Air Pollution

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Air Pollution

• Todd Robinson and Sara Parr

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Air Pollution can be a problem!http//www.syriait
.net/photos/uncategorized/air_pollution_china.jpg
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Air Pollution

• Types of pollution
• How does air move
• How do you measure air pollution
• Ozone
• Particulate Matter
• Connections to human health

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Why should you come to our session?

• In Michigan,
• 9.3 (701,300) adults currently have asthma.
• Southwest MI experiences 18 days every year with
  air quality below EPA standards.

Figure for the US only. http//www.epa.gov/air/air
trends/sixpoll.html
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Air Pollution

• Todd Robinson and Sara Parr

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Air Pollution

• Generally anything that enters the air that is
  harmful to organisms (including plants)
• Some pollution comes from humans, others can come
  from plants and the environment (forest fires,
  dust, soil, etc.)
• Air quality has improved for some pollutants, and
  declined for others.

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NAAQS

• National Ambient Air Quality Standards
• Set by the EPA for wide-spread pollutants from
  numerous and diverse sources that are considered
  harmful to human health and the environment.
• Available at http//www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/

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Name the 6 types of air pollution
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Name the 6 sources of air pollution
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Name the 6 sources of air pollution
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Name the 6 sources of air pollution
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The Great Lakes Airshed

• Air travels from one region to the next,
  spreading pollution.
• We receive pollution from Gary, Chicago, and
  Milwaukee.
• We give pollution to Canada and New England.

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How can we tell if air quality is getting better
or worse?

• Monitoring different pollutants requires
  different techniques.
• Some are really easy, and some are quite complex.

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Your task today

• To look at two different ways to monitor air
  pollution
• To predict where you would find high
  concentrations of ozone and particulate matter
• To examine patterns across the US and compare
  Michigan to other places

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Ozone detectors

• See student handout for particular instructions.
• Safety first Glassware is hot! Use pot-holders.
  Also, wear gloves when handling Potassium Iodide.
• We will make the paste first, and then let it
  cool while we work on other activities

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Particulate matter sticky traps

• Student handout has instructions about how to
  make these.
• Predict sites that you think might have high PM
  or high ozone levels, and write this on your
  sheet.
• We will look at some samples under a microscope

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Particulate Matter across the US

• Greengood
• Yellow moderate
• Orange
• unhealthy
• Redreally unhealthy

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Ozone levels

• Highest in summer, lowest in winter
• Ozone strips are graded by color
• No color changevery low ozone
• Lavender medium ozone
• Dark purplehigh ozone
• The ozone levels detected will be affected by
  humidity, with high humidity giving higher
  readings.

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Schonbein color chart
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Michigan Air Quality

• An extension is possible to compare air pollution
  where you live with air pollution in other areas
  of the country.
• http//www.epa.gov/air/data/