yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Air Pollution 101 | National Geographic


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

  • (piano music) -

[Women Speaker] Air pollution consists of chemicals or particles in the atmosphere that pose serious health and environmental threats. But what causes air pollution? And what does it mean for our planet? Some air pollution comes from natural sources, like volcanic eruptions, wildfires, or allergens. But most air pollution results from human activities, such as energy used in agriculture.

There are different types of human-made air pollution. When we burn fossil fuels to produce energy, they release greenhouse gases into the air. These emissions, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases, trap heat from the sun in Earth's atmosphere, leading to a rise in global temperatures. This creates a cycle where air pollution contributes to climate change, and climate change creates higher temperatures. In turn, higher temperatures intensify some types of air pollution.

For example, climate change increases smog because it forms in the presence of high heat and increased levels of ultraviolet radiation. More frequent extreme weather, such as flooding, contributes to damp conditions and therefore a rise in mold. Warmer weather also leads to longer pollen seasons, and therefore more pollen production.

Smog is a type of air pollution that reduces visibility and has serious health effects. Smog can be divided into two categories: sulfurous and photochemical. Sulfurous smog is made up of chemical compounds called sulfur oxides. It occurs when burning sulfur-bearing fossil fuels, such as coal.

Photochemical smog, also called ground-level ozone, is a result of the reaction between sunlight, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. Nitrogen oxides come from car exhaust, coal power plants, and factory emissions. Volatile organic compounds are released from gasoline, paints, and many cleaning solvents.

Smog not only creates a brown haze that reduces visibility but also harms plants, irritates the eyes, and causes respiratory distress. Another category of air pollution is toxic pollutants. These are chemicals such as mercury, lead, dioxins, and benzene that are released during gas or coal combustion, waste incineration, or burning of gasoline.

In addition to adverse environmental effects, toxic air pollution can cause serious health problems, such as cancer, reproductive complications, and birth defects. While air pollution has many consequences for our planet, there are solutions. We can limit toxic pollutants, smog, and greenhouse gases by decreasing the use of fossil fuels, such as in transportation, manufacturing, and electricity generation.

Reducing air pollution not only contributes to a cleaner environment and better human health but can also slow the rate of global warming. (chime music)

More Articles

View All
7 Awesome WoW Facts
Hey, Vsauce. Michael here with a special fact-filled video celebrating World of Warcraft and Cataclysm. Now, even if you’ve never played the game, I’ve got seven awesome things that are sure to titillate. To say so much in fact, I had to bring in some fri…
Inventing Graphics on Cave Walls | Origins: The Journey of Humankind
Early humans communicated with pictures and markings painted on cave walls and began to gradually work out symbols. As these markings spread and were understood and accepted, then you had the widespread transmission of ideas. We can see the very early day…
Peter Lynch: How to Invest for Beginners (7 Investing Rules)
I’m amazed how many people own stocks; they would not be able to tell you why they own it. They couldn’t say in a minute or less why they don’t. Actually, if you really pressed them down, they’d say, “The reason I own this is the sucker’s going up,” and t…
Secrets from Longevity Experts l Transform Your Health and Extend Your Lifespan
I think of all the money I’ve invested in so many businesses over the years, and I didn’t invest enough in myself, which is the most important business I have. So I’m obviously trying to fix that these days. Mr. Wonderful here, back in the United Arab Emi…
Using the Administrator Skills Report to drive differentiation on Khan Academy
Today, I’m going to be showing you how to use the skills progress report in the administrator dashboard and the Khan Academy platform. This is going to be a great tool in order for you to support your teachers in differentiation in their classrooms. You c…
Inside the Svalbard Seed Vault
So this is like the world’s most important freezer? It is. Really. laughs The most important room in the world, someone has said. These are pretty big claims for a place located just 1300 km, or 800 miles from the north pole. But then, this is no ordinary…