CAUSE AND EFFECT

CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION

Air pollution is one of the most visible forms of pollution. Anyone who's seen the brownish-yellow sky over a city, or dark smoke belching from the tail pipe of a bus or industrial smoke stack knows what it looks like. It's effects are not always so obvious, and range from contaminated rain to ozone levels to global warming. There are also health concerns, making air pollution a serious environmental concern.

Air pollution is essentially the introduction of particles into the atmosphere that does not belong there. Particulate matter, tiny pieces of contaminants, which because they are lighter than air become airborne. They might then rise high into the air to travel on the winds, or float near ground level. This is a result of both the kind of pollutant and where it is released. Car exhaust, for example, starts much lower than industrial smoke. Air pollution does not have to be man made chemicals. The desertification of wilderness areas releases extra dust and sand into the air that also causes many of the problems associated with chemical air pollution.

One of the most visible effects of air pollution is smog. A fog-like smoke (hence the term, "smog") that blankets many cities, it can be seen as a discolored haze that obscures the view of skylines around the world. It comes from car exhausts and other emissions put out by a modern city such as furnaces, incinerators, and surrounding industries. This effects not only the people who breathe it but also all systems that rely on circulating air. When it is particularly heavy, the dust and grime can adversely impact machinery by clogging filters, and gears.

Acid rain is caused when chemicals from pollutants enter the atmosphere and become bound to rain droplets. The chemical composition of the water then changes and becomes acidic. When it falls to earth it has numerous consequences. Aside from polluting the existing water table, the acid also affects plants and trees. Acid rain can kill a forest by affecting not only the leaves and bark, but also by raising the acidity of the soil. Acid rain affects human constructions as well, especially any item made of stone. This includes monuments and statures, but also building structures which are eaten away by the acid.

Air pollution causes numerous health consequences for people. Like the filters in machinery and buildings, a person's lungs can become coated with the particulate matter in the pollution. This can lead to any number of respiratory problems, depending on the levels of exposure. At the very minimum, people who suffer from asthma or respiratory issues may have more difficulty. Long term exposure can lead to health concerns similar to long term smoking, such as cancer and emphysema. This is in addition to any contamination caused by toxic chemicals that may be in the pollution, which themselves carry numerous health risks.

One of the biggest effects of air pollution is it's global reach. Even areas that don't have vehicles or industry, such as the arctic, are still affected by air pollution as global currents carry chemicals and particles around the world. Another aspect of air pollution is also global warming, which is caused by excess carbon dioxide. Although CO2 is a gas, and not a particle, because more of it is being put into the atmosphere through human activities, it counts as a pollutant. So does changes to the ozone levels, both the higher atmospheric ozone layer (affected by CFC's) and also ground level ozone which is similar to smog.

http://www.ehow.com/about_4779837_causes-effects-air-pollution.html

PROCESS

The Distillation Process

Distillation has been an essential part of nature since the earth began. The heat of the sun evaporates water from the earth's surface into the atmosphere, leaving impurities behind. As the vapor cools, it condenses and falls back to earth as rain, snow or other forms of precipitation.

Water distillation is the process of boiling water in a chamber creating steam. As the vapor rises, it passes through cooling coils and collects as pure water. All of the contaminants are left behind in the boiling tank and gases that vaporize at temperatures lower than the boiling point of water are released through volatile gas vents. In essence, distillation duplicate's mother nature's cycle of evaporation and precipitation and is highly effective in removing all inorganic, organic and radionucleotide contaminants. These include heavy metals, ammonia, nitrate, chloride, fluoride, radium 226, industrial organic contaminants, and pollutants.

Distillation is also highly effective in removing commonly used insecticides, herbicides, and lead as well as all bacteria and viruses.

http://www.excelwater.com/eng/b2c/distprocess.php

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

PURE SUBSTANCES VS MIXTURES

Usually by pure substances we mean either pure elements (all one type of atom), regular crystals (atoms arranged in a repeating pattern), or things made of only one type of molecule (a tightly bound structure of one or more types of atoms). So copper is a pure substance in any form (only copper atoms). Liquid water is a pure substance (all H2O molecules). Table salt is a pure substance (a regular crystal of Na and Cl atoms, or, to be picky, ions).

Things that have different types of atoms or molecules, not arranged in regular patterns, are typically called mixtures. Vodka, for example, has some ethanol molecules and some water molecules, mixed together in an irregular, changing pattern. It is at least a solution, with the molecules mixed on the scale of single molecules. Other things (like salami) are mixtures of different types of molecules (like fats and proteins) all clumped up on a much larger scale. Mixtures with large clumps of dissimilar materials are often called "suspensions". Air is a complicated mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, water, carbon dioxide and other molecules, and usually has dust, pollen, soot, or other particles suspended in it. A mixture of different kinds of metal atoms is called an "alloy" if they are mixed on an atomic scale.

http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=469

CLASSIFICATION

States of matter

Matter comes in many forms. At this point, we will consider three: solid, liquid and gas.

A solid has a definite shape and it takes up a fixed volume. On the other hand, liquid has a fixed volume, but no definite shape. A liquid will change its shape to fit its container. A gas has no definite shape and no fixed volume. Like a liquid, a gas will change its shape to fit its container, but it will also expand to fill the entire volume of the container.

Solid – rigid, fixed volume, fixed shape.
Liquid – definite volume, but no definite shape.
Gas – no fixed shape, no fixed volume.

http://www.mhhe.com/physsci/chemistry/chang7/esp/folder_structure/cl/m2/s2/index.htm

DEFINITION

CHEMISTRY

Chemistry is the study of the nature, properties, and composition of matter, and how these undergo changes. The science of matter is also addressed by physics, but while physics takes a more general and fundamental approach, chemistry is more specialized, being concerned with the composition, behavior (or reaction), structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions. It is a physical science which studies various substances, atoms molecules, crystals and other aggregates of matter whether in isolation or combination, and which incorporates the concepts of energy and entropy in relation to the spontaneity of chemical processes.

Chemistry is sometimes called "the central science" because it connects the other natural sciences such as astronomy, physics, material science, biology and geology. The genesis of chemistry can be traced to certain practices, known as alchemy, which had been practiced for several millennia in various parts of the world, particularly the Middle East.

http://chemweb.ucc.ie/what_is_chemistry.htm

GLOSSARY

• Matter: the substance or substances of which any physical object consists or is composed.

• Atoms: the smallest component of an element, consisting of a nucleous containing combinations of neutrons and protons and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus by electrical attraction; the number of protons determinesthe identity of the element.
• Astronomy: the science that deals with the material universe beyond the earth's atmosphere.

• Behavior: the action or reaction of any material under given circumstances

• Processes: a systematic series of actions directed to some end.

• Entropy: function of thermodynamic variables, as temperature, pressure, or composition, that is a measure of the energy that is not available for work during a thermodynamic process.