Tuesday 28 February 2023

OUR BELOVED HOD SHRI V SHYAM SUNDER SIR Congratulations on your retirement! Wishing you the best of health, happiness, and success on your new journey in life.

 OUR BELOVED HOD SHRI V SHYAM SUNDER SIR Congratulations on your retirement! Wishing you the best of health, happiness, and success on your new journey in life.

HE IS VERY HANDSOME, SIMPLE CARING , RESPONSIBLE  DISCIPLINED ,,DEDICATED,  DEVOTED & DETERMINED PERSONALITY OF NFCL FAMILY.

 







Saturday 25 February 2023

Ecosystem Effects of Ozone Pollution

 

Ecosystem Effects of Ozone Pollution

Ozone can affect sensitive vegetation and ecosystems, including forests, parks, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas.  In particular, ozone can harm sensitive vegetation during the growing season. 

What plants are at risk?

Plant species that are sensitive to the effects of ozone on their growth include trees found in many areas of the U.S., such as:

black cherry tree damaged by ozone exposure
black cherry
  • black cherry
  • quaking aspen
  • tulip poplar
  • white pine
  • ponderosa pine
  • red alder.

What does ozone exposure do to sensitive plants?

When sufficient ozone enters the leaves of a sensitive plant, it can:

  • Reduce photosynthesis, which is the process that plants use to convert sunlight to energy to live and grow.
  • Slow the plant's growth.
  • Increase sensitive plants' risk of:
    • disease
      diseased tulip poplar leaf
      tulip poplar
    • damage from insects
    • effects of other pollutants
    • harm from severe weather.

Also, some plants can show visible marks on their leaves when ozone is present under certain conditions.

What happens to the ecosystem?

The effects of ozone on individual plants can then have negative impacts on ecosystems, including:

  • changes to the specific assortment of plants present in a forest
  • changes to habitat quality
  • changes to water and nutrient cycles.

Health Effects of Ozone Pollution

 

Health Effects of Ozone Pollution



Ozone is a powerful oxidant that can irritate the airways.

Ozone in the air we breathe can harm our health, especially on hot sunny days when ozone can reach unhealthy levels. Even relatively low levels of ozone can cause health effects.

Who is at risk?

People most at risk from breathing air containing ozone include people with asthma, children, older adults, and people who are active outdoors, especially outdoor workers. In addition, people with certain genetic characteristics, and people with reduced intake of certain nutrients, such as vitamins C and E, are at greater risk from ozone exposure. 

Children are at greatest risk from exposure to ozone because their lungs are still developing and they are more likely to be active outdoors when ozone levels are high, which increases their exposure.  Children are also more likely than adults to have asthma.

What health problems can ozone cause?



Ozone can cause the muscles in the airways to constrict, trapping air in the alveoli. This leads to wheezing and shortness of breath.

Depending on the level of exposure, ozone can:

  • Cause coughing and sore or scratchy throat.
  • Make it more difficult to breathe deeply and vigorously and cause pain when taking a deep breath.
  • Inflame and damage the airways.
  • Make the lungs more susceptible to infection.
  • Aggravate lung diseases such as asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.
  • Increase the frequency of asthma attacks.

Some of these effects have been found even in healthy people, but effects can be more serious in people with lung diseases such as asthma. They may lead to increased school absences, medication use, visits to doctors and emergency rooms, and hospital admissions. 

Long-term exposure to ozone is linked to aggravation of asthma, and is likely to be one of many causes of asthma development. Studies in locations with elevated concentrations also report associations of ozone with deaths from respiratory causes.

How can I reduce these health risks?



With inflammation, the airway lining is damaged. It has been compared to the skin inflammation caused by sunburn.

The AirNow Web site provides daily air quality reports for many areas. These reports use the Air Quality Index (or AQI) to tell you how clean or polluted the air is.

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  • P

Ground-level Ozone Basics

 

Ground-level Ozone Basics



What is "good" vs. "bad" ozone?

