Secondary Air Pollution - Weebly
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Secondary Air Pollution
Transcript of Secondary Air Pollution - Weebly
Secondary Air Pollution
What is a Secondary Pollutant?Secondary pollutants form from a primary pollutant.
They undergo a transformation in the presence of sunlight, water, oxygen or other compounds.
Acid Precipitation
What is Acid Precipitation?Precipitation from the atmosphere that contains higher
than normal amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids.
Normal Precipitation
The pH of acid precipitation is less than normal precipitation!
Two Ways to FallWet Deposition
Acid chemicals fall to the ground in the form of rain, snow, fog, or mist.
Dry Deposition
Acid chemicals are mixed into dust or smoke and fall to the ground.
The Chemistry of Acid Rain
SO2 + O2 —> 2SO3 + H2O —> H2SO4
3NO2 + H2O —> 2HNO3 + NO
Acid rain will NOx your SOx off!
Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides mix with water and oxygen in the atmosphere to make the
nitric and sulfuric acids.
Who’s Fault Is It?
Volcanoes
There are natural sources of the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides needed to make these acidic chemicals.
Decaying Vegetation
Who’s Fault Is It?Anthropogenic sources of these chemicals are linked to the combustion of fossil fuels.
Coal Power Plants
Motor Vehicles
Who Deals With It?Because the wind moves the clouds, the effects of acid rain are found downwind of the source.
Connecticut’s acid rain is the result of power generation and vehicle usage in the midwest!
Evidence of Acid Rain
Rocks that are most effected are limestone and marble because they contain calcite.
Calcite = CaCO3 Reacts and neutralizes the acids in the precipitation!
Evidence of Acid
Changes soil chemistry, especially increases aluminum.
The addition of aluminum hinders nutrient and water uptake by plants.
Effects of Acid Rain
Aquatic species have a narrow pH tolerance.
It’s All Connected!
Leave a Comment or Question in Canvas!
Make sure that what you write is appropriate!
Tropospheric Ozone
It’s A Smog Day!Smog is a mixture of pollutants that creates a hazy look. It is derived from the words “smoke” and “fog.”
Associated with Sulfur! Associated with Nitrogen!
London Fog LA Smog
Grayish Color Brownish Color
London Smog
Inhibits proper lung function and can cause death!
London is famous for its wet climate!It is typically very foggy in the city!
The burning of coal produces sulfur dioxide and particulates, which mix with the fog to produce a hazy mist.
LA Smog
LA Smog is also known as photochemical smog!
Los Angeles is famous for its traffic!
The burning of gasoline produces nitrogen oxides that interact with the sunlight to produce tropospheric ozone.
The thermal inversions caused by the valley caps the pollution on the city!
Thermal Inversions
Typically as you go up in the troposphere, the temperature
decreases.
When there is a thermal inversion, air cannot rise because it is more dense than the air above it.
A thermal inversion is when it gets warmer with altitude!
Feeling Trapped
The Chemistry of Tropospheric Ozone
NO2 + Sunlight —> NO + O
O2 + O —> O3
VOCs speed up the process!
NO2 + VOCs + Sunlight —> O3
Here Comes The Sun!
Because the sunlight breaks apart the nitrogen oxides to produce ozone, this type of smog is
worse during the late afternoon and in the summer!
NO2 + Sunlight —> NO + O
The Sunlight Also…
–Emissions of VOC’s from trees increases.
–Evaporation of Volatile liquids increases.
–Emissions from power plants increases because of air conditioners being used.
Increases temperatures!
The Effects of Tropospheric Ozone
Ozone damages plants by entering leaf openings called stomata and oxidizing (burning) plant tissue during respiration.
Chinese HazeChinese Smog is a yellow color and is composed of high
levels of particulate matter.
Chinese smog is much worse during the winter months!
Associated with high vehicle and coal use.
Case Study: Smog and COVID-19Interesting data has been collected over the last few weeks with regards to air pollution and the
Corona Virus.
Read the provided article from NASA and complete the writing
prompts that are found in Canvas
