Air Quality Review

What Can We Find In Good Air Quality

• Very few pollutants
• Less health issues
• Made up of very few gasses

Good Air Quality

• Nitrogen 78%
• Oxygen 21%
• All Other Substances 1%

1% Gasses

• Argon (.93%)
• Carbon Monoxide
• Carbon Dioxide
• Nitrogen Monoxide
• Sulfur Dioxide

How are molecules formed ? Molecules form when elements combine creating a covalent bond by sharing electrons between them.

What makes them stable?

• All the bonds are complete
• What happens if they are unstable?
• incomplete and can easily change

What is common in bad air quality and how the pollutants usually get in the air

SOOT

• Most of it gets into the air when stuff is burned such as gasoline in cars and trucks or coal in a power plant even wood in a wood burning stove even into your eyes

Carbon Monoxide

• Gets into the air when cars and trucks burn fuel
• Can't be seen because it's gas and it doesn't even have a smell
• Can get into lungs so you can't breath

Sulfur Dioxide

• Shoot out of the smokestacks of power plants when they burn coal to make electricity
• It starts as part of the coal and then combines with Oxygen, and it moves through the air as a gas
• Very little of it in the air can really make big changes in our air quality

Nitrogen Monoxide

• Nitrogen Monoxide gets in the air when cars, trucks, and airplanes burn fuel right out the old tailpipe

Ozone

• Nitrogen Oxides have a few VOC's, turn up the the heat, and the next thing you will know Ozone comes in the picture and when Ozone is there, smog is not far behind

Mercury

• Mercury doesn't mix with any of the other pollutants; it's not a gas like the others, and its not a molecule.
• It's much more special than that, it's a liquid element.

Does population matter

Does Industry Matter

How Can You Improve Air Quality

• We Need To Reduce Combustion
• Put a scrubber on there SmokeStack
• Plant a tree
• Turn the lights out when you leave the room
• Walk, ride bikes, roller blade, skateboard instead of driving

Untitled Slide

• Keep dust down when digging or moving earth
• Plant low-maintenance landscaping
• Caulk and weather strip doors and windows
• Use latex paint to reduce fumes and clean it up with water
• Avoid idling - in general, turning off and starting an engine uses less gasoline than letting it idle for more than 30 seconds

Untitled Slide

• Reduce, Reuse, then Recycle
• Trade your car in for a newer model - newer cars are more efficient and pollute less
• Rotate your tires
• Use your fireplace less
• Use electric or manual lawn and garden equipment instead of gas-powered equipment