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1. Chapter 18 Air Pollution Name: ______________________________________ 1. Chapter 18 Air Pollution Core Case Study: South Asia's Massive Brown Cloud 1. Describe the nature and harmful effects of the massive Asian Brown Cloud. 2. Some people blame Asians for the existence of the Asian Brown Cloud but others argue that its causes, as well as its effects, are global in nature. What is your position? 18-1: What Is the Nature of the Atmosphere? 3. Define: Density- Atmospheric pressure- Troposphere- Stratosphere- Ozone layer- Describe how the troposphere and stratosphere differ. 18-2: What Are the Major Outdoor Air Pollution Problems? 4. What is air pollution? Case Study: Air Pollution in the Past: The Bad Old Days 5. Where did the saying "thick as pea soup" come from? 6. What did the word smog come from? 7. What started happening in London around the year 1880 and continued until around 1962? What Act was passed in London in 1956? 8. When was the first documented air pollution disaster in the United States as a result of our own industrial revolution? 9. Distinguish between primary pollutants and secondary pollutants and give an example of each. 10. List the major outdoor air pollutants and their harmful effects. Case Study: Lead Is a Highly Toxic Pollutant 11. Describe the effects of lead as a pollutant and how we can reduce our exposure to this chemical. Science Focus: Detecting Air Pollutants 12. Describe a chemical method and a biological method for detecting air pollutants. 13. Distinguish between industrial smog and photochemical smog in terms of their chemical composition and formation. 14. List and briefly describe five natural factors that help to reduce outdoor air pollution and six natural factors that help to worsen it. 15. What is a temperature inversion and how can it affect air pollution levels? 18-3: What Is Acid Deposition and Why Is It a Problem? 16. What is acid deposition and how does it form? Briefly describe its major environmental impacts on vegetation, lakes, human-built structures, and human health. 17. List three major ways to reduce acid deposition. 18-4: What Are the Major Indoor Air Pollution Problems? 18. What are the top four indoor air pollutants in the United States? 19. What is the major indoor air pollutant in many developing countries? Case Study: Radioactive Radon Gas 20. Describe indoor air pollution by radon-222 and what can be done about it. 18-5: What are the Health Effects of Air Pollution? 21. Briefly describe the human body's defenses against air pollution, how they can be overwhelmed, and illnesses that can result. 22. About how many people die prematurely from air pollution each year? 18-6: How Should We Deal with Air Pollution? 23. Describe air pollution laws in the United States. Case Study: U.S. Air Pollution Laws Can Be Improved 24. Summarize the accomplishments of pollution laws and discuss how they can be improved. 25. List the advantages and disadvantages of using an emissions trading program? 26. Summarize the major ways to reduce emissions from power plants and motor vehicles. 27. What are four ways to reduce indoor air pollution? Revisiting: The Asian Brown Cloud and Sustainability 28. Discuss the relationship between the Asian Brown Cloud and the ways in which people have violated the four scientific principles of sustainability. Chapter 19: Climate Change and Ozone Depletion Core Case Study: Studying a Volcano to Understand Climate Change 1. When did the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo occur? What kind of damage resulted from its eruption? What gases were emitted into the atmosphere? 2. What did NASA scientist James Hansen use the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo to test? How did he relate his results to the impact of human actions? 19-1 How Might the Earth's Temperature and Climate Change in the Future? 3. Describe global warming and cooling over the past 900,000 years and during the last century. 4. How do scientists get information about past temperatures and climates? 5. What is the greenhouse effect and why is it so important to life on earth? What are the greenhouse gases and what is the mechanism behind their warming potential? 6. What gases have been increased since the beginning of the industrial revolution (over the last 275 years) and what are their varied sources and input routes into the atmosphere? 7. Compare/contrast the U.S. and China's percentage of input of the greenhouse gases. 8. What was the CO2 concentration in the troposphere at the start of the Industrial Revolution and in 2007 and what is it projected to be in 2050? 9. At what CO2 level to scientist believe we will have reached the "tipping point?" What does this mean? 10. What is the scientific consensus about global warming? What is some of the evidence that supports their major conclusions? How has the average global temperature changed from 1906 to 2005? Science Focus: What is the Scientific consensus about Future Temperature Change? 11. Review Figure 19-A. Why do you think a decrease in snow and ice cover would increase global warming? Is this an example of a positive or negative feedback loop? 12. Explain why a hotter sun is not the culprit behind the climate change. 13. Describe the role played by oceans in the regulation of atmospheric temperatures. What are three factors that could decrease its effect in moderating temperature increases? By what percent has the acidity of the ocean increased since preindustrial revolution times? 14. Describe how a) cloud cover and b) air pollution might affect global warming and consequently global climate. 19-2 What Are Some Possible Effects of a Warmer Atmosphere? 15. According to the IPCC, a 2 Co warming appears to be inevitable. What will a 4 Co or a 5 Co do to civilization as we know it? 16. Briefly describe the projections of scientists on how global warming is likely to affect: drought; ice cover; flooding; sea levels; permafrost; ocean currents; extreme weather; biodiversity; crop yields; and human health during this century. Science Focus: Melting Ice in Greenland 17. What percentage of freshwater does Greenland's glaciers hold? If it melts, how much would it raise the global sea level? 19-3 What Can We Do to Slow Climate Change? 18. What are five reasons for the fact that it is difficult to deal with the problem of climate change due to global warming caused mostly by human activities? 19. What are four major strategies for slowing projected climate change? Case Study: Is Capturing and Storing CO2 the Answer? 20. What is carbon capture and storage (CCS)? Describe six problems associated with capturing and storing carbon dioxide emissions. 21. List four things that governments could do to help slow projected climate change. 22. What are the pros and cons of the Kyoto Protocol? 23. What are some governments that are finding ways to lead in reducing their emissions and how are they doing this? What has the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon done? Case Study: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in California 24. What has the U.S. state of California done to help reduce its greenhouse gas emissions? 25. Give two examples of what some major companies and schools have done to reduce their carbon footprints. 26. List five ways in which you can reduce your carbon footprint. 27. List five ways in which we can prepare for the possible long-term harmful effects of climate change. 19-4 How Have We Depleted Ozone in the Stratosphere and What Can We Do about It? 28. Describe how human activities have depleted ozone in the stratosphere, and list five harmful effects of such depletion. Science Focus: Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina -- A Scientific Story of Courage and Persistence 29. Describe how these two scientists helped to awaken the world to the threat of CFCs to the stratosphere. Science Focus: Skin Cancer 30. Describe the relationships between higher UV levels and three types of skin cancer. 31. What has the world done to help reduce the threat from ozone depletion in the stratosphere? Discuss the Montreal Protocol and the Copenhagen Protocol in your answer. .
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