Pollution Flashcards
What is pollution?
When a substance entering or being present in an environment has harmful or poisonous effects
What is atmospheric pollution?
The release of gases or particles into the atmosphere faster than the environment can naturally rid of them
What is water pollution?
Pollution that is caused by a substance that enters waterways at excessive levels.
What is terrestrial pollution?
Imbalance in naturals systems caused by humans
What is light pollution?
the presence of any unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive artificial lighting.
What is noise pollution?
Continuous or recurrent noise that is annoying or physically harmful.
What is thermal pollution?
Heat from hot water that is discharged from an industrial plant into a water body that can be fatal to aquatic life
What are heavy metals?
A metal with an atomic mass greater than that of calcium (mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic)
What is waste?
A material or substance that is removed and deemed no longer useful after the completion of a process. Can become a pollutant if not treated properly (but may not)
What is a contaminant?
A substance presence where is does not naturally occur
What is a pollutant
The substance that pollutes .
What is a contaminating pollutant?
Contaminant that results in or can result in adverse biological effects to resident biota.
What is a point source emission?
Pollutant that comes from a single discharge point, like a chimney.
What is a diffuse source emission
something that Enters the environment across a broad area (like fertiliser run-off
What is a pollutant sink
process or place that removes a pollutants from the biogeochemical cycle by either storing it or changing the substance
What is bioaccumulation?
When an organism takes in a substance faster than the body can remove it and the amount of it increases over time
What is biomagnification
The increasing concentration of a chemical in organisms as it goes up the food chain
What is bioconcentration?
A type of bioaccumulation where a chemical taken directly from the environment, but not through food.
What is mercury?
Naturally occurring heavy metal found in three forms: organic, inorganic, and elemental (metallic)
Define exposure
A measure of how much of a pollutant a person is exposed to in a given time
define dosage
The amount of a chemical absorbed per unit of body weight
Define toxicity
A measure of the harm (through illness or death) that a substance can cause in organisms
Define lethal dose (LD)
A term to describe the dose of a substance that is sufficient to kill a percentage of an animal within a given time
What are endocrine disruptors?
Synthetic or naturally occurring chemicals that affect the hormonal systems in animals
What is dispersal
How pollutants enter the environment
What are primary pollutants?
Substances released into environment directly from a polluting source. (fossil fuels)
What are secondary pollutants
Formed by chemical changes to primary pollutants
What is direct pollution
Discharging a polluting directly from the source the the environment
What is indirect pollution?
When a pollutant finds its way indirectly into an environment. (nitrogen run-off)
What are the types of diffuse-source emissions?
- Mobile emissions
- Fugitive emissions
What are mobile emissions?
Comes form mobile sources. (i.e motor vehicles)
These create a large diffuse emission source, but individually, they are little point source of pollution
What are fugitive emissions?
Escape from an instrument or facility separate to any designated outlets
What are local impacts?
Small scale impact - affects an area of a few square kms
What are regional impacts?
large yet distinct are of impact
What are global impacts?
global and international impact
Define inhaled
Taken in through the lungs and absorbed through the membrane surfaces into the bloodstream
Define ingested
Taken in through swallowing (food/drink) and absorbed from digestive system into the liver then to the bloodstream
Define dermal absorption
Absorbed through the skin
What are hormones?
the chemicals that coordinate different functions around the body by carrying messages to the blood in organs
What are environmental hazards
Defined as factors of the environment which threaten or impair human health in some way
What is acute toxicity
The adverse health effect from a single dose of a toxic substance
What is chronic toxicity?
Adverse health effects of repeated exposure to the material over a prolonged period
Define threshold
The level of chemical exposure below which there is no adverse effect and above which there is significant toxicological effect
What is a carcinogen?
Cancer-causing substances
What is environmental health?
“Those aspects of public health concerned with the factors, circumstances, and conditions in the environment or surrounding of humans that can exert an influence on health and well-being”
what is a persistent pollutant
A substance is persistent if it does not break down easily
What is e-waste?
Electronic waste includes all discarded electric or electronic devices
What heavy metals are hound in e-waste that are harmful
Lead, cadmium and chromium
What is a degradable pollutant?
A degradable pollutant breaks down in the environment due to natural environmental condition or other chemical reactions
What is DDT
A synthetic insecticide used in agriculture that controlled for insect-borne human diseases, but was banned due to its impacts on the environment.
Describe 2 things about DDT
Persistent, accumulates in fatty tissues
What was outlined in the convention on mercury?
Bans on new mercury mines, the phase out of existing mines, control measures on air emissions
What is agent orange
herbicide and defoliant chemical used in the Vietnam war that caused drastic health effects.
Illnesses may be caused form specific environmental hazards and additional contributions from:
Environmental factors (housing, climate), Demographic factors (socio-economic status), genetics, other exposures like smoking
What are potential impacts from soil contamination
Food chain → crop uptake
Direct human health → ingestion or dermal contact
Air → Volatile or dust transport
Soil → Productivity
Surface waters → solubilisation or sediment transport
Groundwater → Leaching or infiltration
What is arsenic
toxic heavy metal
What is legionella
A sometimes fatal pneumonia-like illness
What causes legionella
Poorly managed air-conditioning and water-cooling systems that can encourage bacteria to proliferate
What are environmental effects of arsenic
reduced organism health, death of plants and animals, and imbalances of population in ecosystems
What products was arsenic previously used in?
Man-made sources include glass, mining, paper products, timber treatments, etc.
