increased medication use,
increased doctor or emergency room visits, more hospital admissions and premature death. The
human health effects of poor air quality are far reaching, but principally affect the body's
respiratory system and the cardiovascular system. Individual reactions to air pollutants depend
on the type of pollutant a person is exposed to, the degree of exposure, and the individual's health
status and genetics.[16] The most common sources of air pollution include particulates, ozone,
nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. Children aged less than five years that live in developing
countries are the most vulnerable population in terms of total deaths attributable to indoor and
outdoor air pollution.[18]

Mortality
It is estimated that some 7 million premature deaths may be attributed to air pollution.[2] India
has the highest death rate due to air pollution.[19] India also has more deaths from asthma than
any other nation according to the World Health Organisation. In December 2013 air pollution
was estimated to kill 500,000 people in China each year.[20] There is a correlation between
pneumonia-related deaths and air pollution from motor vehicles.[21]
Air pollution is estimated to reduce life expectancy by almost nine months across the European
Union.[22] Causes of deaths include strokes, heart disease, COPD, lung cancer, and lung
infections.[2]

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