Ground Level Air Pollutants

Questions

1. What pollutants occur at ground level in our air and at what levels?
2. What is the definition of a pollutant?
3. What is the basic chemistry of acid rain? Which pollutants make acids?
4. What are the levels of these polutants over time and how are these levels measured?
5. What are the sources of these pollutants?
6. What are the effects of these pollutants?
7. What is AQI: Air Quality Index?

Lecture Notes

• Lecture Notes
• Powerpoint Slides
• Powerpoint Slides (large)

News Articles

• Chicago Tribune: Air Pollution
• Chicago-area coal plant to shut down earlier than expected
• Federal report: Acid rain study shows gains
• 2011 Proving to be a Bad Year for Air Quality in Texas (The Texas Tribune)
• Outrage Grows Over Air Pollution and China's Response (Beijing Journal)
• Bejing Bows to U.S. on Air Quality Report (WSJ)
• Pittsburg Trys to Clear the Air on Pollution
• Quality of Air? That's as Murky as the Western Sky (Associated Press)
• New Delhi's air is as dirty as ever, despite short-lived gains from last decade's reforms (Associated Press)
• Nasa Maps Global Air Pollution (Wired)
• EPA Proposed Tighter, Costlier Smog Limits

Background Information

• NASA Study Shows Health, Food Security Benefits From Climate Change Actions
• Six Common Air Pollutants
• Illinois EPA: Bureau of Air
• Air Now: Chicago
• Illinois EPA Air Quality Information
• Google Air Quality Map
• Photochemical Smog

List of Major Air Pollutants

• Carbon Monoxide | CNN: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Explained (video)
• Lead | CDC: Lead Poisoning
• Nitrogen Oxides
• Sulfur Dioxide
• Voltile Organic Compounds
• Particulate Matter

Take Away (Main) Points

1. There are six main air pollutants.
2. AQI: Air Quality Index is a way to tell the public about the quality of the air they breath.
3. Emissions of all of the pollutants have decreased since 1970 when the Clean Air Act was put into effect.
4. Air pollutants come from four main sources: transportation (cars and trucks mostly), factories (smoke stacks), fires and volcanos. We can't stop volcanoes.
5. Pollutants last for different amounts of time in our atmosphere.
6. Pollution leads to health problems.
7. Some pollutants (sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) cause acid rain which kills forests and destroys ecological systems in lakes and rivers.
8. Our EPA and our laws have made a big difference. We have worked as a society and succeeded in improving our air quality. Many other countries do not have the regulations that we do.
9. Ozone is a pollutant if it is in the troposphere but it is a wonderful filter of harmful solar radiation if it is in the stratosphere.