Volatile Organic Acids

major environmental global issues

Major Global Environmental Issues

1. Air pollution addition of harmful substances to the atmosphere resulting damage to the environment, human health and quality of life. One of many forms of pollution, air pollution occurs inside homes, schools, and offices, in cities, across continents; and even globally. Air pollutions make people sick-it causes breathing problems and promote cancer and it harms plants animals, and the ecosystems in which they live. Some air pollution return to earth in the form of acid rain and snow, which corrode statues and buildings, damage crops and forests, and make lakes and streams unsuitable for fish and other plant and other life.

Pollution is changing the earth’s atmosphere so that it lets in more harmful radiation from the sun. At the same time, our polluted atmosphere is becoming a better insulator, preventing heat from escaping back into space and leading to a rise in global average temperatures. Scientists predict that the temperature increase, refereed to as global warning will affect world food supply after sea level, make weather more extreme, and increase the spared of tropical disease.

2.MAJOR POLLUTANT SOURCES: Most air pollution comes from one human activity: burning fossil- fuels natural gas, coal, and oil to power Industrial    processes and motor vehicles. Among the harmful chemical compounds this burning puts into the atmosphere carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, supper dioxide, and tiny solid particles including lead from gasoline additives called particles. Between 1900 and 1970 motor vehicle use rapidly expanded, and emissions of nitrogen oxides, some of the most damaging pollutant in vehicle exhausts increased 690 percent. When fuels are completely burned, various chemicals called volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) also enter the air. Pollutants also come from other sources. For instance, decomposing garbage in landfills and solid waste disposal sites emits methane gas, and many household product gives off VOCs.

Some of these pollutants also come from natural sources. For example, forest fire emits particulars and VOCs into the atmosphere. Ultra line dust particles, dialoged by soil erosion when water and weather looser layers of soil, increase airborne particulate levels. Volcanoes spew out sulfur dioxide and large amounts of pulverized lava rock known as volcanic ash. A big volcanic eruption can darken the sky over a wide region and affect the earth; s entire atmosphere. The 1991 eruption of mount pinatubo in the Philippines, for example, dumped enough volcanic ash into the upper atmosphere to lower global temperatures for the next two years. Unlike pollutants from human activity, however, naturally occurring pollutants tend to remain in the atmosphere for a short time and do not lead to permanent atmospheric change.

Once in the atmosphere, pollutants often undergo chemical reactions that produce additional harmful compounds. Air pollution is subject to weather patterns that can trapit in valleys or blows it across the globe to damage pristine environments far from the original sources.

3.LOCAL AND REGIONAL POLLUTION: Local and regional pollution take place in he lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, which extends from the earth’s surface to about 16 km (about 10 mi). The troposphere is the region in which most weather occurs. If the load of pollutants added to the troposphere were equally distributed, the pollutants would be spread over vast areas and the air pollution might almost escape our notice. Pollution sources tend to be concentrated, however, especially in cities. In the weather phenomenon is known as thermal inversion, a layer of cooler air is trapped near the ground by a layer of warmer air above. When this occurs, normal air mixing almost ceases and pollutant are trapped in the lower layer. Local topography, or the shape of the land, can worsen this effect – an area ringed by mountains, for example, can become a pollution trap.

4.Smog and Acid Precipitation: Smog is intense local pollution usually trapped by a thermal inversion. Before the age of automobile, most smog came from burning coal and was so serve that in 19th century London, street light were turned on by noon because soot and smoke darkened the midday sky. Burning gasoline in motor vehicle is the main source of smog in most regions today. Powered by sunlight, oxide of nitrogen and volatile organic compound react in the atmosphere to produce photochemical smog. Smog contains ozone, a form of oxygen gas made up of molecules with three oxygen atoms rather than the two. Ozone in the lower atmosphere is a poison- it damages vegetations, kills trees, irritates lung issues, and attacks rubber. Environmental officials measure ozone to determine the severity of smog. When the ozone level is high, other pollutants, including carbon monoxide, are usually present at high levels as well (see Air Quality).

