Test 1 Flashcards
True or false
Any new modifications to factories/industrial processors require a new ECA/CofA
True
The first air pollution regulation
Reg 308
Later replaced by Reg 419
Natural sources of pollutants
Wind blown dust Volcanic ash and gases Ozone (lightning) Esters/turpenes from vegetation Smoke/gases from forest fires Pollens Gases from decomp Natural radioactivity
True or false
Esters and turpenes are examples of aromatic hydrocarbons
True
Eg smoky mountains
Five main classes of pollutants
Particulates Carbon monoxide Hydrocarbons Nitrogen oxides Sulphur oxides
Acid rain, global warming, ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect are all examples of…
Man-made pollution
3 forms of air-contaminating processes
Combustion
Vaporization
Mechanical attrition
Generating heat and electrical energy from the use of fossil fuels and waste materials for warmth, metal melting, food processing, incineration, motive power
Combustion
Combustion pollution can be reduced by…
Better engineering (using more O2) Burning cleaner fuels
The 3 Ts of combustion
Time
Temperature
Turbulence
Inducing physical changes in substances through the application of heat and pressure, causing component material to become airborne and emit into atmosphere
Vaporization
True or false
Fuming occurs at normal atmospheric temperature and pressure
False
Fuming is a result of induced temperatures… Commonly metals, metal oxides, chlorides. Fumes often contain solids like ash, carbon and gases (eg sulphur dioxide)
True or false
Petroleum derivatives have high vapour pressures and will evaporate within normal atmospheric temperature ranges.
True
Evaporation and fumigation
Vaporization
The decomposition of organic materials is an example of what contaminating proccess?
Vaporization
Mechanical attrition
Crushing, grinding, demolishing, eg. And directly/indirectly dispersing particulates like dusts and mists into the atmosphere
__________ may contain contaminants in solution or suspension
Mist droplets
Contaminating substances causing air pollution are summarized into 3 states
Aerosols/particulates
Organic gases
Inorganic gases
Larger than a single molecule, but smaller than 500 micrometers in diameter
A particle
A particle that ranges between 10 micrometers to less than .01 micrometer
An aerosol
True or false
Most aerosols are considered to be less than one micrometer in diameter
True
Size of a raindrop
400-5000 micrometers
Size of a fog droplet
5-60 micrometers
Size of bacteria
1-25 micrometers
Size of a virus
.01-.1 micrometers
Barely visible to the naked eye
Particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter
Particulates are responsible for 2 basic types of air pollution problems
Deposition
Adhesion
The difference between deposition and adhesion
Deposition-particulates causing corrosion, damage to property, injury to vegetation
Adhesion- particulates adhering to respiratory tissue
Visible emissions offenses
20% opacity at a certain length of time
Unburned carbonaceous particulates around 1 micrometer consisting of soot, fly-ash and other solids/liquids
Smoke
The gaseous phase of a substance which at ambient temperature and pressure is a liquid or solid
Vapour
Solid particles that are generally more than 1 micrometer
Dust
Liquid particles up to 100 micrometers
Mist
A non-coherent state of aggregated matter
A gas
Consisting entirely of compounds made up of hydrogen and carbon and their derivatives, including paraffins, olefins, aromatics
Organic gases
A group of unsaturated hydrocarbons that may affect plant growth, but have no effect on life. Take part in photochemical reactions with nitrogen oxides
Olefins
Incomplete combustion causing compounds known to be carcinogenic, like benzpyrene
Aromatics
Results from solvent usage
-includes aldehydes, ketones, alcohols and organic acids
Hydrocarbon derivatives
Oxides of nitrogen, sulphur and carbon monoxide
Inorganic gases
Occupies 78 percent of the atmosphere and is non reactive at ambient temp and pressure
Nitrogen
2 contaminating oxides of nitrogen
Nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide
A combination of nitrogen and oxygen from air in a heated environment create what
NO
Nitric oxide
A toxic, yellow-brown, odorous gas formed through the combination of nitric oxide and oxygen
Nitrogen dioxide
Can produce lung injury like oedema
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
_______ forms with rain drops/water vapour to form HNO3, contributing to acid rain
Nitrogen dioxide
Sulphur dioxide and and sulphur trioxide (SO2 and SO3)
Oxides of sulphur
Sulphur dioxide may cause:
Damage to vegetation Irritation to the eyes Respiratory paralysis Oedema Death
Very toxic inorganic gas that is water insoluble and results from incomplete combustion
CO
Carbon monoxide
Ammonia, hydrogen sulphide and flourine are all examples of what
Miscellaneous organic gases
Two categories of air pollution resulting from liquid particulates
