Air Pollution and Acid Rain

Suppression of rain and snow by urban and industrial air pollution

Direct evidence demonstrates that urban and industrial air pollution can completely shut off precipitation from clouds that have temperatures at their tops of about -10 degrees C over large areas. Satellite data reveal plumes of reduced cloud particle size and suppressed precipitation originating from major urban areas and from industrial facilities such as power plants. Measurements obtained b...

Acid Rain

Pure water has a pH of 7.0 (neutral); however, natural, unpolluted rainwater actually has a pH of about 5.6 (acidic).[Recall from Experiment 1 that pH is a measure of the hydrogen ion (H+) concentration.] The acidity of rainwater comes from the natural presence of three substances (CO2, NO, and SO2) found in the troposphere (the lowest layer of the atmosphere). As is seen in Table I, carbon dio...

Air Pollution and Health

Air pollution and health.

OBJECTIVE To review the effects of air pollution on health, with special reference to data obtained locally in Hong Kong. DATA SOURCES Medline literature search (1960-1999), websites of the World Health Organization and Environmental Protection Department, Hong Kong, and a report from the Sub-Working Group on the Review of Hong Kong's Air Quality Objectives, 1999. STUDY SELECTION Key words ...

Asthma and air pollution

During the last decades research all over the world has highlighted the deleterious effects of pollution on respiratory health of adults and children. Nevertheless, air pollution still represents a significant threat to health. Children are more sensitive than adults to pollutants for several factors: increased respiration relative to body size; physiologic immaturity of respiratory and immunol...