Air and Water

Air and Water Pollution

Air and water pollutants are present throughout the globe. The air individuals breathe and also the water individual’s drink is not safe as both are contaminated with different types of pollutants. Air pollutants can be found in different locations to include indoors, outdoors, and also inside confine spaces to include ones car. Water pollutants are present in aquatic environments and also in the water resources and are formed by chemical and physical changes. Analyzing different types of water and air pollutants provides an understanding of how each can have significant impacts on aspects of everyday life for humans, living organisms, and the environment.

Air Pollutants

Different types of air pollutants exist and can be broken down into two categories, primary and secondary. Some of the primary air pollutants are carbon oxides and nitrogen oxides. Secondary air pollutants are those that are formed from chemical reactions taking place in the atmosphere and include ozone and sulfur trioxide.

One of the primary air pollutants nitrogen oxides are gases that form when a chemical interaction with nitrogen and oxygen occurs creating high temperatures. Sources of nitrogen oxides include cars, electric power plants, and trucks. Nitrogen oxides can have a negative impact on human health because they can produce a number of adversary effects on ones respiratory system. This air pollutant can also cause a wide array of environmental damage because it helps form acid rain. Nitrogen oxide can also cause eutrophication and visibility impairment (Berg & Hager, 2007).

A secondary air pollutant not directly emitted from a source, but instead is cause by the reaction of primary pollutants with the environment is ozone. Ozone is a gas that is comprised of three oxygen atoms. Ozone is created at round-level forming by a chemical reaction between volatile organic compounds and oxides of nitrogen when in the presence of sunlight. Ozone can have both a...