APES- Pollution Flashcards
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| 6044232875 | Troposphere | The first layer of the atmosphere, adjacent to the surface of the earth, temperature decreases with increasing altitude and extends to an altitude of about ten miles, all life exists on it, responsible for the greenhouse effect | 0 | |
| 6044244284 | Stratosphere | The second layer of the atmosphere, from the top of the troposphere to 30 miles above the surface of the earth, temperature increases with increasing altitude, ozone layer in the lower portion | 1 | |
| 6044249594 | Ozone | colorless, odorless reactive gas comprised of three oxygen atoms, found naturally in the earth's stratosphere, absorbs the ultraviolet component of incoming solar radiation to protect the earth | 2 | |
| 6044258485 | Mesosphere | The third layer of the atmosphere, temperature decreases with increasing altitude | 3 | |
| 6044272770 | Thermosphere | Extends to outer space, 300 miles outside the surface of the earth | 4 | |
| 6044743110 | Primary Air Pollutants | Air pollutants that are released directly from their source into the atmosphere | 5 | |
| 6050075042 | Secondary Air Pollutants | Air pollutants that form as the products of chemical reactions that occur among primary pollutants and other chemicals present in the atmosphere | 6 | |
| 6050077532 | Clean Air Act | 1970, establishes national standards for the allowable outdoor concentration of six criteria air pollutants to protect human health, establishes industrial emission standards for 189 hazardous air pollutants that pose a serious hazard to human health or the environment. | 7 | |
| 6050085679 | Carbon Monoxide (CO) | Primary pollutant that is the product of incomplete combustion reactions during the burning of fossil fuels, by automobiles, prevents hemoglobin in red blood cells from binding with oxygen, results in headaches and death if ingested in high concentrations | 8 | |
| 6050102486 | Catalytic Converter | Removes carbon monoxide from motor vehicle exhaust |  | 9 |
| 6050104668 | Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) | Primary pollutant that is formed as a product of the reaction between nitrogen and oxygen in the high-temperature environment of fossil fuel combustion, nitric oxide (NO) formed first then oxidized into NO2, reddish brown gas, plays central role in the formation of photochemical smog, precursor to the atmospheric formation of the nitric acid that falls to the earth as acid rain, results in irritation of the respiratory system, aggravation of asthma and bronchitis, impaired plant growth, decreased visibility, catalytic converters remove it from motor vehicles | 10 | |
| 6050116857 | Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) | NO (Nitric oxide) + NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) | 11 | |
| 6050119136 | Sulfur Dioxide (S02) | Primary pollutant, formed as a product of the reaction between sulfur and oxygen during the combustion of coal, further oxidized in the atmosphere to sulfur trioxide (SO3), with SO3 forms acid rain, results in aggravation of breathing problems, plant damage, reduced visibility, can be removed from coal smoke with scrubbers | 12 | |
| 6050132804 | Oxides of Sulfur (SOx) | SO3 (Sulfur Trioxide) + SO2 (Sulfur Dioxide) | 13 | |
| 6050139772 | Scrubbers | Use calcium carbonate (CaCO3) or calcium oxide (CaO) solution to wash the sulfur pollutants out of smoke | 14 | |
| 6050143269 | Tropospheric or Ground Level Ozone (O3) | Secondary pollutant, major component of photochemical smog, ozone easily reacts to shed a single oxygen atom, transforms into a more stable oxygen (O2) molecule, results in irritation of the respiratory system and eyes, disintegration of plastic and rubber products | 15 | |
| 6050149996 | Particulate Matter (PM-10) | Category of primary pollutants that includes a variety of particulates both solid and liquid, emitted from coal-fired power plants, agricultural operations (plowing of fields/harvesting of crops) tobacco smoke, construction, motor vehicles, particulate matter with an average diameter of 10 mm or less is classified as PM-10, results in respiratory system irritation, aggravate asthma and bronchitis, can cause mutations or cancer, can be removed with electrostatic precipitator | 16 | |
| 6050161962 | Electrostatic Precipitator | Removes particulates by imparting a negative charge on them and attracting them to positively charged plates where they are scraped off and removed to a landfill |  | 17 |
| 6050167921 | Lead | Primary pollutant, released as a result of leaded gasoline and peeling of lead-based paint in older homes, lead gasoline/paint banned in US | 18 | |
| 6050175934 | Nitric Oxide or Nitrogen Monoxide (NO) | Primary pollutant involved in the formation of photochemical smog and precursor to acid rain, formed as a product of the reaction between nitrogen and oxygen in the high-temperature environment of fossil fuel combustion, reacts quickly in air to form nitrogen dioxide, catalytic converters remove it from motor vehicle exhaust | 19 | |
| 6050185773 | Photochemical Smog | Brown hazy air pollutant over large cities, formed through cars and sunlight, morning traffic releases nitrogen oxides and VOCs into the air, ultraviolet radiation in sunlight promotes a series of reactions that result in the formation as of many as 100 different compounds including ozone, Oxidants: nitrogen dioxide, peroxyacyl nitrates (PANs) and aldehydes, warmer air temperatures increase rate of the reactions that form smog | 20 | |
| 6050194998 | PANs (Peroxyacyl Nitrates) and Aldehydes | Photochemical oxidant, irritates the respiratory system and eyes, damage living tissues, peak at noon | 21 | |
