21st Century Natural Museum

Author: Zhou Chuanlin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-01
Features: Air is a crucial factor in sustaining human life. Polluted air poses significant harm to the human body, often causing diseases such as emphysema, asthma, bronchitis, and lung cancer. The air pollution people refer to today is primarily caused by human production and daily life. Therefore, reducing pollution and purifying the air, "giving back the blue sky and red sun," has become a common aspiration of people worldwide.
Interesting Facts: On the midnight of December 3, 1984, a toxic methyl isocyanate gas escaped from a 45-ton pesticide storage tank that burst at a chemical factory in Bhopal, India. Within a week, this incident evolved into the most severe industrial disaster in history. Approximately 2,500 people died, and about 200,000 were injured or fell ill, most suffering from lung diseases, kidney diseases, liver diseases, or eye conditions.
Air Pollution Index: The Air Pollution Index (API) is an indicator that quantitatively and objectively evaluates the quality of the air environment. It is obtained by comprehensively converting the monitoring data of several major air pollutants according to certain classification standards, resulting in a dimensionless relative number.
Automotive Exhaust Pollution: The main pollutants in automotive exhaust are carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and alkyl lead. Alkyl lead is highly toxic and primarily enters the human body through the respiratory and digestive systems, accumulating in the liver, stomach, bones, spleen, and brain, causing toxic effects on the blood, nervous system, and digestive system.
The Harm of Acid Rain: Acid rain is formed when sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and other substances combine with atmospheric water vapor to fall as rain. Acid rain is highly destructive. Crops affected by acid rain may see a decline in yield, even resulting in complete failure. Forest trees exposed to acid rain may wither and die.
The Harm of Lead: Lead is a pollutant emitted by trains that burn fuel. If the lead content exceeds the allowable level of atmospheric pollution, it can cause chronic poisoning in humans. At high levels, it may even lead to severe acute poisoning symptoms.
The Harm of Chlorine: Chlorine enters the atmosphere in the form of chlorine gas during the production of certain chloroform-containing products, such as plastics, or when waste is burned at waste treatment plants, or when chloroform-based insecticides are used. These can cause human poisoning, primarily through the respiratory system and skin mucosal infection.
Eliminating Smoke and Dust: Smoke from factory chimneys, which contains pollutants such as dust and sulfur dioxide, is purified through specific devices, allowing sulfur dioxide and dust to be removed and separated from the smoke. The purified gas is then expelled through the chimney.
Using Clean Energy: To protect the atmospheric environment and prevent air pollution, the energy used in the 21st century should primarily consist of clean energy such as natural gas, nuclear energy, solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, tidal energy, ocean energy, and bioenergy (biogas).
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