Air pollution

Question 1

What are particulates and hat is concentration in urban areas compared to rural areas?

Answer 1

• Particulates are tiny pieces of solids and tiny droplets of liquid floating in the air.
• Urban areas can have a concentartion of up to 40 micrograms/volume where as rural areas usually have 10 micrograms/volume.

Question 2

What are the sources of particulates?

Answer 2

• Vehicle exhausts- around 80% of fine particles in urban areas are from cars.
• Burning of refuse, cigarettes and fuel.
• Construction, mining and quarrying which produce coarse particles.
• Plants and moulds also produce coarse particles,eg pollen and mould spores.

Question 3

What can particulates cause?

Answer 3

• Coarser particles are usually filtered out by the nose but finer particles called PM10 can enter lungs.
• This can cause or makes worse problems like asthma, lung disease and heart disease.