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Air Quality
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is pollution? | The presence of one or more pollutants in the environment. |
| What is a pollutant? | A substance(chemical, product, particulate), organism, or energy(radiation/noise) in a harmful amount. |
| How does the EPEA define the environment? | All matter and systems; all components of earth such as the atmosphere, land, and water. |
| What is air composed of? | 79% nitrogen, 20% oxygen |
| what are three potential sources of natural air pollution? | volcanic ash, smoke, plant decay |
| What are the two largest contributors to anthropogenic air pollution | Industry and transport |
| What are four air pollution receptors? | Animals, vegetation, soil/water, objects. |
| Four air pollution episodes are: | local, urban, regional, and global |
| Differentiate local episodes from regional episodes. | Local episodes are up to a few km from a point source. Regional episodes are up to tens of km from multiple sources. |
| What chemical leads to acidic precipitation? | sulfur dioxide |
| When did air pollution first start to occur? | The Iron Age for heavy metal pollution |
| Which major periods introduced a large amount of air pollutants? | The Industrial Revolution, and the invention/spread of the combustion engine |
| What is inversion and when can it become an issue? | Inversion occurs when there is a space between two mountains. It can cause pollutants to become trapped. |
| Give three examples in history when trapped chemicals became a major issue. | 1930s Belgium Meuse Valley 1943 L.A. smog 1952 London Killer Smog |
| When did the era of air quality begin? | 1970s |
| What two things drove the air quality movement? | Economics- more oil/gas instead of coal, alternative energies Legislation |
| When did the USA come up with their Clean Air Act? | 1963 |
| What is USEPA? When did it form? | United States Environmental Protection Agency, formed in 1970 |
| What did USEPA regulate? | CAPs, HAPs, and automobiles |
| Differentiate between CAP and HAP | A CAP is a criteria air pollutant. A HAP is a hazardous air pollutant. |
| What are the three major titles of the 1990 US clean air act amendments? | HAPs regulations, Acid rain prevention, and ozone protection |
| What Canadian Act ensures that environmental stewardship is provincial? | The BNA- british north america act |
| What is the CEPA | Canadian Environmental Protection Act |
| How did CEPA change from 1988 to 1998? | It moved from pollution control to pollution prevention |
| Why was the Alberta Public Health Act established? | Coal dust complaints. |
| When did the AEP come out, and what was it known by? | 1971, used to be Alberta Environment |
| What are Alberta's two primary environmental regulators? What do each regulate? | The AEP- Governs downstream industrial activity The AER (Alberta Energy) governs upstream activity |
| What is a downstream industrial activity? | Refining the material |
| What is the AEPEA and what are the five major sections? | AEPEA is the Alberta Environment Protection and Enhancement Act. Protects the ozone layer, prevents substances, regulated mercury from coal burning, governs emission trading and regulates substance release |
| What are the major components of natural gas? | 80 percent methane, 20 percent fuels |
| Has air quality management been successful? | Largely yes, emissions have decreased |
| Two types f natural pollution | Geogenic and biogenic |
| Types/examples of geogenic pollution? | Gases such as H2S and CO2 Particles like soot |
| Types/examples of biogenic pollution? | Hygrogen gas, methane release from microbes, CO2 from cell respiration. |
| Types of anthropogenic sources | Stationary and mobile |
| Types of Stationary sources | Point source (continuous) Storage and handling (continous or periodic) Fugitive(continuous)- petrochem refineries |
| Types/examples of mobile sources | Transportation such as air, rail, vehicle |
| What is a pollution sink | a scavenging system which removes a pollutant chemically or by wet/dry deposition. |
| What is an atmospheric half-life | the time it takes for half of the pollutant to be removed from the air |
| What are the two major legislative classes of air pollutants | Criteria Air Contaminants and Toxic Substances |
| Why is water vapour in the troposphere important? | reduces albedo, absorbs infrared, evaporation cools the earth, condensation warms it. |
| When did oxygen reach current levels in the atmosphere? | 400 million years ago |
| What atmospheric layer absorbs UV-C? | Thermosphere |
| What atmospheric layer absorbs UV-B? | Stratosphere |
| Which atmospheric layer has the greatest density and pressure? | Troposphere |
| Which atmosphere has the lowest density and pressure? | Thermosphere |
| How does temperature change with altitude? | From the troposphere to the tropopause goes from high to low From stratosphere to stratopause goes low to high from mesosphere to mesopause goes from high to low Thermosphere is hottest |
| Which type of UV has the lowest energy? | UV-A |
| What are two classes of pollutant? | Primary- direct emission Secondary- chem rxn prod |
| Which class of pollutant does legislation focus on? | Secondary |
| What are five requirements for atmospheric reactions? | Energy Excitable molecules Free radicals(hydroxyl) An energy absorbing molecule such as N2 Particles |
| Give examples of criteria air contaminants | NOx, SO2, CO, O3, particulate matter |
| Under which Act are toxic substances managed? | CEPA |
| What does PBT stand for? | persistent bioaccumulative toxic |
| Which type of regulatory class of pollutant is associated with PBTs? | Toxic substances |
| Do toxic substances usually occur on a global level? | No |
| What are the Canada Wide Standards? | Standards for PM 2.5 and ground level ozone |
