Air Pollution

• Only carbon dioxide and water are produced if only pure hydrocarbons are burnt completely
• Common pollutants are:

  • Carbon monoxide
  • Soot
  • Sulfur Dioxide
  • Nitrogen Oxide
• Hydrocarbon + Plenty of Oxygen ----> Water + Carbon Dioxide

  This is complete combustion.
• Incomplete combustion happens when not enough oxygen is available
• Particulates if inhaled can damage your lungs and create respiratory problems.
• Particulates produce smog which reflects sunlight into space. This can make the earth darker. We call it global dimming.
• Carbon monoxide is dangerous as when we breathe it in, it diffuses into our blood. The carbon monoxide binds to the Haemoglobin in the same place oxygen does. This means less oxygen gets transported around the body. This can lead to fainting, comas and even death.
• Carbon monoxide is colourless and odourless which makes it really hard to detect.
• Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are made by burning hydrocarbons with impurities.
• nitrogen oxides form when nitrogen and oxygen from the air react together. this normally doesn't happen as it requires high temperatures. But these temperatures are often reached in combustion engines in cars.
• Sulfur dioxide is formed when an impure hydrocarbon is burned with an atom of sulfur. The sulfur is oxidised and forms sulfur dioxide gas.
• Both sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can damage our lungs and cause respiratory problems. Also when they mix with clouds they form dilute sulfuric acid and dilute nitric acid. This becomes acid rain. Acid rain damages buildings + statues and corrodes metals. It damages plants by landing on the plant to by making soil more acidic.