In the presence of atmospheric moisture, sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen turn into droplets of pure acid floating in smog. These airborne acids are bad for the lungs and attack anything made of limestone, marble or metal. In cities around the world, smog acids are eroding precious artifacts, including the Parthenon temple in Athens, Greece, and the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Oxides of nitrogen and sulfur dioxide pollute place far from the points where they are released in the air. Carried by winds in the troposphere, they can reach distant regions where they descend in acid form, usually as rain or snow. Such acid precipitation can burn the leaves of plants and make lakes too acidic to support fish and other living things. Because of acidification, sensitive species such as the popular brook trout can no longer survive in many lakes and stream in the estern United States.

Smog spoil views and makes outdoor activity unpleasant. For the very young, the very old, and people who suffer from asthma or heart diseases, the effects of smog are even worse. It may cause headaches or dizziness and can cause breathing difficulties. In extreme cases, smog can lead to mass illness and dearth, mainly from carbon monoxide poisoning. During a thermal inversion cause at least 3300 deaths.

5.GLOBAL SCALE POLLUTION: Air pollution can expand beyond a regional       area to cause global effects. The stratosphere is the layer of the atmosphere between 16 Km (10 mi) and 50 Km (30mi) above sea level. It is rich in ozone, the same molecule that acts as a pollutant when found at lower levels of the atmosphere in urban smog. Up at the stratospheric level, however ozone forms a protective layer that serves a vital function: it observes the wavelength of solar radiation known as ultraviolet- B (UV-B) UV-B damages deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the genetic molecule found in every living cell, increasing the risk of such

problems as cancer in humans. Because of its protective function the ozone layer it essential to life on earth.

6.Ozone Depletion : Several pollutants attack the ozone layer. Chief among them is the class of chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used as refrigerants (notably in air conditioners), as agents in several manufacturing processes, and formally as propellants in spray cans. CFC molecules are virtually indestructible until they rich the stratosphere. Here, intense ultraviolet radiation breaks the CFC molecules apart, releasing the chlorine atoms they contain. These chlorine atoms begin reacting with ozone, breaking it down into ordinary oxygen molecules that do not observe UV-B. The chlorine acts as a catalyst-that is, it takes part in several chemical reactions- yet at the ends emerges unchanged and able to react again. A single chlorine atom can destroy up to 100,000 ozone molecules in the atmosphere. Other pollutants, including nitrous oxide from fertilizers and the pesticide methyl bromide, also attack atmospheric ozone.

Scientist are finding that under this assault the protective ozone layer in the stratosphere is thinning. In the Antarctic region, it vanishes almost entirely for a few weeks every year. Although CFC use has been greatly reduced in recent years, CFC molecules already released in the lower atmosphere will be making their way to the stratosphere for decades and further ozone loss is expected. As a result, experts anticipate an increase in skin cancers, more cataracts

7.GLOBAL WARMING :Humans are bringing about another global-scale change in the atmosphere: the increase in what are called greenhouse gases. Like glass in a greenhouse, these gases admit the sun’s light but tend to reflect back downward the heat that is radiated from the ground below, trapping heat in the earth’s atmosphere. This process is known as the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide is the most significant of these gases-here is 25 percent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today than there was a century ago, the result of out burning coal and fuels derived from oil. Methane, nitrous oxide, and CFCs are greenhouse gases as well.

Scientists predict that increases in these gases in the atmosphere will make the earth a warmer place. They expect a global rise in average temperature somewhere between 1.0º C (1.8º and 6.3º F) in the next century. Average temperatures have in fact been rising, and the years from 1987 to 1997 were the warmest ten years on record. Most scientists are reluctant to say that global warming has actually begun because climate naturally varies from year to year and decade to decade, and it takes many years of records to be sure of a fundamental change. There is little disagreement, though, that global warming is on its way.

Global warming will have different effects in different regions. A warmed world is expected to have more extreme weather, with more rain during wet periods, longer droughts, and more powerful storms. Although the effects of future climate change are unknown some predict that exaggerated weather conditions may translate into better agricultural yields in areas such as the western United States, where temperature and rainfall are expected to increase, while dramatic decreases in rainfall may lead to server drought and plunging agricultural yields in parts of Africa, for example.

