Air Pollution: Essay on Effects of Air Pollution (with Statistics)!
Mainly due to rapid industrialisation and automobile revolution such high concentrations of the pollutants are discharged into the atmosphere that it is beyond the self cleansing capacity of the environment to nullify their effect.
As a result air pollutants adversely affect the health of humans and animals and damage plants and property.
Effects of Air Pollution on Human Health:
Air pollutants have many acute as well as chronic effects on human health. These are:
(a) Irritation of the respiratory tract.
(b) Irritation of eye, nose and throat.
(c) Lead particulates (from automobile exhausts) cause lead poisoning resulting in convulsions, delirium, coma and even death.
(d) Cadmium particulates (through cigarette smoking) cause cardiovascular diseases, kidney and liver damage and even death.
(e) Nickel particulates (in tobacco smoke) result in respiratory damage.
(f) Mercury (Combustion of fossil fuels, plants) results in nerve, brain and kidney damage.
(g) Radio-active fallout has somatic and genetic effects on future generations.
Effects of Pollutants on Animals:
When the animals feed upon the particulate coated plants (especially with Fluorine, Lead, Arsenic) they get affected with Arsenic poisoning (cattle and sheep) and Arsenic poisoning (cattle). Lead poisoning results in bronchitis and lack of appetite in pet animals.
Effects of Pollutants on Plants:
Spraying of pesticides and other agricultural practices have exposed the plants to a large number of air pollutants, adversely affecting their growth and metabolism by destroying chlorophyll and disrupting photosynthesis.
(a) SO2 bleaches the leaf surface and causes chlorosis (i.e. loss of chlorophyll and yellowing of the leaf) especially in leafy vegetables.
(b) NO2 causes premature leaf fall (abscission) and suppressed growth of plants resulting in reduced yields of crop plants.
(c) Ozone causes necrosis (dead areas on a leaf structure) and damages leaves.
(d) PAN (peroxyacylnitrate) damages leafy vegetables causing premature fall, discoloration and curling of sepals.
Effects of Air Pollution on Materials:
Materials are affected by air pollutants in the following four ways:
(c) Deposition and removal of materials.
(d) Chemical attack.
The damages caused to various materials by air pollutants are:
(a) SO2, Acid rains and aerosols damage the building materials.
(b) Paints are discoloured by SO2, H2S and particulates.
(c) Metals undergo corrosion and tarnishing by SO2 and Acid gases.
(d) Paper becomes brittle and leather undergoes disintegration by SO2 and Acid gases.
(e) Ozone, SO2, NO2 and acid gases discolour, deteriorate and reduce the tensile strength of textiles.
Effect of Air Pollution on Climate:
Due to deforestation and fuel combustion in industries and automobiles, the CO2 content of the atmosphere is expected to double by the year 2020. This increase will change the climate of earth by changing the factors controlling the climate (fig. composition of gases).
This increase of CO2 will increase the atmospheric temperature of earth, resulting in the melting of polar ice, glaciers etc. which will consequently cause the flooding of coastal towns (i.e. green house effect). Pattern of rainfall, if changed, will affect agricultural output.
The thinning of the ozone layer in the stratosphere by the action of aerosols will increase the penetration of harmful ultraviolet rays to earth and this will cause blindness, sunburn,” inactivation of proteins, RNA and DNA.
Effect of Air Pollution on Aesthetic Beauty:
The aesthetic beauty of nature is not visible [Reduction in visibility results from scattering of light by air borne particulates (0.1 to 1 µm size). This also leads to safety hazards] in the haze formed by dust and smoke in the air. Industries, automobiles, sewage & garbage heaps emit foul odours causing further loss of aesthetic beauty.
Table 5.1. Shows the common air pollutants, their sources and pathological effects on man:
Table 5.2. Depicts the effects of specific air pollutants on vegetation: