Yes, thinking about air pollution, it would directly link to the cause of global warming. How so? The gases that pollute the air are also some of the greenhouse gases that we have learnt and gone through here.
I believe everyone of you out there knows that air is made up of 99.9% nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor and inert gases.
There are several main types of pollution and well-known effects of pollution which are commonly discussed and now, we will link them together to prove that our diagram makes sense (: .
These include smog, acid rain, the greenhouse effect, and "holes" in the ozone layer known as ozone depletion.Which each of these gases will actually cause serious illness to us.
The two main sources of pollutants in urban areas are transportation and fuel combustion in stationary sources, including residential, commercial, and industrial heating and cooling and coal-burning power plants.
Motor vehicles produce high levels of carbon monoxides (CO) and a major source of hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and fuel combustion in stationary sources is the dominant source of sulphur dioxide (SO2).
Carbon Dioxide
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the major pollutants in the atmosphere which also leads to global warming.
Major sources of CO2 are fossil fuels burning and deforestation. Industrial countries account for 65% of CO2 emissions with the United States and Soviet Union responsible for 50%. Less developed countries (LDCs), with 80% of the world's people, are responsible for 35% of CO2 emissions but may contribute 50% by 2020. Hence, we may be more developed, however we ought to be ashamed of harming our earth more than LDCs do. Let us start to save the earth people!
In 1975, 18 thousand million tons of carbon dioxide (equivalent to 5 thousand million tons of carbon) were released into the atmosphere, but the atmosphere showed an increase of only 8 billion tons (equivalent to 2.2 billion tons of carbon".
The ocean waters contain about sixty times more CO2 than the atmosphere. If the equilibrium is disturbed by externally increasing the concentration of CO2 in the air, then the oceans would absorb more and more CO2.
If the oceans can no longer keep pace, then more CO2 will remain into the atmosphere. As water warms, its ability to absorb CO2 is reduced.CO2 is a good transmitter of sunlight, but partially restricts infrared radiation going back from the earth into space.
This produces the so-called greenhouse effect that prevents a drastic cooling of the Earth during the night. Increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere reinforces this effect and is expected to result in a warming of the Earth's surface. Currently carbon dioxide is responsible for 57% of the global warming trend. SEE? THEY LINK TO GLOBAL WARMING. STOP POLLUTION!
N0X - nitric oxide (N0) and nitrogen dioxide (N02)
Comes from the burning of biomass and fossil fuels.
30 to 50 million tons per year from human activities, and natural 10 to 20 million tons per year! Average residence time in the atmosphere is days. Has a role in reducing stratospheric ozone.
N20 - nitrous oxide
Natural component of the Earth's atmosphere. Important in the greenhouse effect and causes nitrogen loading. Human inputs 6 million tons per year, and 19 million tons per year by nature. Residence time in the atmosphere about 170 years. 1700 (285 parts per billion), 1990 (310 parts per billion), 2030 (340 parts per billion). Comes from nitrogen based fertilizers, deforestation, and biomass burning.
Sulphur and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
Sulphur dioxide is produced by combustion of sulphur-containing fuels, such as coal and fuel oils. Also, in the process of producing sulphuric acid and in metallurgical process involving ores that contain sulphur.
Sulphur oxides can injure man, plants and materials.
At sufficiently high concentrations, sulphur dioxide irritates the upper respiratory tract of human beings because potential effect of sulphur dioxide is to make breathing more difficult by causing the finer air tubes of the lung to constrict.
As emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitric oxide from stationary sources are transported long distances by winds, they form secondary pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, nitric acid vapour, and droplets containing solutions of sulphuric acid, sulphate, and nitrate salts.
These chemicals descend to the earth's surface in wet form as rain or snow and in dry form as a gases fog, dew, or solid particles. This is also known as acid deposition or acid rain.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)CFCs are lowering the average concentration of ozone in the stratosphere.
Depending on the type, CFCs stay in the atmosphere from 22 to 111 years! Chlorofluorocarbons move up to the stratosphere gradually over several decades.
Under high energy ultra violet (UV) radiation, they break down and release chlorine atoms, which speed up the breakdown of ozone (O3) into oxygen gas (O2).Chlorofluorocarbons, are greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
Photochemical air pollution is commonly referred to as "smog".Smog is a contraction of the words smoke and fog, which actually tend to occur in summer.
Smog
Smog's unpleasant properties result from the irradiation by sunlight of hydrocarbons caused primarily by unburned gasoline emitted by automobiles and other combustion sources.
Ozone is a gas created by nitrogen dioxide or nitric oxide when exposed to sunlight.
Ozone causes eye irritation, impaired lung function, and damage to trees and crops. Another form of smog is called industrial smog.
This smog is created by burning coal and heavy oil that contain sulphur impurities in power plants, industrial plants, etc...
The smog consists mostly of a mixture of sulphur dioxide and fog. Suspended droplets of sulphuric acid are formed from some of the sulphur dioxide, and a variety of suspended solid particles. Which commonly occurs during the winter in cities such as London, Chicago, Pittsburgh.When these cities burned large amounts of coal and heavy oil without control of the output, like what we always say: no input but all output, large-scale problems were witnessed.
In 1952 London, England, 4,000 people died as a result of this form of fog. Today coal and heavy oil are burned only in large boilers and with reasonably good control or tall smokestacks so that industrial smog is less of a problem. Cities have a tendency to have greater portion of industrialized areas. Industry is the main contributor to air pollution.
Many times factories release greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), methane, and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.
Yes, hope the above information makes sense that actually air pollution is linked to global warming. For the next post, we would be explaining other links that we have drawn in the hideous diagram (but it makes perfect sense!)
credit
Yes, thinking about air pollution, it would directly link to the cause of global warming. How so? The gases that pollute the air are also some of the greenhouse gases that we have learnt and gone through here.
