Air Pollution 2017

Question 1

What is a primary pollutant?

Answer 1

one that is found in the atmosphere in the same form as it exists when emitted from the stack
ex: SO2, NO2, hydrocarbons

Question 2

What is a secondary pollutant?

Answer 2

one that is formed in the atmosphere as a result of a reaction such as hydrolysis, oxidation, and photo-chemistry
ex: LA smog

Question 3

What is a thermal inversion?

Answer 3

occurs when cold air meets warm air and slides below to create inversion

Question 4

What is valley inversion?

Answer 4

in valley, cold air mass sinks and is capped with warm air mass
pollutants build up at night, during day reheats, and pollutants rise with warm air and trap in inversion layer
when inversion layer disperses, trapped pollutants disperse, spreading throughout valley in a process called “fumigation”

Question 5

What is radiation inversion?

Answer 5

Occurs at night when fog on ground, earth reradiates so fast as heat rises that air near ground becomes really cold, trapping pollutants at extremely low altitude with fog

Question 6

What is subsidence inversion?

Answer 6

Combination of geological formations (mountains create bowl effect) and atmospheric conditions where high pressure systems move overhead and compress and heat air creating inversion
inversion layer traps pollutants
prevention consists of reducing pollution from going into lower levels

Question 7

What are the general types of pollutants?

Answer 7

Liquids - mists, aerosols
solids - dust, smoke, fumes

Question 8

What is dust defined as?

Answer 8

air suspensions of particles <10 microns in diameter
industrial finely divided solid airborne particles (0.1-0.25”) that may have damaging effects (<2.5 microns) to personnel by inhalation

Question 9

What is pneumonoconiosis?

Answer 9

various diseases - conditions where lung characterized by airborne hardening as result of chronic inhalation of irritating dust particles

Question 10

What is the black lung disease?

Answer 10

coal miners respiratory disease
“I’ve got the Black Lung, Pop!” - Zoolander

Question 11

What is silicosis?

Answer 11

general reference to condition where particles of various sizes are inhaled into lungs

Question 12

What is asbestosis?

Answer 12

diffuse fibrosis (scarring) of lungs
symptoms include breathlessness, crackly breathing, cough, chest pain

Question 13

How is lung cancer relative to air pollution?>

Answer 13

risk greatly enhanced for asbestos workers who smoke

Question 14

What is mesothelioma?

Answer 14

rare cancer of chest/abdomen
spreads rapidly, usually fatal
symptoms include short breath and chest pains

Question 15

What is the Ringleman scale?

Answer 15

oldest measurement for particulates
industry standard for measuring opacity of smoke
see through charts until cannot see through anymore, compare to standard

Question 16

How is precipitation used as physical air treatment?

Answer 16

particles >5 microns removed by precipitation
charged particles removed electrostatically
particles forced between two positively charged plater and negatively charges particulates (dust and dirt) removed

Question 17

What are scrubbers in term of physical air treatment?

Answer 17

aka absorption
enters inside of absorbing matter
diffusion systems similar to scrubber devices
ex: water (material) absorbed by sponge (absorber)

Question 18

What are impingers in terms of air treatment?

Answer 18

common technique used to impinge (remove particulates) by using physical barriers (baffles) which the particulate matter hits while the air is moving
must be heavy enough to be removed by gravity

Question 19

How is a centrifuge used in air treatment?

Answer 19

use of centrifugal force and kinetic motion spins out particulate matter
similar to washing machine

Question 20

What is catalytic conversion in relation to air treatment?

Answer 20

catalyst is an agent that assists/accelerates a process of chemical reaction without becoming part of reaction

Question 21

What does a catalytic converter do?

Answer 21

converts unburned fossil fuel byproducts (emissions) such as hydrocarbons, CO, NOx, into CO2, H2O, and N
designed for automobile engine
converter connected at exhaust of engine

Question 22

What is a potential issue for a catalytic converter in a vehicle?

Answer 22

possible use of leaded gasoline which would cause clogging

Question 23

What is a Baghouse filter?

Answer 23

gas filtration device that filters out particulates (not gas) by forcing air through cloth mesh

Question 24

What is particulate dosimetry?

Answer 24

Gives approximate concentration of particulates in air

Question 25

Describe absorption tubes for air pollution sampling

Answer 25

colorimetric tubes
testing gas passed through specially treated tube a determined volume
depending on gas, special reagent turns different color indicating concentration level of tested gas

Question 26

What is an anemometer?

Answer 26

ventilation capactiy meter measures in cubic ft/min
used for make-up air draft capacities (exhaust vents)
tests wind volume

Question 27

What are explosimeters?

Answer 27

reads out present concentration of highly volatile gas in given location
valuable tool for firemen, hazardous materials inspectors and workers (sewer lines)

Question 28

What is high volume particulate sampling?

Answer 28

measure amount of air taken during specified period of time

Question 29

What is indicator paper in regards to air pollution sampling?

Answer 29

paper treated with special agent that detects concentration levels of tested agent
best example - Litmus paper, used as an on-the-spot inspection tool

Question 30

What are velometers?

Answer 30

air speed measuring device in ft/min
ex: airport wind speed

Question 31

What is windrose?

Answer 31

Graph of diagramming of wind direction which details magnitude and directions
used in hazardous waste spills?