Chapter 9: Air Pollution

Question 1

What are typical sources of Air Pollution?

Answer 1

• Vehicle emissions
• Industrial emissions
• Smoke and Burning

Question 2

What are some Industrial air pollution sources?

Answer 2

• Wood Industry
• Upstream oil and gas
• coal mining
• small businesses

Question 3

What are 3 statistics about Air Pollution?

Answer 3

• Causes 1 in 9 deaths
• 99% of world exposed
• 7 million premature deaths a year

Question 4

What two things is Air Pollution impacted by?

Answer 4

• Emissions
• Meterology

Question 5

What are 5 types of Air Pollution?

Answer 5

1. Industrial Smog
2. Sulphureous Smog
3. Photochemical Smog
4. Criteria Pollutants
5. Inside home/workplace pollution
   (IAQ - Indoor Air Quality)

Question 6

What are primary pollutants?

Answer 6

substances emitted directly to atmosphere

• combustion
• evapouration
• grinding and abrasion

Question 7

What are secondary pollutants?

Answer 7

subsatnces already in atmosphere that react with sunlight

• Photochemical smog

Question 8

What is the major cause of all Air Pollution?

Answer 8

Combustion - especially incomplete combustion

Question 9

What are some side products of incomplete combustion?

Answer 9

• carbon monoxide
• sulphur oxides
• nitrogen oxides
• fly ash
• unburned hydrocarbons

Question 10

How is photochemical smog formed?

Answer 10

Hydrocarbon evapouration leads to VOC.
VOC + NOx + sunlight forms photochemical smog.

Question 11

What is another name for Photochemical Smog?

Answer 11

Ground-level ozone

Question 12

What are some Criteria Air Contaminants?

Answer 12

• Sulphur Oxides
• Nitrogen Oxides
• VOC’s
• Carbon Monoxide
• Particulate Matter

Question 13

What is the “silent killer”?

Answer 13

Carbon monoxide - formed by incomplete combustion.

Question 14

What are the 3 types of NOx?

Answer 14

NO: Nitric Oxide
NO2: Nitrogen Oxide
HNO3: Nitric Acid

Question 15

What causes the brownish haze in the atmosphere?

Answer 15

Colourless NO oxidizes to NO2 which reacts with the atmosphere and becomes HNO3.

Question 16

What are the 3 types of SOx?

Answer 16

SO2: Suphur Dioxide
SO3: Suphur Trioxide
SO4: Sulphate

Question 17

What are some problems caused by SOx?

Answer 17

• Acid Rain
• Respiratory Impacts

Question 18

What is Ozone responsible for as a pollutant?

Answer 18

1. ~90% of all damage air pollution causes to agriculture. Damage is directly to plant.
2. Attacks synthetic rubbers
3. Attacks cellulose in textiles

Question 19

What is PM?

Answer 19

Particulate Matter - aerosols, dust, smoke, fumes, soot, smog, pollen

Question 20

What are the two sizes of PM particles?

Answer 20

PM10: can pass through throat/nose & enter lungs
PM2.5: can pass far into lungs

Question 21

What size of particle is responsible for lung cancer and heart disease?

Answer 21

PM2.5

Question 22

What is CEPA?

Answer 22

Federal governing legislation.
- controlled substances
- transportation emission standards
- products standards

Question 23

What is EMA?

Answer 23

Provincial governing legislation.
- open burning smoke
etc.

Question 24

What is CAAQS?

Answer 24

Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standards.
- establishes 6 airsheds across the country
- requires provinces to identify air zones and management of air quality

Question 25

What are the 3 interrelated elements CAAQS consists of?

Answer 25

• An averaging period
• A numerical value
• statistical form of numerical standard

Question 26

What was the first regional government in Canada to have air quality authority?

Answer 26

Metro Vancouver

Question 27

What are 4 goals of Metro Vancouver with Air Quality?

Answer 27

• Improve air quality
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Monitoring of outdoor air quality
• Tracking of emissions

Question 28

What are the two fundamental elements of Air Transport?

Answer 28

• Wind Direction
• Wind Speed

Question 29

What is the Lapse Rate of an air parcel?

Answer 29

The lapse in temperature with altitude.

Question 30

What is positive vs. negative lapse rate?

Answer 30

Positive: temperature decreases with height
Negative: temperature increases with height

Question 31

What is an Air Parcel?

Answer 31

Body of air that acts as a whole, and has a constant number of molecules. Temperature is uniform.

Question 32

What is Buoyancy?

Answer 32

When an air parcel become warmer than surrounding air, it is less dense and rises.
When an air parcel becomes cooler than surrounding air, it is more dense and descends.

Question 33

What is a stable atmosphere?

Answer 33

It resists vertical motion and has low ability to disperse air pollutants emitted to it.

Question 34

What is Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate?

Answer 34

Where no transfer of heat or mass occurs across boundaries of air parcel. Heats or cools at 9.8C/km

Question 35

What is Wet Adiabatic Lapse Rate?

Answer 35

Rising parcel containing water vapour will cool at dry adiabatic lapse rate until dew point. Then condensation releases latent heat into air parcel, so the the cooling rate of the parcel decreases. 6 or 7C/km

Question 36

What is the Environmental Lapse Rate?

Answer 36

Actual Temperature of atmosphere vs. Altitude.

Question 37

What is Mixing Height?

Answer 37

Max height an air parcel can ascend.

Question 38

What is Mixing Layer?

Answer 38

Air below the mixing height to the point of air emission release.

Question 39

What are Unstable Conditions?

Answer 39

Vertical movement of air parcel is upward or downward. Sunny days with low wind.

Question 40

What are Stable Conditions?

Answer 40

Vertical movement of air parcel is discouraged. Cooler air near land and upper warmer air layer constricts.

Question 41

What is Neutral Stability?

Answer 41

Environmental Lapse Rate is the same as Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate. Vertical movement is neither discouraged nor supported.

Question 42

What is Temperature Inversion?

Answer 42

Warmer layer resides above Cooler surface layer. Prone to occur near large population centers, coastal zones, valleys.