| 6050207324 | Heat Island Effect | Heat- loving reactions to heat- absorbing properties of the materials of buildings that create photochemical smog | 22 | |
| 6050215494 | Temperature Inversions | Trap pollutants over a city for several days or weeks because in a valley surrounded by mountains, occurs when a layer of warm air sits atop cooler polluted air over a city and prevents the cool air from rising and dispersing its pollutants | 23 | |
| 6050225778 | Sulfuric Acid and Sulfate Salts (H2SO4 or SO4^2-) | Secondary pollutant that is formed when sulfur oxides react with water in the atmosphere | 24 | |
| 6050228084 | Nitric Acid and Nitrate Salts (HNO3 or NO3) | Secondary pollutant that is formed when nitrogen oxides react with water in the atmosphere | 25 | |
| 6050231821 | Buffer | When soils contain lime/limestone to serve as a neutralizer for the acids and minimizes ecosystem damage | 26 | |
| 6050237613 | Radon | Naturally occurring radioactive gas, seeps into buildings from underground deposits, will accumulate to dangerous levels without adequate ventilation, when inhaled the alpha particles emitted will damage lung tissues and increases risk of lung cancer | 27 | |
| 6050245987 | Sick Building Syndrome | Presence of these living organisms in a building can result in it, condition that causes an abnormally high incidence of headaches, coughing, sneezing, burning eyes, and illness among the employees or residents of the building | 28 | |
| 6050254475 | Greenhouse Gases | Increase amount of heat that is trapped in the atmosphere, results in enhancement of the natural greenhouse effect, Four major: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons | 29 | |
| 6050265394 | Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) | Category of manmade primary pollutants that includes the variety of inert, stable molecules that are made of a combination of chlorine and fluorine atoms attached to a carbon backbone, once used in coolants in fridges and ACs, long half-life in the atmosphere, ozone depleting chemicals | 30 | |
| 6050270823 | Montreal Protocol | Reduced production and release of CFCs to prevent them from destroying stratospheric ozone molecules | 31 | |
| 6050274972 | Kyoto Protocol | To reduce climate change, enacted in 2005, requires industrialized countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to 5% below their 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012, US and Australia not agree | 32 | |
| 6050286300 | Halons | Ozone depleting chemical, chemical use in fire extinguishers | 33 | |
| 6050288640 | Methyl Bromide | Ozone depleting chemical, fumigant used to disinfect soils | 34 | |
| 6050292006 | Dobson Units (DU) | Total ozone concentrations measured in it, One DU= a column of ozone 0.01 mm thick at a temperature of 0 degrees celsius and one atmospheric pressure, normal concentration of ozone in the atmosphere is 300 DU | 35 | |
| 6050298665 | Polar Stratospheric Clouds | When the sun reappears in the spring, and ozone-depleting reactions begin again, facilitate conditions that allow ozone-depleting reactions to destroy ozone at an unusually high rate | 36 | |
| 6050305879 | Acid Deposition | Oxides of sulfur and nitrogen can be oxidized in the atmosphere and react with water to form acids, which then fall back to the earth as acid rain, snow, fog, hail, sleet, and the dry deposition of acidic particulates, oxides of sulfur and nitrogen are primary pollutants that form the acidic molecules | 37 | |
| 6050310135 | Global Climate Change | Recent and ongoing rise in global average temperature near Earth's surface, caused mostly by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. | 38 | |
| 6050315377 | Hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) | CFC replacement, greenhouse gas, unreactive, nonflammable, nontoxic, insoluble in water, used as coolants in fridges and ACs, etc., depletes stratospheric ozone | 39 | |
| 6050321436 | Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) | Another CFC replacement, greenhouse gas | 40 | |
| 6050322174 | Indoor Air Pollution | Can accumilate and increase in concentration due to poor vetilation (cigarette smoke, formaldehyde, radon, bacteria, yeast, mold, carbon monoxide) | 41 | |
| 6050327367 | Ozone Depletion | Caused by halogens in stratosphere that destroy ozone molecules | 42 | |
| 6050330258 | Ozone Hole | Reduction in ozone concentration over Antartica | 43 | |
| 6050330259 | Ozone Layer | Layer of gaseous ozone in the stratosphere that protects life on earth by filtering out most harmful ultraviolet radiation from sun | 44 | |
| 6050333954 | Rowland and Molina | 1974, proposed hypothesis that increased CFC concentrations in the stratosphere are responsible for depleting the stratospheric ozone layer | 45 | |
| 6050337977 | Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) | many hydrocarbons, man-made & natural. Help form photochemical smog. Form from fossil fuel production leaks, gas pumps, dry cleaning, industrial solvents. Limited by Clean Air Act. To reduce, seal leaks, switch to diff. dry-cleaning methods, capture solvents for reuse, prevent gasoline vaporization. | 46 | |
| 6050607132 | Density | Mass/volume | 47 | |
| 6050607178 | Atmospheric Pressure | Force (mass/unit area) of air, caused by the bombardment of a surface by the molecules in air | 48 | |
| 6050609913 | Industrial Smog | Type of air pollution consisting mostly of a mixture of sulfur dioxide, suspended droplets of sulfuric acid formed from some of the sulfur dioxide, and suspended solid particles | 49 | |
| 6050613139 | Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) | Process of removing carbon dioxide gas from coal- burning power and industrial plants and storing it somewhere (usually underground or under the seabed) so that it is not released into the atmosphere, essentially forever | 50 |