Warmer temperatures are expected to partially melt the polar ice caps, leading to projected sea level rise of 50cm (20 in) by the year 2050. A sea level rise of this magnitude would flood coastal cities, force people to abandon low- lying islands, and completely inundate coastal wetlands. If sea level rise as projected rates, the Florida Everglades will be completely under water in less than 50 years. Diseases like malaria, which are present are primarily found in the tropics, may become more common in the regions of the globe between the tropics and the polar regions, called the temperate zones. For many of the world’s plant species, and for animal species that are not easily able to shift their territories, as their habitat grows warmer, climate change may bring extinction.

8 INDOR AIR POLLUTION: – Pollution is perhaps most harmful at an often             unrecognized site inside the homes and buildings where we spend most of our time. Indoor pollutants include tobacco smoke; radon an invisible radioactive gas   that enters home from the ground in some regions; and chemicals released from synthetic carpets and furniture, pesticides, and household cleaners. When disturbed, asbestos, a nonflammable material once commonly used in insulation, sheds airborne fibers that can produce a lung disease called asbestosis.

Pollutant may accumulate to reach much higher levels than they do outside, where natural air currents disperse them. Indoor air levels of many pollutant may be 2 to 5 times, and occasionally more than 100 times, higher than outdoor levels. These levels of Indoor air pollutants are especially harmful because people speed as much as 90 percent of their time living, working, and playing indoors, Inefficient or improperly vented heaters are particularly dangerous. California have imposed tougher air pollution standards of their own

Air Pollution: addition of harmful substances to the atmosphere resulting in damage to the environment, human health, and quality of life. One of many forms of pollution, air pollution occurs inside homes, schools and offices; in cities; across continents, and even globally. Air pollution makes people sick- it causing breathing problems and promote cancer-and it harms plants, animals, and they ecosystems in which they live. Some air pollutants return to earth in the form of acid rain and snow, which corrode statues and a building damage crops and forests, and makes lakes and streams unsuitable for fish and other plant and animal life.

Pollution is changing the earth’s atmosphere so that it lets in more harmful radiation from the sun. At the same time our polluted atmosphere is becoming a better insulator, preventing heat from escaping back into space and leading to rise in global average temperatures, Scientists predict that the temperature increase, referred to as global warming will affect world food supply, alter sea level, make weather more extreme, and increases the spread of tropical disease.

II MAJOR POLLUTANT SOURCES: Most air pollution comes from one human activity; burning fossil fuels – natural gas, coal and oil to power industrial processes and motor vehicles. Among the harmful chemical compound this burning puts into the atmosphere are carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and tiny solid particles – including lead from gasoline additives – called particulates. Between 1900 and 1970, motor vehicle used rapidly expanded, and emissions of nitrogen oxides, some of the most damaging pollutants in vehicles exhaust, increased 690 percent. When fuels are incompletely burned, various chemicals called volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) also enter the air. Pollutants also come from other sources. For instance, decomposing garbage in landfills and solid waste disposal sites emits methane gas, and many household products give off VOCs.

Some of these pollutants also come from natural sources. For example, forest fires emit particulates and VOCs into the atmosphere. Ultra fine dust particles, dislodged by soil erosion when water and weather loosen layers of soil, increase airborne particulates levels. Volcanoes spew out sulfur dioxide and large amounts of pulverized lava rock known as volcanic ash. A big volcanic cruption can darken the sky over wide region affect the earth’s entire atmosphere. The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, for examples, for example, dumped enough volcanic ash intiya

In an effort to enforce pollution standards, pollution control authorized measure both the amounts of pollutants present in the atmosphere and the amounts entering it from certain sources. The usual approach is to sample the open, or ambient, air and test it for the presence of specified pollutants. The amount of each pollutant is counted in parts per million or, in some cases, milligrams, or micrograms per cubic meter. To learn how much pollution is coming from specific sources, measurements are also taken at industrial smokestacks and automobile tailpipes.

9.Pollution is controlled in two ways: With end of the pipe devices that capture pollutants already created, and by limiting the quantity of pollutants produce in the first place. End of the pipe devices include catalytic converters in automobile and various kinds of filters and scrubbers in industrial plants .In a catalytic converters, exhaust gases pass over small beads coated with metals that promote reaction changing harmful substances into less harmful ones. When and of the pipe devices first began to be used, they dramatically reduced pollution at a relatively low cost. As air pollution standards become stricter, it becomes more and more expensive to further clean the air. In order to lower pollution overall, industrial polluters are sometimes allowed to make cooperative deals. For instance, a power company may fulfill its control requirements by investing in pollution control at another plant or factory, where more effective pollution control can be accomplished at a lower cost.

