Air Pollution Explained

Air Pollution Explained

  • Submitted By: GS6X
  • Date Submitted: 05/07/2014 11:33 PM
  • Category: Miscellaneous
  • Words: 864
  • Page: 4
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Air pollution is the introduction of particulates, biological materials, or other harmful materials into the Earth's atmosphere, possibly causing disease, death to humans, damage to other living organisms such as food crops, or the natural or built environment.
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 long 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 InstituteWorld's Worst Polluted Places report. According to the 2014 WHO report, in 2012 the air pollution caused the deaths of around 7 million people worldwide.
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 monoxidegas 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...

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