Both Nitrogen Dioxide and Sulfur
Dioxide are key components in modern day air pollution. Both are part of the types of major air
pollutants the Clean Air Act is trying to improve on. Meaning we are working to reduce our release
of these compounds into the air. The
Clean Air Act required to set standards on air emissions of pollutants, and
continues to work on this standard. Both
these pollutants are products of combustion.
Meaning that a fuel is burned, and they are released into the air. This can happen naturally, for example,
forest fires started by lighting. But it
has been determined than anthropogenic sources, or man made sources, are
contributing greatly too. This means coal-fired
power plants, gas powered power plants, transportation, and any other man made
combustion process.
(image:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17435420)
Instruments have
been developed to measure these compounds in our air. We can even create satellite images of the
compounds and figure out were they are at and were they’re coming from. With NO2 it is easy to find the source,
because it does not have a long atmospheric lifetime, meaning it cannot have
traveled far from were ever it is found.
Mexico City, Tokyo, and Los Angeles have very large NO2 plooms over
them. California’s I-5 freeway is
actually visible from space via its NO2 signature. NO2 can cause an array or negative
atmospheric effects. It can cause a haze
that can drastically reduce visibility.
NO2 can cause irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. Surprisingly, NO2 can actually reduce
terrestrial plant growth. On the
contrary, NO2 can cause aquatic oxygen depleting algae blooms. And perhaps most surprising, NO2 can actually
cause corrosion of building materials.
NO2 output increases greatly in the wintertime in Northern states due to
increase energy needs from colder temperatures.
Sulfur dioxide also has some very similar effects. It too causes similar health effects in
humans like nose, throat, and eye irritation.
It can also cause wheezing and coughing.
Both of these compounds are huge contributors to acid rain. Acid rain is harmful to almost entire
environments. Acid rain is particularly
harmful to lichens, although both compounds are harmful to them just suspended
in the air. Acid rain can decimate
aquatic environments. It can have
drastic effects on fish species, as well as macro invertebrates. This can
impact the whole food chain by affecting one component of it. It can even work its way up to humans. We as a whole population depend on both our
freshwater and salt-water environments heavily. Not only do we use these aquatic systems for
food, but its also were we get our water.
Which bring for the question, is acid rain affecting our bodies too? There are also many future negative effects
that both these compounds and other air pollution can have on us, and our
environment. What we do know is that we
are going to destroy our planet at this rate.
We need to drastically decrease our air pollution very soon. And
while world regulatory agencies are working towards improvement, there is a lot
of evidence that it may not be happening quickly enough.
(image:http://www.wbaltv.com/news/nasa-photos-from-space-show-earths-pollution/26694684)
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