20.3.5

Air Pollution

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Air Pollution

Air pollution comes from many different sources.

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Burning fossil fuels

  • Burning fossil fuels releases large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that would otherwise have been locked away for millennia.
    • Methane and carbon dioxide enhance the greenhouse effect, causing global warming and climate change.
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Respiration

  • Carbon dioxide is produced naturally in respiration.
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Power stations and cars

  • Power stations and cars constantly pump gases into the atmosphere.
  • Sulfur dioxide dissolves in atmospheric moisture to form acid rain, which has been shown to negatively impact forest, freshwater and soil ecosystems as well as human health. A complication with acid rain is that it can fall far from where the gases were produced.
  • Modern cars are fitted with catalytic converters to reduce the amount of sulfur dioxide they produce.

Jump to other topics

1Classification of Living Organisms

2Organisation of the Organism

3Movement Into & Out of Cells

4Biological Molecules

5Enzymes

6Plant Nutrition

7Human Nutrition

8Transport in Plants

9Transport in Animals

10Diseases & Immunity

11Gas Exchange in Humans

12Respiration

13Excretion in Humans

14Coordination & Response

15Drugs

16Reproduction

17Inheritance

18Variation & Selection

19Organisms & Their Environment

20Human Influence on Ecosystems

21Biotechnology & Genetic Modification

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