[Courtesy of: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.]
[Courtesy of: Bized, Inc.]
Air pollution, meaning the unbalance of the air composition elements, usually is caused by introducing or overusing certain air chemical composition elements. Natural factors causes air pollutions including weather change, sand storms, volcanic activities, and forest fires caused by natural powers such as lightening and thunders. Human factors include combustible emissions from automobiles, toxic emissions from the factories, and radioactive garbages. Although air pollution can be caused by both natural factors and artificial factors, human activities are the major cause of the air pollution. General artificial sources of the air pollutions include solid, water, and air wastes from the industrial production, wastes from agricultural processes such as the pesticides, and the radioactive materials mostly generated by the energy production.
The environmental effects of the air pollution includes: acid rain, global warming and greenhouse effect, diminution of the ozone layer. The fossils combustibles burnings generate carbonic gas, oxidized forms of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur. Such processes produce sulphur dioxide, when mixed with water it becomes acid rain. The acid rain causes serious environmental damage to the areas it reaches. The air pollutions also cause global warming and greenhouse effect which means the rise in temperature on the earth because certain gases including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, water vapor and methane keep the heat in the atmosphere from sunshine. Furthermore, air pollutions also result in the diminution of the ozone layer. The air pollution’s effects on human health include damaging lung function and cause various respiratory symptoms and illness.
[Courtesy of: Science Museum (Japan).]
Section I: Introduction
Section II: Present (YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN THIS SECTION)
Section III: Future
Complete Table of Contents
Reference