End –of-the –pipe controls, however sophisticated, can only do so much. As pollution efforts evolve, keeping the air clean will depend much more on preventing pollution than on curing it. Gasoline, for instance, has been reformulated several times to achieve cleaner burning. Various manufacturing processes have been redesigned so that less waste is produced. Car manufacturers are experimenting with automobiles that run on electricity or on cleaner- burning fuels.

The choices can have a significant impact on the state of the air. Using public transpiration instead of driving for instance reduces pollution by limiting the number of pollution of emitting automobiles on the road. During periods of particularly intense smog, pollution control authorizes often urge people to avoid trips by car. To encourage transits use during bad air periods, authorized in Paris, France make bus and subway travel temporary free.

Indoor pollution control must be accomplished building-by-building or even room-by-room. Proper ventilation mimics natural outdoor air currents, reducing levels of indoor air pollutants by continually circulating fresh air. After improving ventilation, the most effective single step is probably banning smoking in public rooms. Where asbestos has been used in insulation, it can be removed or sealed behind sheathes so that it won’t be shredded and get into the air. Sealing foundations and installing special pipes and pumps can prevent radon from seeping into buildings.

On the global scale, pollution control standards are the result of complex negotiations among nations. Typically, developed countries, having already gone through a period of rapid (and dirty) industrialization, are ready to demand cleaner technologies. Less developed nations, hoping for rapid economic growth, are less enthusiastic about pollution controls. They seek lenient deadlines and financial help from developed countries to make the expensive changes necessary to reduce pollutant emissions in their industrial processes.

Nonetheless, several important international accords have been reached. In 1988, the United State and 24 other nations agreed in the Long-Range Tran boundary Air Pollution Agreement to hold their production of nitrogen oxides, a key contributor to acid rain, to current levels. In the Montreal Protocol, adopted in 1987 and strengthened in 1990 and 1992, most nations agreed to stop or reduce the manufacture of OFCs. In 1992 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiated a treaty outlining cooperative efforts to curb global warming. The treaty, which took effect in March 1994, has been legally accepted by 160 of the 165 participating countries.

In December 1997 at the Their Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Japan, more than 160 nations formally adopted the Kyoto Protocol. This agreement calls for industrialized nations to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases to levels 5 percent below 1990 emission levels between 2008 and 2012. The United States, which releases more greenhouse gases than any other nation, has traditionally been slow to support such strong measures The U.S. Senate may be reluctant to ratify the Kyoto Protocol because it does not require developing countries, such as China and India, to meet similar emissions goals.

All these antipollution measures have helped stem the increase of global pollution emission levels. Between 1970, when the Clean Air Act was passed, and 1995, total emissions of the major air pollutants in the United States decreased by nearly 30 percent. During the same 25-years period, the U.S. population increased 28 percent and vehicle miles traveled increased 166 percent. Air pollution control is race between the reduction of pollution form each source, such as a factory of a car, and the rapid multiplication of sources. Some in American cities is expected to increase again as the number of cars and miles driven continue to rise. Meanwhile, developing countries are building up their own industries, and their citizens are buying cars as they can afford them. Ominous changes continue in the global atmosphere. New efforts to control air pollution will be necessary as long as these trends continue.

Help with some chemistry?

1) Which of the following would be considered a strong acid?
a. acetic acid
b. HNO3
c. sodium carbonate
d. H2SO3

1) B, Nitric acid ionizes completely in water solution and is a strong acid.
2) D, Under the Arrhenius definition, a substance is defined a base if it releases OH- ions in water solution.
3) C, CFC’s were found in aerosol spray propellants, refrigerants etc, and not in smog.

Surf On Pensacola Beach Boiling Like Acid

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Chemical Investigations of the Tobacco Plant. I. A Preliminary Study of the non-volatile organic acids of Tobacco Leaves …

Volatile organic compounds in 600 US homes: Major sources of personal exposure …

A study of the non-volatile organic acids of the Dwarf Cavendish (Chinese) variety of bananas (University of Hawaii) …

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