Pollution WebQuest

Introduction:

Pollution may be defined as the introduction of impurities into an ecosystem that causes undesirable changes. Do you produce pollution? Does pollution produced by others affect your daily life? Does pollution cost you any money?

One of the "laws" of ecology says that "everything must go somewhere". No technology exists that causes trash to disappear when we flush it or throw it away. It may be out of sight, but it went "somewhere".


The major sources of environmental impurities are domestic, agricultural, and industrial. Each of these produces a variety of different pollutants. Some pollutants are biodegradable, subject to decay by microorganisms. These pollutants are usually considered a "short-term" problem because they are eventually "recycled" by nature. Other pollutants are nonbiodegradable, cannot be decomposed by microorganisms. These pollutants are a "long-term" problem, remaining in the environment essentially forever.

Task 1: Air Pollution

Air pollution is a broad term applied to all physical (particulate matter), chemical, and biological agents that modify the natural characteristics of the atmosphere.

Air Pollutants are classified as either Primary or Secondary. A Primary air pollutant is one that is emitted directly to the air from a given source. Carbon monoxide is an example of a primary air pollutant because it is produced as a byproduct of combustion.

A Secondary air pollutant is formed in the atmosphere through chemical reactions involving primary air pollutants. The formation of ozone in photochemical smog is an example of a secondary air pollutant.

The atmosphere is a complex, dynamic and fragile system. Concern is growing about the effects of air pollutant emissions in a global context, and the inter-linkage of these emissions with global warming, climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion.

This task provides information about the causes and effects of air pollution.
Use this air pollution webpage to answer the following questions.

1.  Worldwide, how many people are estimated to die each year due to air pollution?

2.  In what country and year did the worst short-term civilian air pollution event occur?

3.  How many casualties occurred in the worst single incident of air pollution to occur in the U.S.?

4.  What name is used to indicate all sources of pollution caused by "human activity"?

5.  All contaminants of the air can be divided into two groups. What are they?

6.  What do the letters TSP stand for?

7.  Both the PM10 and PM2.5 units refer to what characteristic of atmospheric particles?

8.  What group of air pollutant gases destroys the stratospheric ozone layer?

9.  What group of air pollutant gases causes acid rain?

10. Two pollutants sometimes found in shower water mist are damaging to inhale. What are they?

11. How many lung cancer deaths are estimated annually in the U.S. by second-hand tobacco smoke?

12. How do pets contribute to indoor air pollution?

Task 3: Radioactive Contamination

Radioactive contamination is the uncontrolled distribution of radioactive material in a given environment. Radioactivity is produced by "high energy" particles and waves. These high energy substances can harm tissue and are dangerous to all living things. Even exposure to low levels of radiation is harmful over a period of time. Disposal of radioactive waste products poses a major environmental problem because they remain radioactive for a very long period of time.

This task introduces nuclear pollution and its special environmental dangers. Use this radioactive contamination webpage to answer the following questions.

1.  How does radioactive contamination typically occur?

2.  What is nuclear fallout?

3.  What are the SI units for surface radioactivity?

4.  All living things on earth contain significant quantities of what two radioactive isotopes?

5.  What body organ is most likely harmed by exposure to radioactive iodine?

6.  What are the four ways radioactive contamination can enter the body?
Use this Radiation webpage to answer the next two questions.

7.  Given alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and epsilon radiation - which of these is NOT composed of some type of particle?

8.  What causes gravitational radiation?
Use this Nuclear Power Plant webpage to answer the next five questions.

9.  What country had the world's first nuclear power plant that generated electricity for commercial use?

10. On what date did the power plant above become operational?

11. What was the cost of the first commercial nuclear generator in the US?

12. Fission reactors generate heat by nuclear fission of isotopes of what two elements?

13. Two types of light water thermal reactors are BWR and PWR. What do these letters stand for?
The worst commercial nuclear accident in US history occurred at the Three Mile Island power plant, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Use this Three Mile Island webpage to answer the next ten questions.

14. At what time and on what date did the first malfunction occur?

15. A Pressure Operated Relief Valve, or PORV, would have probably stopped the events leading to the accident. Why didn't the reactor have a PORV?

16. What happened at Three Mile Island is classified as a LOCA. What do those letters mean?

17. The emergency feed water system was tested 42 hours prior to the accident. What happened during this test that made the accident much worse?

18. How long after the first malfunction were the primary cooling loop pumps shut down because they began to shudder?

19. How long after the first malfunction was the top of the reactor core exposed?

20. How long after the first malfunction were radiation alarms activated?

21. How many hours into the accident did the hydrogen in the reactor building ignite and burn?

22. How many hours into the accident was the primary loop pumps turned back on, causing the core temperature to begin to fall?

23. How many "curies" of radioactive noble gases are estimated to have been released by the accident?
The worst commercial nuclear accident in WORLD history occurred at the Chernobyl power plant, in Ukraine, Soviet Union. Use this Chernobyl webpage to answer the next 13 questions.

24. At what time and on what date did the first steam explosion occur?

25. There are two conflicting official theories about the cause of the accident. Who or what does each theory blame?

26. How many Gigawatts (GW) of electricity was the normal capacity for the Chernobyl-4 reactor?

27. Plant operators conducted an experiment involving shutting down the reactor. At exactly what time did the experiment begin?

28. At exactly what time did operators press the AZ-5 button, ordering a complete "scram" of the reactor?

29. What does "scram" mean?

30. The control rods stuck after being inserted about one-third of the way, and were unable to stop the reaction. The reactor jumped to ten times the normal operational output by what time?

31. Reactor heat at ten times operational output caused fuel rods to begin to melt. How many seconds after this did the first explosion occur?

32. After the steam explosion burst the primary pressure vessel, the inrush of oxygen sparked what type of fire?

33. Exposure to 500 Roentgens of radiation over 5 hours is considered a lethal dose. After the accident, some areas of the power plant were exposed to what level of radiation in 1 hour?

34. Most of the reactor crew died from radiation exposure within how many weeks following the accident?

35. At what time was the fire extinguished?

36. How were workers at the Forsmark nuclear power plant in Sweden (1100 km from Chernobyl) involved in making the world aware of the Chernobyl accident?

Task 4: Noise Pollution

Noise pollution is unwanted man-made sound that penetrates the environment. Noise pollution can be caused by many sources including highways, vehicles, police cars, ambulances, factories, concerts, music, air-conditioners, engines, machine, aircraft, helicopters, alarms, public address systems, industrial development and construction work. In general, noise pollution refers to any noise irritating to one's ear which comes from an external source. The word "noise" comes from the Latin word "nausea" meaning seasickness.

This task shows how sound can become noise pollution. Use this noise pollution webpage to answer the following questions.

1.  How does military SONAR kill marine mammals?

2.  What is infrasonic sound?

3.  What type of noise pollution escalated rapidly in the late 1990s?

4.  What "urban legend" is mentioned in the reading?

5.  What authorities are usually responsible for protecting against noise?

6.  What two US cities have a law allowing impounding of cars with loud stereos?

7.  What percentage of people bothered by noise will file an official complaint?