Air pollution is one of the fastest major problems we humans are facing right now. The biggest example you can see in our country only or in the states of country India like Kanpur, Mumbai, Faridabad, Varanasi, Gaya, and Delhi. These cities are the most air polluted cities as per the database of global air pollution declared by WHO (World Health Organisation). Air pollution is becoming an global issue with each passing day. So, what we all have learned in the regarding air pollution can be asserted in the context of chemistry. The pollutants of this type of pollution undergo chemical changes present in the environment, which becomes harmful to the biosphere. So, now switch our radar to the atmospheric pollution.
ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION
The environment surrounding the planet, Earth doesn’t consist of equal thickness on all the heights. There are concentrical layers of areas or air with each layer containing different density.
The lowest area of the atmosphere in which humans live alongside other organisms is called troposphere. It expands from sea level up to an elevation of ~ 10 km.
Above the layer of Troposphere, the stratosphere lies in between 10 to 50 km above the sea level. The troposphere layer is turbulent or a bit rough, it’s a dusty area in which there’s air, an abundance of clouds and water vapor.
This layer is all about strong cloud formation and wind movement. On the other hand, the stratosphere layer is having dioxygen, dinitrogen, ozone and some water vapor.
Atmospheric pollution is the polution we learn about tropospheric and stratospheric pollution. The presence of ozone in the stratosphere prevents about 99.5 percent of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiations from reaching the earth’s surface and thereby protecting humans and other animals from its effect.
Atmospheric pollution is usually studied in the form of stratospheric and tropospheric pollution. Ozone’s presence in the stratosphere layer prevents the Earth’s surface from almost 99.5 percent of Sun’s toxic UV rays or the ultraviolet radiations to reach on it. Hence, it protects human beings and other creatures with its harmful effect.
Also, by this you can conclude that mostly the air pollution takes place in these above-mentioned layers of atmosphere.
You must be knowing that there are different pollutants responsible for air pollution. In context of environmental chemistry, the pollutants are mainly categorized into- Solid or Particulate pollutants and Gaseous Pollutants.
Nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide are the basic pollutants which also go through chemical transformation as they get scattered in the surroundings, resulting in the formation of nitric acid and sulphuric acid respectively, and which results on the earth as “Acid Rain”.