| Who established the Canada Wide Standards? | the CCME |
| What are three types of provincial air quality points? | Standards, which are legally enforceable Objectives, which can be enforceable Guidelines, which are just general |
| What are some important notes about Alberta ambient air quality objectives? | Exist for hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly periods |
| Differentiate between toxicology and toxicity. | Toxicology is the science of poisons; toxicity is the ability of a substance to cause harm. |
| Differentiate between mortality and morbidity. | Mortality is the death rate; morbidity is the illness rate. |
| What are the four types of toxicity? | Acute; chronic; local; systemic. |
| What is the latency period? | The time it takes for a toxic effect to occur. |
| What are the two factors considered when calculating a dose? | The substance concentration and the exposure time. |
| Differentiate between LD50 and ED50. | LD 50 is the lethal dose that kills half of the population. ED 50 is the effective dose, or the dose that makes half the population ill. |
| What is a confounding factor? | A factor which needs to be controlled when doing a toxicology study. |
| Give an example of a teratogen. | Thalidomide |
| What are the three exposure pathways? | Inhalation, ingestion, and skin contact. |
| What are three areas of local toxicity? | The eyes, the skin, and the respiratory system. |
| What are the three parts of the respiratory system? | The nasopharynx, the tracheobronchial, and the alveolar. |
| What three protection mechanisms exist in the nasopharynx? | Turbinates to warm/humidify Septa Hair/mucus |
| In which area of the respiratory system are macrophages found? | Alveolar |
| In which area of the respiratory system does the mucociliary escalator exist? | Tracheobronchial |
| Carbon monoxide is nonpolar. Would it be absorbed and stopped by the moisture in the nasopharynx? | No. Water is polar. |
| What size of particle can the nasopharynx filter? | 10 micrometers |
| What size of particle can the MCE take out? | 2.5 micrometers |
| What is epidemiology? | The study of disease distribution |
| What are the two categories of confounding factors? | Traditional(age;gender) Pollutant/Meteorological |
| What are three possible interactions between pollutants? | Addition(same effect but doubled) Synergistic(same effect but multiplied) Antagonistic(same effect but not as bad) |
| How do pollutants usually enter a plant's system? | Stomata and roots |
| What is necrosis? | The leaf margins and veins turn odd colours (white; brown) |
| Where does stippling usually occur on a plant? | The upper epidermis |
| Where does glazing usually occur on a plant? | The lower epidermis |
| What are two examples of chemicals that cause necrosis? | Sulfur and nitrogen dioxide |
| What chemical causes stippling? | Ground level ozone |
| Are chemicals that cause glazing more likely to be water soluble or fat soluble? | Water soluble- stomata absorb water in the air, so is likely to be affected by water soluble chemicals, like PAN |
| What is PAN | peroxy acetylnitrate |
| How does ethylene affect plants? | It increases the life cycle speed of the plant, ruining crop yield. |
| Would ethylene be an issue in AB? | Yes, AB is one of the biggest producers. |
| What pollutant causes metals to corrode, stones to erode, and fabrics to lose their strength? | Sulfur dioxide |
| Name two problems with materials that ozone causes? | Fabric yellowing and rubber cracking |
| What is dry deposition? | Pollutants exist accumulate as a gas or on particulate matter |
| In order of commonality in the atmosphere, name the sulfur compound types. | SOx>Reduced forms> organo |
| What is an example of reduced sulfur? | H2S |
| Why is SO2 considered a truly anthropogenic pollutant? | It is only produced as a result of fossil fuel combustion |
| Is acid deposition caused by SO2 a problem in AB? Why? | Not really, the coal burned here is low sulfur content, and our landscape is alkaline |
| How might acid be neutralized? | Directly through CaCO3 contact, or through the CEC |
| Which two aquatic indicator species might tell you about the acidity of a lake? | Rainbow trout and minnows |
| What ion becomes toxic as pH of a lake decreases? | Al3+ |
| Has SOx concentration gone up or down since 1970? | Down |
| What is the most common form of oxidized nitrogen? | N2O |
| List the basic processes in the N cycle. | Fixation, ammonification, nitrification, denitrification. |
| NO is usually oxidized to which substantially more dangerous pollutant? | NO2 |
| What are two ways NO can oxidize? | Reaction with ozone, or with HO2 radical |
| Differentiate between thermal and fuel NOx | Thermal NOx is a result of atmospheric oxygen and nitrogen reacting in the presence of heat to form NO. Fuel NOx is a result of fuel N reacting with oxygen. Thermal NOx is more |
| What are three reactions that convert NOx to HNO3? | Reaction with hydroxyl radical, reaction with ozone, reaction with ozone enhanced by hydrocarbons. |
| How does NOx contribute to ozone production? | NO reacts with ozone to produce NO2. The reverse happens in the presence of the sun. So, during the day, NO2 produces ozone... and at night it consumes O3. Howeve, Production is greater than consumption. |
| How is PAN produced? | Complex rxn with NOx, hydroxyl radical, sun, and hydrocarbons. |
| NO2 can reach into the deep lung... why is this? | It is not water soluble, so cannot be stopped by the protection systems in place. |
| Is NOx a problem for adults or children? | Children |
| What are environmental concerns associated with hydrocarbons? | Produces ground ozone, depletes good ozone, global warming, and they are PBTs. |
| What are the two groups of important oxyhydrocarbons? | aldehydes and organic acids |
Created by:
swilson67
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