Lecture 39- Pollution And Human Health Flashcards
What is pollution?
Any environmental change that adversely affects the lives and health of living things
What are fossil fuels?
Coal, petroleum, and natural gas used as preferred sources of energy
The burning of fossil fuels release what gases that cause air pollution?
Carbon dioxides, Hydrocarbons. Nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and particulates
What gases other than those produced by fossil fuels also influence the chemical composition of the atmosphere?
Halogen compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons, and widespread use of Nitrogen fertilizers
T/F the increase in size of human population and resource consumption causes a sharp increase in the richness in biodiversity.
False. It results in a sharp DECREASE in richness of biosphere
Mention alternative sources of energy and it’s advantages
Solar
Falling water (hydrostatic)
Geothermal energy (using heat of magma in earth core
Wind energy
They are eco friendly and renewable (doesn’t run out)
Mention photochemical pollutants that are air pollutants
Ozone and peroxyacyl nitrates (PANS)
What are aerosol?
They are suspended particles (dust, smoke, asbestos, fibers, metals, etc) and liquid droplets of sulfuric acid, oils, dioxins, or pesticides that act as air pollutants
What is the #1 source of air pollution?
Transportation #2 is fuel combustion
When was the last time ice age happened?
130,000 years ago
If climate is constantly changing, why are scientists worried about climate change?
Because it is warming up 10x faster than before!
What is the major contributor to the greenhouse gases?
Methane (CH4)
What is the source of Nitrous oxide as a greenhouse gas and what is its formula?
Fertilizer use and animal waste (N2O)
Also automobile exhaust
Wear is the source of methane?
Biogas (bacterial decomposition,particularly in (gut of animals, sediments, and flooded rice paddies)
What is the source of chlorofluorocarbons?
Freon- a refrigerant
What is the source of halons (CxFxBrx)
Fire extinguishers
What is the source of ozone?
Photochemical smog in the troposphere (it is a gas that contributes to global warming)
How does smog contribute to the greenhouse affect, and where are they?
They prevent Infrared rays from leaving the surface of the Earth, instead of them Piercing and leaving the clouds, the smog traps it and reradiated it back to Earth.
It is located in the troposphere
True/False
Normally, all of the solar radiation is absorbed by the troposphere and into the liphosphere?
False, normally, a good amount is reflected off of thr clouds from the troposphere and up to the stratosphere and ou
What is the normal PH of rain, what about acid rain, and what causes acid rain?
Normally, PH of rain is 5.6 (low acidity carbonic acid)
Acid rain near urban areas is nearer to 4PH, and has been as low as 1.7!
Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides combine with water to give acids (sulfuric and nitric)
What is the source of Sulfur dioxide?
Coal and oil burning by power plants
Acid rain usually has a distant affect.
For example, it drastically affects the forests and lakes where?
Forests and lakes of Northern Europe, Canada and NorthEastern USA
How can acid rain lead to health problems?
It can cause skin cancer
Also, it can cause heavy metals to be present in drinking water. Leeches Al from soil into sorroundinf water, dissolves Cu and lead from pipes
Increases incidence of lung and colon cancer
What are the layers of the atmosphere?
Thermosphere Mesosphere Stratosphere Troposphere Land
Where is Ozone normally located?
In the lower portions of the stratosphere
ozone shield that absorbs most harmful UV rays
Is ozone beneficial or a pollutant?
It depends Where it is located.
In the troposphere, it is a pollutant.
In the stratosphere, it forms an Osonw shield that absorbs harmful UV
This actually is what allows life to live, as the harmful radiation can kill plants, trees, and even microscopic organisms
When was the ozone layer first observed to be depleted?
And when was SEVERE depletion observed?
Moderate depletion observed in 1980s
Severe depletion in the 90s in the Arctic
This is dangerous as UV can give skin cancer, cataracts of eye, etc
What causes Ozone depletion?
Cl- radicals released in the troposphere that can rise to the stratosphere these come from the breakdown of chlorofluorocarbons CFCs from Freon (refrigerant)
Cl- radicals combine with ozone and strip ash Oxygen atoms
Cl+ O3-> ClO + O2
ClO + O3-> Cl + 2O2 (ozone has been depleted)
How is O2 and ozone different in environmental change?
O2 is a thin gas and does not impede UV light, however Ozone forms a thick smog that can absorb radiation
How do sewage water contribute to water pollution?
They contain a lot of organic elements which cause O2 depletion in lakes and rivers due to Eutrophication
Lakes receive excess nutrients, algae grow in abundance and form excessive mats of filamentous algae.
Decomposed break down algae leading to oxygen depletion and massive fish x-x
^
Also, sewage can contain feces that contain pathogenic microbes that cause
Cholera
Typhoid fever
Dysentery
In non developed countries, where sewage treatment is non existent, many children die from sewage, why?
Because the sewage is not treated, feces may include microbes that cause
Typhoid
Dysentery
Cholera
How is sewage normally treated?
By introducing harmless bacteria that break down the organic matter jitters inorganic nutrients (decomposers)
Which industrial wastes that enter water are subject to biological magnification?
Heavy metals, organochlorines, such as those of pesticides
Oil may also massively affect marine life (it is biodegradable, but it takes a long time)
What is DDT?
A toxic pesticide that is subject to biological magnification
Eg, algae consumeS DDT, but up the trophic level, the conc of DDT increases!
Great blue heron is the highest in Trophic level
Algae is lowest
Algae has highest biomass (many many algae)