Ozone is a gas composed of three atoms of oxygen. Ozone occurs both in the Earth's upper atmosphere and at ground level. Ozone can be good or bad, depending on where it is found.

Called stratospheric ozone, good ozone occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere, where it forms a protective layer that shields us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. This beneficial ozone has been partially destroyed by manmade chemicals, causing what is sometimes called a "hole in the ozone." The good news is, this hole is diminishing. .

Ozone at ground level is a harmful air pollutant, because of its effects on people and the environment, and it is the main ingredient in “smog.

How does ground-level ozone form?

Tropospheric, or ground level ozone, is not emitted directly into the air, but is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC). This happens when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources chemically react in the presence of sunlight.

Ozone is most likely to reach unhealthy levels on hot sunny days in urban environments, but can still reach high levels during colder months. Ozone can also be transported long distances by wind, so even rural areas can experience high ozone levels. 

This graphic depicts the formation of ozone from car and factory emissions

Particulate Matter (PM) Basics

 

Particulate Matter (PM) Basics



    • What is PM, and how does it get into the air?



PM stands for particulate matter (also called particle pollution): the term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Some particles, such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke, are large or dark enough to be seen with the naked eye. Others are so small they can only be detected using an electron microscope.

Particle pollution includes:

  • PM10 : inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 10 micrometers and smaller; and
  • PM2.5 : fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller.
    • How small is 2.5 micrometers? Think about a single hair from your head. The average human hair is about 70 micrometers in diameter – making it 30 times larger than the largest fine particle.

Sources of PM

These particles come in many sizes and shapes and can be made up of hundreds of different chemicals.

Some are emitted directly from a source, such as construction sites, unpaved roads, fields, smokestacks or fires.

Most particles form in the atmosphere as a result of complex reactions of chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which are pollutants emitted from power plants, industries and automobiles.

What are the Harmful Effects of PM?

Particulate matter contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small that they can be inhaled and cause serious health problems. Some particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter can get deep into your lungs and some may even get into your bloodstream. Of these, particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, also known as fine particles or PM2.5, pose the greatest risk to health.

Fine particles are also the main cause of reduced visibility (haze) in parts of the United States, including many of our treasured national parks and wilderness areas.

Effects of Acid Rain on Materials

Effects of Acid Rain on Materials

Not all acidic deposition is wet. Sometimes dust particles can become acidic as well, and this is called dry deposition. When acid rain and dry acidic particles fall to earth, the nitric and sulfuric acid that make the particles acidic can land on statues, buildings, and other manmade structures, and damage their surfaces. The acidic particles corrode metal and cause paint and stone to deteriorate more quickly. They also dirty the surfaces of buildings and other structures such as monuments.

The consequences of this damage can be costly:

  • damaged materials that need to be repaired or replaced,
  • increased maintenance costs, and
  • loss of detail on stone and metal statues, monuments and tombstones.

Other Effects of SO2 and NOX

Visibility

In the atmosphere, SO2 and NOX gases can be transformed into sulfate and nitrate particles, while some NOX can also react with other pollutants to form ozone. These particles and ozone make the air hazy and difficult to see through. This affects our enjoyment of national parks that we visit for the scenic view such as Shenandoah and the Great Smoky Mountains.

  • Human Health

Walking in acid rain, or even swimming in a lake affected by acid rain, is no more dangerous to humans than walking in normal rain or swimming in non-acidic lakes. However, when the pollutants that cause acid rain —SO2 and NOX, as well as sulfate and nitrate particles— are in the air, they can be harmful to humans.

SO2 and NOX react in the atmosphere to form fine sulfate and nitrate particles that people can inhale into their lungs.  Many scientific studies have shown a relationship between these particles and effects on heart function, such as heart attacks resulting in death for people with increased heart disease risk, and effects on lung function, such as breathing difficulties for people with asthma.

Learn more about:

  • Sulfur Dioxide
  • Nitrogen Oxides
  • Particulate Matter (PM)
  • Asthma

In addition, NOX emissions also contribute to ground level ozone, which is also harmful to human health.