Stains (permanent damage)
Spots (removable)
In excess of one micrometer
Solid particles
3 most important acid mists
Chronic acid
Sulphuric Acid
Hydroflouric acid
Readily fumes and is capable of severely attacking skin, vegetables and flowers. Used in insecticides and laundry products
Hydroflouric acid
Principle caustics
Sodium carbonate
Sodium hydroxide
Used as an economical alkali in many industrial processes
Sodium carbonate
Soda ash
Strongly alkaline, very soluble and attacks the skin. Used in petroleum industry and for etching
Sodium hydroxide
Chemicals that significantly partition into more than one medium
Multimedia pollutants
Threshold mechanism
When a critical quantity of contaminant is presented to a receptor
Non-threshold mechanisms
Wen even one molecule has the potential for interactions leading to adverse effects
Effects of inhaling nitric acid
Deep lung damage-possible death
T or F
PAHs can react with DNA and genetic material
True
Two methods of the health criterion
Protection factor approach
Virtually safe Dose (VSD)
LOEL
Least observable effects limit
Particles that do not stay suspended in the air and tend to fall out near source of emission. Usually larger than 10-20 micrometers
Dustfall
3 methods of particulate matter sampling
Gravity/sedimentation devices
Filtration devices
Inertial devices
Dustfall jars typically have a diameter of ______cm and are ___cm deep
15.2 cm
Cross sectional area of 181 cm2
Dustfall measurements are reported in….
Grams per metre squared per 30 days
Aerosols falling in still air is proportional to the square of the diameter. (Stokes law)
50 micrometers = 7.50 cm/s
20 micrometers = 1.38 cm/s
10 micrometers = 0.30 cm/s
Many aerosols are less than ___ micrometer.
Less than 1 micrometer
The 2 most common methods for sampling aerosols in Ontario
High-volume sampler
Low-volume sampler
A low volume sampler is also called…
A coefficient of haze sampler
What is the flow rate of a low-vol samer?
6.5 liters per minute
The filter in a low vol sampler
3 whatman paper
Deposits on paper from a spot stain which can be evaluated by measuring the reduction of light transmitted trough the soiled paper vs the clean paper
A low volume sampler is expressed in what units?
Coefficient of haze per 305 meters (Coh/305m)
What is the typical size of particulate collected from a low vol sampler?
Smaller than 10 micrometers (small enough to be inhaled during collection)
A ____ is an aggregate of matter in a non coherent state
Gas
2 requirements essential for accurate results when sampling gases
The volume of air MUST be measured
Collection/analysis efficiency must be known
Three types of gas sampling
Sampling without suction/with deposition
Sampling with suction/ without deposition
Sampling with both suction and deposition
Absorption
The penetration of molecules into a solid or liquid matrix
Adsorption
Gaseous particles are removed from air stream by a solid adsorbent that attracts, concentrates and retains pollutant
Acute vs chronic
Acute=short term high concentrations of a pollutant
Chronic=long term exposure to variable concentrations
White bean, tomato and tobacco crops are indicators of….
Photochemical oxidants
The two main photo toxic oxidants
Ozone
Peroxyacetyl nitrate
The air pollution cycle
The release of pollutants at source
The transport and diffusion in the atmosphere
The reception of pollutants (by people, vegetation, animals, etc)
The movement and dispersion of pollutants from sources are influenced by ______
The wind and atmospheric stability
True or false
Rainfall washes away pollutants from the atmosphere
True
_______ produces photochemical reactions of pollutants that form smog
Sunshine
Most important meteorological factors affectingovent of pollutants
Wind direction/speed
Turbulence
Temperature
Atmospheric stability
________ impacts dilution
Wind speed
An unstable atmospheric. Pressure is better for movement
True or false
True
What is adiabatic lapse rate?
For every 100m in elevation there is a change in temperature of 1 degree
The most problematic plume
Fumigation plume
Types of plumes
Looping - unstable Fanning - stable Coning - neutral Lifting - inversion Fumigation - inversion
Looping occurs when
With a super adiabatic lapse rate
Coning occurs when
When the vertical temperature gradient is near the dry adiabatic. Profile
If the temperature increases upward, the air is stable and vertical turbulence is suppressed, creating horizontal mixing
Fanning
A super adiabatic layer above the surface inversion creates downward diffusion that cannot penetrate through the inversion, and damps out
Lofting
Increased solar heating and a super adiabatic lapse rate occurs through a deep layer, reaching the fanning plume. High concentrations reach the ground
Fumigation
When an inversion in temperature occurs and traps a plume beneath it
Frontal trapping
Regulation stating that the maximum amount of allowable sediment cannot exceed 7g/m2 over 30 days
Reg 337
