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Details of Teaching Programme
ENV M566 Air Pollution |
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- The political interfaces between science, media, politics and the public Slides in powerpoint: . How do we grapple with the different perceptions? They are each valid in their own way, but what do them mean? Air pollution can be described in terms of:
- statistics e.g. Poisson, Weibull etc.Slides in powerpoint:
- Typologies- e.g. LA and London smogs (i.e. secondary and primary )
- Bandings and API's
- Literary descriptions
References and web resources:
Exercises:
- Explore the structure of a Weibull distribution: sigma = 9 and lambda = 2.3, perhaps across the concentration range 0.1-40. What concentration would you expect to be the critical one that might be exceeded 3 times per year?
- Examine the distribution of the carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide hourly data sets provided, in slightly different formats to ensure the ongoing development of your MATLAB skills.
- The following is extracted from a third-year exam paper of 2003. Q3... Some have argued the change in air pollution has had an impact on Britain's urban fiction. A count of the occurrence of winter fog, summer haze has in London detective fiction gave the following:.
- Victorian stories mentioning summer haze: 12
- Victorian stories mentioning winter fog: 48
- Victorian stories not mentioning visibility: 90
- Late 20th C stories mentioning summer haze: 22
- Late 20th C stories mentioning winter fog: 23
- Late 20th C stories not mentioning visibility: 76
(a) Would you support the assertion that there has been a change in the way visibility is treated by writers of detective fiction. (b) Suggest reasons for why the visibility may have changed over this period (c) why we might expect fictional detectives to be sensitive to these changes.
- Slides in powerpoint:The natural sources: biological, marine, volcanic, cosmic. Particular focus on the origin of trace atmospheric constituents from biological sources.
References and web resources:Exercises:
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- The development of air pollution from the earliest times. The introduction of coal to 13th C London and public reaction. The work of Archbishop Laud, Sir Kenelme Digby, Margaret Cavendish and John Evelyn. Air pollution in Manchester and York through the late 18th to early 20th C and the influence of the Public Health Act 1875.
References and web resources:- Brimblecombe, P. & Bowler, C. The history of air pollution in York, England. J. Air and Waste Management Assoc. 42, 1562 (1992)
- The Big Smoke PBrimblecombe Methuen
Exercises:- Write a short newspaper article on the fine art print Lancaster Place, Birmingham. You should justify the most accurate possible dating of this photograph. You may need to look at a higher quality print than the one on the web page.
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- How was photochemical smog discovered by Tucker, Haagen-Smit and Leighton? The key reactions in the NOx psuedo-equilibrium, the role of organics and the OH radical. The production of aldehydes and PAN. The importance of chemical reactions for air pollution control policy. Most particularly POCP (photochemical ozone creation potential) and problems of reducing NOx emissions alone.
References and web resources:- RHSchulz 20 year evolution of air pollution control in USA Atmospheric Environment27B, 15(1993)
- Air Composition and Chemistry PBrimblecombe CUP (Chaps. 6&7)
Exercises:
Organic reactions in the atmosphere | |
- Residence time and Junge's rule. The range of compounds and their role in urban atmospheres. Attack by OH and subsequent oxidation steps. The importance of ethene oxidation and the attack on aromatic compounds, with attention to ring breakage. Importance of HCHO and HO2. The reactions of olefins and the significance of ozone and the development of the concept of POCP. End products of oxidation: aldehydes and most particularly the dicarboxylic acids. Oxidation of aromatic compounds eg toluene.
References and web resources:- BECroes et al, Reactivity bases hydrocarbon controls JAWMA 42, 657 (1992)
- Atmospheric Chemistry Pitts and Findlayson-Pitts (Chap. 7, or in the 2000 edition Chapter 6)
Exercises:- What are the sources of acetone and why is it important?
- Speculate on the chemistry of xylene in the atmosphere
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- The significance of 20th C air pollution. The characteristic decline of primary air pollutants. Non-attainment in the USA. The importance of the Clean Air Act (1956). Modern European issues: NO2-smogs, diesel, ozone gradients. Recent legislative developments in UK and Europe. The role of DoE and QUARG. The principles and philosophy of European Union Directive 96/62/EC and its daughter directives. The ideas of agglomeration, zone, alert, limit values, bandings &tc. The pollutants covered by 96/62EC.
References and web resources:- Bower, J.S. et al (1994) A winter NO2 smog episode in the UK, Atmospheric Environment, 28, 461-475
- Campbell, G.W. et al (1994) A survey of NO2 smog concentrations in the UK using diffusion tubes, July-December 1991, Atmospheric Environment, 28, 477-486
- The key urban pollutants in URBAN AIR QUALITY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, 1st QUARG Report, DoE (1993)
Exercises:- How do they manage such detailed maps of NO2 background concentrations in the UK?
- Recent legislative developments in UK and Europe. The role of DoE, QUARG, COMEAP, EPAQS. The principles and philosophy of European Union Directive 96/62/EC and its daughter directives. The ideas of agglomeration, zone, alert, limit values, bandings &tc. The problem with particles and the difficulties with rapid changes and the ideas of PM-10 and PM-2.5.
