Tag: environmental pollution

The largest cotton producing state in India is Gujarat. Cotton dust is defined as dust present in the air during the handling or processing of cotton, which may contain a fiber, bacteria, fungi, soil, pesticides and other contaminants which may have accumulated with the cotton during the growing, harvesting and subsequent processing or storage periods and causes hazardous effects on health while inhaling. So, cotton dust is an important pollutant here.

Carbon-dioxide is responsible for 'Global-Warming.
A layer of $CO _2$ in the atmosphere traps the infrared radiation coming from earth's surface. These trapped radiations heat the earth's atmosphere which results in green house effect and global warming.

The noise from the horn and engines of the vehicles results in sound pollution. The use of extensive chemical fertilizers causes accumulation of these chemicals in the soil and leaching into the ground water. The runoff of these chemicals into water causes water pollution. The improper disposal of sewage results in water pollution. The use of CFC-free refrigerator does not cause any air pollution.

The air pollution is basically of two types:
A. Gaseous pollution: Harmful gases given out from variety of sources. 
B. Particulate pollution: Particles such as those of dust, smoke, mining, stone drilling, wearing of rubber tyres of motor vehicles.

 In traffic-congested city air, nitrogen oxides produce brown air or reddish-brown haze. The pollutant that does not get degraded or broken down into the harmless material is a nondegradable pollutant example Benzene Hexachloride (BHC). Anthropogenic pollution is man-made pollution resulting from human activities like burning fossil fuel, deforestation, mining, sewage etc. A primary air pollutant is a pollutant that persists in the environment in the form it is produced example carbon monoxide.

Secondary air pollutants are usually produced photochemically from primary pollutants and are called photochemical oxidants. Secondary air pollutants occur in photochemical smog. Nitrogen oxides, oxygen and ketone bodies combine to form peroxy acyl nitrates or PAN which is a major constituent of photochemical smog. PAN damages chloroplasts, inhibit electron system and spoil enzyme systems controlling cellular metabolism which causes Hill reaction during photosynthesis .

The primary pollutants are directly released from the source like hydrocarbons are released when fossil fuels are burnt and nitrogen oxides are released due to vehicular combustion and also fossil fuel burning. When these primary pollutants react with each other they form a more potent secondary pollutant called the ozone, which is a poisonous gas in the troposphere.

Primary pollutants include ammonia, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide. Secondary pollutants include ground-level ozone, acid rain and nutrient enrichment compounds.