chap 12

Question 1

air pollution

Answer 1

a mixture of solid particles and gases in the air

Question 2

primary pollutant

Answer 2

an air pollutant emitted directly from a source

Question 3

secondary pollutant

Answer 3

pollutants which form in the atmosphere

Question 4

smog

Answer 4

fog or haze combined with smoke and other atmospheric pollutants.

Question 5

temperature inversion

Answer 5

a reversal of the normal behaviour of temperature in the troposphere (the region of the atmosphere nearest Earth’s surface), in which a layer of cool air at the surface is overlain by a layer of warmer air.

Question 6

sick-building syndrome

Answer 6

a condition in which people in a building suffer from symptoms of illness or become infected with chronic disease from the building in which they work or reside.

Question 7

asbestos

Answer 7

a heat-resistant fibrous silicate mineral that can be woven into fabrics, and is used in fire-resistant and insulating materials such as brake linings.

Question 8

decibel (dB)

Answer 8

a relative unit of measurement corresponding to one tenth of a bel.

Question 9

acid precipitation

Answer 9

a broad term that includes any form of precipitation with acidic components, such as sulfuric or nitric acid that fall to the ground from the atmosphere in wet or dry forms

Question 10

pH

Answer 10

a scale of acidity from 0 to 14.

Question 11

acid shock

Answer 11

the level of acidity of surface waters (lakes, streams, and rivers) in mid‐latitude areas, caused by the melting in spring of snow that has accumulated through the winter, and stored dry fallout of acidic precipitation