References and web resources:- The UK National Air Quality Strategy HMSO (1997)
Exercises:
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- Strategies for monitoring. Problems of presenting the public with information that is detailed and complex. What are the reasons for monitoring and how accurate should it be? What will the new directive require in terms of monitoring. Air quality management: Strategies for air pollution control: AQM, emission control, economic instruments, CBA. Unravelling the complexity of AQM. What are the advantages of emission control? Problems with O3. Why we need sophisticated approaches when dealing with secondary pollutants.
References and web resources:- Elsom, D. Atmospheric Pollution 2Ed. Chapter 7 Blackwell, 1992
Exercises:
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- Slides in powerpoint: How air pollution is generated by forests - there is also potential from agriculture, wind blown dusts (problems for PM10 regulations and composition of dusts) and volcanoes &tc. Formation of "vog". Oxidation of forest derived compounts with special atention to the terepenes and isoprene see especially Atkinson, R., Arey, J.
Atmospheric chemistry of biogenic organic compounds (1998) Acc. Chem. Res., 31 (9) pp. 574-583. The production of organic di-acids in the atmosphere and the nitrate radical and night-time OH. Acidity from forest fires. Animals and odour.
References and web resources:
- Raga GB, Kok GL, Baumgardner D, et al.
Evidence for volcanic influence on Mexico City aerosols
Geophys. Res. Lett. 26: 1149-1152 (1999).
- Forest fires
- and something really unusual! Wathes CM et al, Concentrations and emission rates of aerial ammonia, nitrous oxide, methane, carbon doxide, dust and endo toxins in UK broiler and layer houses, British Poultry Science, 38, 14-28 (1997).
Exercises:
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- How air pollution is represented in art: power and progress, money, icons, ambiguity. The development of environmental issues and role of trigger events as seen in the history of Battersea Power Station - a cathedral of power &tc.
References and web resources:
- Brimblecombe, P. Writing on smoke, in Bradby, H. Dirty Words, Earthscan London, 1990 is on restricted loan in the library.
- Student essay: hysteria and air pollution
- Bowler, C. & Brimblecombe, P., Battersea Power Station and environmental issues 1929-1989, Atmospheric Environment 25B 143-51 (1991)
- A philatelic image from early Auckland
Exercises:- Re-examine the fine art print Lancaster Place, Birmingham that formed part of the history exercise and consider it's artistic and sociological context - you can add a paragraph on this to your newsaper article.
- Class discussion and workshop
References and web resources:
Exercises:
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- The development of health issues: anthracosis, sinusitus, rickets. Synergisms with SO2 and smoke. Carbon monoxide toxicity. Asthma and air pollution.
References and web resources:Exercises:
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- Slides in powerpoint: Effects on materials. Building stone and the long term change to its damage by sulphur and nitrogen deposition. Damage to metal and glass. Legislative problems with preventing damage to materials and cultural heritage.
References and web resources:- C. GROSSI AND P. BRIMBLECOMBE, The effect of atmospheric pollution on building materials, Journal de Physique, 4, 197-210 (2002) - on restricted loan in the library
- TEGraedel Degradation of materials in the atmosphere Environmental Science and Technology, 20, 1093 (1986)
Exercises:
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- The initiation of oxidation in the atmosphere and the fate of compounds: oxalic acid, hydrochloric acid, trifluoroacetic acid, nitric acid, HONO, sulphuric acid and he role of ammonia in neutralization.
References and web resources:
Exercises:These relate mainly to physical processes. The equations are not very tidy and initially look complex, but much just involves plugging things in. Do watch the units - these are tedious, but they should resolve themselves as long as you also take a little care. - The rate of coagulation -dN/dT=8π*D*r*N2 where r is radius and N the particle concentration. D is the diffusion constant
D = kT(1+A*L/r)/6πνr where A is the Stoke-Cunningham constant and can be determined as:
(1.257+0.4*exp(-1.1r/L) and L is the mean free path (nitrogen = 58.8 nm), ν the viscosity (air at 20C is 18.2x10-6 N s m-2), k the Boltzmann constant (1.38x10-23 J K-1), T absolute temperature.. Determine concentration of particles over time starting at 109 per cubic metre and 0.003 microns radius. You will need to think of the coagulation as a second-order kinetic process. Initially the simplest way is perhaps to think in terms of a half-life which for such a second order reaction is: = to 1/No.k2 where k2 is the second order rate constant and No the initial concentration. The graph is a little trickier, but you may recollect from chemical kinetics that you can integrate the differential equation in -dN/dT to obtain the amount of N left at any given time such that:
k2=(No-Nt)/(No.Nt*t) where t is time, No the initial concentration of N and Nt its concentration at time t.
Extensions: Mean free path can be calculated for other molecules from: L = m/(πρσ220.5) (nitrogen = 58.8 nm) where m = mass of molecule, ρ = density, σ = molecular diameter (nitrogen = 375 pm), but there are possible virial corrections.
- Determine the partition of pyrene onto particles in air at 10 μg m-3 as a function of air temperature. The pressure of pyrene (in Pascals where 1Pa= 0.0075Torr) is given by the equation: log10(p) = -A/T + B, where T is the temperature Kelvin ad A and B are constants 4760.73 and 12.748. The partition coefficient (Kp) in rather messy units is defined as: Kp=Casol/(Mt.Cair), where log10(Kp)=-1.028log10(p)-8.11 (the pressure is in torr). The values Casol and Cair are the concentrations on the particles and in the air and Mt is the aerosol mass in μg m-3
Indoor air pollution |
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ENV 3A08 
Peter Brimblecombe
Group workshops 
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