Jackass The Game
The Air Pollution Game
Rules
• Completed as groups per lab table
• Flipping the cups from blue to red is “hitting the buzzer” to take a
guess
• There will be FIVE clues that are provided to guess the key term or air
pollutant
• You get only one guess
• The clues become more obvious as you move down the list
• Trick- if all other groups guessed, wait until the end to get all clues
Methane
• Accounts for 14% of our greenhouse gas output
• Increased by 400% in the last 200 years
• Produced from decomposition of waste, rice patties but mostly by
the cattle industry
• The greenhouse gas that absorbs 23 times more heat the CO2
worsening Global Warming
Industrial/Sulfurous Smog
•
•
•
•
Produced mainly from burning coal
China and Hong Kong have some the worst
Appears blackish-gray
The toxic smog that is mixture of smoke and fog produced from
burning coal (mostly in factories)
Carbon Dioxide
•
•
•
•
Annual emissions have grown by 80% in 34 years
Deforestation is causing this to increase dramatically
Is a greenhouse gas
Given off from burning of fossil fuels
Sulfur Dioxide
•
•
•
•
United States leads the world in emissions, China is 2nd
Emissions have decreased by 50% since the 1970’s
Released from coal burning power plants
Causes acid rain
Wet Scrubber
• Uses steam to catch air particulates
• Changes sulfuric acid to solid sulfite which can be dumped in a
landfill
• Created in 1970’s
• A device added to smokestacks of factories to dramatically reduce
toxic emissions
Particulate Matter
• Highest levels are Mexico, China, India and US
• Contributes to more than 60,000 deaths a year (respiratory
problems)
• Risk of mortality from this increases 15-25% if you live in a city
(especially in poorer or developing nations)
• Is made up of microscopic particles from burning fossil fuels like
soot, smoke, and heavy metals
Arctic Haze
• Mostly made-up of carbon soot, organic compounds and heavy
metals
• Caused by emissions from the US, China and Russia
• The pollution was carried over 6,215 miles north by global winds
• The dark gray haze of industrial pollutants that hovers five miles
over the Arctic (North Pole)
Nitrous Oxide
•
•
•
•
Causes irritation to eye, nose, throat and lungs
Yellowish-brown to reddish brown gas
Contributes to acid rain
Given off mainly from car exhaust
Acid Rain
•
•
•
•
Decreases algae and impacts all food webs
Causes tree leaves and needles to be stripped of nutrients and die
Caused mostly by sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide
Is precipitation with a pH lower than 5 (4.2 in NJ)
VOC’s Volatile Organic Compounds
•
•
•
•
Can contribute to smog
Nearly half of all these are released in the US
These evaporate in the air and exist a gases in the atmosphere
Is found in products such as air fresheners, cleaning products,
cosmetics, varnishes, fabrics and paints
Photochemical fog
•
•
•
•
Appears brownish
Is created by car exhaust and a chemical reaction with sunlight
Common in LA (due to many cars and a lot of sunlight
An unhealthy, ground-hugging mixture of car exhaust and fog
Catalytic Converter
•
•
•
•
Made with platinum and rhodium
Convert nitrous oxides to nitrogen
Removes sulfur gas
A device added to cars in the 1970’s that dramatically reduces car
emissions
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s)
• Nontoxic and nonflammable
• Are banded in many parts of the world due to the signed
documentation of the Montreal Protocol
• Have a life span of 50-200+ years
• Toxic chemicals that are given off by aerosols and refrigerants that
break down our ozone layer