Air Pollution and Smog
What pollutant is implicated in human neurological damage? - ANS Coal plant pollutant -
particles contain mercury
Catalytic converters reduce what pollutants in car exhaust? - ANS Reduce nitrogen oxide and
VOCs
The three main anthropogenic sources of gaseous air pollutants in the United States are what? -
ANS Industry, transportation, and energy production
What is the human health impact most closely associated with atmospheric particulates? - ANS
Asthma
Smoke from forest fires is most likely to affect air quality over larger areas for many days when
what climatic situation is present? - ANS Atmospheric inversion has forced the smoke to stay
closer to the surface; temperature inversion
The majority of atmospheric mercury is produced by what process? - ANS Burning coal
Which type of electricity-generating power plant releases radioactive materials as well as toxic
metals such as lead and arsenic under normal operating conditions? - ANS Coal-burning power
plant
What pollutant has a stronger affinity for hemoglobin than oxygen? - ANS Carbon monoxide
What are the primary air pollutants produced from burning coal? - ANS Carbon dioxide, sulfur
dioxide, mercury, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, lead, hydrocarbons, arsenic, cadmium,
particulate matter, uranium
What best describes one way the Clean Air Act helped reduce air pollution? - ANS Regulated
the use of lead, particularly in fuels
What were the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990? - ANS Allowed power plants to buy and
sell SO2 pollution allowances; cap-and-trade program
Consumers who get their electricity from coal-fired power plants are not paying the true cost of
energy production in their monthly utility bills. Explain why? - ANS The bills do not include
public health costs - those associated with air pollution; it is an external cost or externality
Which energy sources produce the most air pollutants when used during the generation of
electricity? - ANS Burning fossil fuels
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