Let’s Talk About Air Pollution!

Air Pollution is a type of pollution when toxic gases enter the atmosphere. Some gases can kill animals and a few can cause rapid warming of the earth! Let’s talk about these gases.

Carbon Monoxide:

Carbon Monoxide is a very flammable gas that is less dense than air. Carbon Monoxide basically consists of 1 carbon atom and 1 oxygen atom connected. Carbon Monoxide usually is in car exhaust. This exhaust comes out from cars and other transportation. Carbon Monoxide causes excess global warming of the earth and it is a very toxic gas.

Methane:

Methane is a gas that is 10x stronger than warming the earth than Carbon Dioxide. Methane is emitted from the burning of Natural Gas. Natural Gas is created by the collision of Methane and Ethane atoms. So just using stoves emits methane. Rice Paddies and Cows are animals that emit the most Methane. Methane causes the most warming on Earth!

Carbon Dioxide:

Carbon Dioxide is a gas that is exhaled from all organisms on earth. It is a greenhouse gas and it plays a role in trapping heat as the sun is 1 AU (93 million miles) away. This is quite a distance. But too much CO2 is going into our atmosphere damaging air quality around cities worldwide.

Toxic Gases:

When batteries and other flammable items are burned, it releases so many toxic gases. These gases are inhaled by the organisms and those organisms then die of poisoning.

Air pollution from traffic and industry is leading to the premature death of more than three million people a year. Globally, that’s more than malaria and HIV/Aids combined.

Pollutants including nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter from road traffic and sulfur dioxide, from the burning of fossil fuels, have been linked to suppressed lung growth in children, asthma, heart disease, and the onset of type 2 diabetes. The exposure of pregnant women to air pollution has also been found to affect fetal brain growth.

Lets hope that we can reduce air pollution to make the earth a better place to live. Remember that there is no planet B and we need to make sure that our future generations enjoy the earth like we are doing. Please be responsible and do your part in making our earth a better place to live.

Author: Sri Nihal Tammana

PC: The Guardian