Air Pollution is a chemical, physical (e.g. particulate matter), or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a complex, dynamic 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. Worldwide air pollution is responsible for large numbers of deaths and cases of respiratory disease.
Enforced air quality standards, like the Clean Air Act in the United States, have reduced the presence of some pollutants. While major stationary sources are often identified with air pollution, the greatest source of emissions is actually made up by mobile sources, mainly the automobiles.
Gases such as carbon dioxide, which contribute to global warming, have recently gained recognition as pollutants by some scientists. Others recognize the gas as being essential to life, and therefore incapable of being classed as a pollutant........
Pollutants Info:
There are many substances in the air which may impair the health of plants and animals (including humans), or reduce visibility. These arise both from natural processes and human activity. Substances not naturally found in the air or at greater concentrations or in different locations from usual are referred to as 'pollutants'.
Pollutants can be classified as either primary or secondary. Primary pollutants are substances directly produced by a process, such as ash from a volcanic eruption or the carbon monoxide gas from a motor vehicle exhaust.
Secondary pollutants are not emitted. Rather, they form in the air when primary pollutants react or interact. An important example of a secondary pollutant is ground level ozone - one of the many secondary pollutants that make up photochemical smog.
Note that some pollutants may be both primary and secondary: that is, they are both emitted directly and formed from other primary pollutants.
Primary pollutants produced by human activity include:
oxides of sulfur, nitrogen and carbon
organic compounds, such as hydrocarbons (fuel vapours and solvents)
particulate matter, such as smoke and dust
metal oxides, especially those of lead, cadmium, copper and iron
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
hazardous air pollutants (HAP)
persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
Secondary pollutants include some particles formed from gaseous primary pollutants and compounds in photochemical smog, such as nitrogen dioxide, ground level ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN).
Sources of air pollution:
Anthropogenic sources (human activity) related to burning different kinds of fuel
Combustion-fired power plants
Controlled burn practices used in agriculture and forestry management
Motor vehicles generating air pollution emissions.
Marine vessels, such as container ships or cruise ships, and related port air pollution.
Burning wood, fireplaces, stoves, furnaces and incinerators
Oil refining, power plant operation and industrial activity in general.
Chemicals, dust and crop waste burning in farming, (see Dust Bowl).
Fumes from paint, hair spray varnish, aerosol sprays and other solvents.
Waste deposition in landfills, which generate methane.
Natural sources:
Dust from natural sources, usually large areas of land with little or no vegetation.
Methane, emitted by the digestion of food by animals, for example cattle.
Pine trees, which emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Radon gas from radioactive decay within the Earth's crust.
Smoke and carbon monoxide from wildfires.
Volcanic activity, which produce sulfur, chlorine, and ash particulates.
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