UNIT – 2
Environmental Pollution
1. Define photochemical smog. ( A.U. Dec 2006)
The brownish smoke like appearance that frequently forms
on clear, sunny days over large cities with significant amount of
automobile traffic. It is mainly due to Chemical reactions among
nitrogen oxides and hydro carbon by sunlight.
2. Differentiate between primary and secondary air pollutants
with examples.
Primary Pollutants
These are emitted directly in the atmosphere in harmful
form Example: CO, NO, SO2
Secondary pollutants
Some of the primary pollutants react with one another or
with basic components of air to
form new pollutants. NO/NO2 → HNO3/NO3
3. What is meant by BOD and COD? ( TCY A.U. Dec 2008)
BOD is the amount of oxygen required for the biological
decomposition of organic
matter present in the water.
COD is the amount of oxygen required for chemical
oxidation of organic matter using
some oxidizing agents like K2Cr2O7 and KMnO4.
4. What are the causes of air pollution? (Coim A.U. Dec 2009)
i) Incomplete burning of fossil fuels, liberate CO, NO2,
etc.,
ii) Coal burning in power plant liberates SO2.
iii) Paint, smelters, lead manufacture liberate Pb.
iv) Agriculture, decay of plants, liberates hydrocarbon
5. What are the causes and effects of ozone layer
depletion? Causes:
i) Chloro Fluoro carbon (CFC)
ii) Hydro Chloro Fluoro Carbon(HCFC),
iii) Bromo Fluoro Carbon(BFC)
Effects:Affects the aquatic forms.
i) Increases the average temperature of the earth.
ii) Degrades paints, plastics and other polymeric
materials.
iii) UV rays destroy the melamine pigment in human
body.
6. When does a sound causes noise pollutions? or what is
Noise pollution?
The sound intensity is measured in decibel (dB), which is
tenth part of the longest unit Bel. One dB is equal to the faintest
sound, a human ear hears. If the intensity of the sound exceeds 1
db, noise pollution occurs.
The unwanted, unpleasant or disagreeable sound that
causes discomfort for all living being is called noise pollution.
7. What is acid rain? What is acid precipitation? (TNV
AU Dec 2008) (AU Dec 2009)
The presence of excessive acids in rain water is known as
acid rain.
It includes acid rain, acid fog, acid snow and other form
of precipitation that is more acidic than normal.
The presence of SO2 and NO2 gases in the atmosphere
decreases the pH of the water during the rainfall. This type
of precipitation of water is called acid deposition or acid
precipitation.
SOx + H2O → H2SO4
NOx + H2O → HNO3
8. State the role and responsibility of an individual of the
prevention of pollution?
i) Plant more trees
ii) Help more in pollution prevention than pollution
control
iii) Use water, energy and other resources efficiently
iv) Purchase recyclable, recycled and environmentally safe
products
v) Use CFC free refrigerators
vi) Use natural gas than coal
vii) Reduce deforestation
9. Differentiate between Mist and Fog. (May’2010)
Mist is made up of liquid droplets generally smaller than
10um which are formed by condensation in the atmosphere or are
released from industrial operations. Fog is similar to mist but the
droplet size bigger (>10u) and water is the liquid. Fog is
sufficiently dense to incomprehensible vision.
10. What is marine pollution? (Nov’14)
The discharge of waste substances into the sea resulting
in harm to living resources hazards to human health hindrance to
fishery and impairment of quality for use of sea water.
11. What are the objectives of wastewater treatment?
(Nov’09, Nov’13)
i) To convert harmful compounds into harmless compounds.
ii) To eliminate the offensive smell
iii) To remove the solid content of the sewage.
iv) To destroy the disease producing micro organisms.
12. What is PAN?
PAN is peroxy acetyl nitrates formed by the photochemical reaction
between hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and light.
13. Mention the measures to control thermal pollution
caused by industries.
Steps to control thermal pollution caused by industries.
i) Cooling towers
ii) Cooling ponds
iii) Spray ponds
iv) Artificial lakes
14. What are the four water quality parameters and their
importance.
i) pH
ii) Dissolved oxygen
iii) Total dissolved solids
iv) Colour, odour, taste.
