Question

How would you describe any four air pollutants and their harmful effects?

Answer 1

As we know that air pollution is caused by the presence of harmful substances in the atmosphere that cause damage to the environment, climate as well as human health. And these harmful substances are called air pollutants which can be of various types like organic, inorganic particulates, gases and biological molecules.

Complete answer:
As we have learnt that air pollution is the contamination of air which is generally caused by the harmful substances known as the air pollutants that cause the damage to the environment and living beings health.
These air pollutants can be of various types including organic and inorganic particulates, gases and biological molecules. Gases air pollutants include Ammonia gases, carbon dioxide, sulphur monoxide, methane gases, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons.
Let us talk about these pollutants one by one:
The first one is carbon dioxide, which is directly released into the atmosphere by human activities. It is considered a leading air pollutant as it plays a crucial role in greenhouse gases.
Next we have carbon monoxide which is a colourless, toxic and odourless gas formed due to the partial combustion of carbon compounds in fuels. It can lead to harmful effects upon exposure and the common symptoms include such as headache, nausea, dizziness, chest pain and impaired vision.
Then comes the sulphur dioxide which is an extremely reactive gas liberating a pungent smell and is produced as a result of volcanic eruption and its frequent exposure leads to asthma, wheezing and various heart related diseases.
Nitrogen dioxide comes next which is again a reactive gas like sulphur dioxide and mostly produced during thunderstorms and can cause asthma and other respiratory problems.
Lastly the chlorofluorocarbons which are extremely harmful for the ozone layer and CFCs are generally released by the heavy machines like air conditioners, refrigerators etc reaching to the stratosphere causes the damage to the ozone layer by coming in contact with the other gases. It results in the entry of ultraviolet rays inside the earth’s surface leading to skin cancers, eye irritation etc in humans.

Note: Some natural sources of harmful air pollutants include the methane which is emitted by the digestion process of food by animals. Some radioactive pollutants are also produced due to the explosion of nuclear explosives and radioactive decays.