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Effects of Air Pollution

Health Effects

Who is most at risk

Environmental Effects
Greenhouse Effect
Aesthetic Effects
Acid Rain

Health Effects

Air Pollutant	Health Effects
Carbon Monoxide (CO)	Colourless and odourless gas. Reacts with haemoglobin in preference of oxygen. This reduces the amount of oxygen being carried around the body and can result in suffocation. Fortunately, this reaction is slow and requires very high concentrations before advserse effects are felt.
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)	Brown poisonous gas. Effects trachea and lungs causing respiratory problems.
Ozone (O3)	Colourless gas, slightly sweet odour at low concentrations. Causes eye irritations at concentration of 0.3ppm and respiratory problems at higher concentrations
PAN gas	Effects eyes, nasal passages and respiratry system.

Who is most at risk?

Anyone who has a weak respiratory or immune system is most susceptible to adverse affects resulting from air pollution. These people are most likely to be:

Elderly
Very young
Asthmatic
Ill from other disease or infection.

Environmental Effects

The Greenhouse Effect

Ultra-violet radiation from the sun enters the earth's atmosphere and is reflected in the form of infra-red radiation. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere acts as an insulator and traps infra-red radiation, reflecting it back to the surface of the earth. If we did not have carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, the earth would be too cold to support human life, however, human activity has resulted in a dramatic increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas concentrations and it is feared that this may cause the temperature of the earth to rise.

Aesthetic Effects

Nitrogen dioxide and some other air pollutants have a brown colour and a noticable odour. On days of little wind and bad smog, this can lead to an unhealthy outlook.

Acid Rain

Both nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide can react in the atmosphere to produce nitric and sulphuric acids repectively. These acids slowly dissolve and erode buildings, statues, bridges and anything else left in the weather. The Statue of Liberty is expected to turn black over the next hundred years as a result of a reaction between the copper oxide on its suface and acid rain.
This is more of a problem in Europe and North America as they have coal with a high sulphur content. In Australia, the sulphur content of the coal is quite low and, as a result, acid rain does not effect Australia to a great degree.


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