Air quality is a measure of the pollutants in the air. More pollutants mean poorer air quality. Air quality, in turn, depends on many factors. Some natural processes add pollutants to the air. For example, forest fires and volcanoes add carbon dioxide and soot. In dry areas, the air often contains dust. However, human actions cause the most air pollution. The single biggest cause is fossil fuel burning. Poor air quality started to become a serious problem after the Industrial Revolution. The machines in factories burned coal. This released a lot of pollutants into the air. After 1900, motor vehicles became common. Cars and trucks burn gasoline, which adds greatly to air pollution. By the mid-1900s, air quality in many big cities was very bad. The worst incident came in December 1952. A temperature inversion over London, England, kept cold air and pollutants near the ground. The air became so polluted that thousands of people died in just a few days. This event was called the Big Smoke. At the same time, many U.S. cities had air pollution problems. Some of the worst were in California. Cars were becoming more popular. Oil refineries and power plants also polluted the air. Mountain ranges trapped polluted air over cities. The California sunshine caused chemical reactions among the pollutants. These reactions produced many more harmful compounds. By 1970, it was clear that something needed to be done to protect air quality. In the U.S., the Clean Air Act was passed. It limits what can be released into the air. As a result, the air in the U.S. is much cleaner now than it was 50 years ago. But air pollution has not gone away. Vehicles, factories, and power plants still release more than 150 million tons of pollutants into the air each year. There are two basic types of pollutants in air. They are known as primary pollutants and secondary pollutants. Primary pollutants enter the air directly. Some are released by natural processes, like ash from volcanoes. Most are released by human activities. They pour into the air from vehicles and smokestacks. Several of these pollutants are described below. Carbon oxides include carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2 ). Carbon oxides are released when fossil fuels burn. Nitrogen oxides include nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ). Nitrogen oxides form when nitrogen and oxygen combine at high temperatures. This occurs in hot exhausts from vehicles, factories, and power plants. Sulfur oxides include sulfur dioxide (SO2 ) and sulfur trioxide (SO3 ). Sulfur oxides are produced when sulfur and oxygen combine. This happens when coal burns. Coal can contain up to 10 percent sulfur. Toxic heavy metals include mercury and lead. Mercury is used in some industrial processes. It is also found in fluorescent light bulbs. Lead was once widely used in gasoline, paint, and pipes. It is still found in some products. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are carbon compounds such as methane. VOCs are released in many human activities, such as raising livestock. Livestock wastes produce a lot of methane. Particulates are solid particles. These particles may be ash, dust, or even animal wastes. Many are released when fossil fuels burn (see Figure 22.1). Secondary pollutants form when primary pollutants undergo chemical reactions after they are released. Many occur as part of photochemical smog. This type of smog is seen as a brown haze in the air. Photochemical smog forms when certain pollutants react together in the presence of sunlight. You can see smog hanging in the air over San Francisco in Figure 22.2. Photochemical smog consists mainly of ozone (O3 ). The ozone in smog is the same compound as the ozone in the ozone layer,(O3 ). But ozone in smog is found near the ground. Figure 22.3 shows how it forms. When nitrogen oxides and VOCs are heated by the Sun, they lose oxygen atoms. The oxygen atoms combine with molecules of oxygen to form ozone. Smog ozone is harmful to humans and other living things. Most pollutants enter the air when fossil fuels burn. Some are released when forests burn.
Output: The worst air pollution in the U.S. occurs in