What Are the Sources of Air Pollutants?

Student Worksheet:
What are the sources of Air Pollutants?

Name: ______Group: ______

What are the sources of Air Pollutants?

Part 1: Types of Air Pollutants

Review the information in the Major Air Pollutants table and the EPA’s Six Common Air Pollutants web site and/or in addition to your answers from the previous lesson (What is your Air Quality?) to answer the following questions:

1. List three examples of source.

Source Type / Examples
Power Plants / 1.
2.
3.
Factories / 1.
2.
3.
Road Vehicles / 1.
2.
3.
Off-road Vehicles / 1.
2.
3.
Miscellaneous / 1.
2.
3.

2. Do you think any of these sources cause problems with your local air quality? Explain.

Part 2: Pollution Sources

1. Select your state from the map to view the corresponding air pollution data (NOTE: it may take a moment to load the first time you click).

2. Click through the site and look up the amount of various pollutants in your state to complete the table and answer the following questions (move your mouse over the colored column to view the corresponding percentage):

Source
Type / POLLUTANTS
CO
(%) / NOx
(%) / PM 10
(%) / PM 2.5
(%) / SO2
(%) / VOC
(%)
Power Plants:
Fuel Burning:
Factories:
Road Vehicles:
Off-Road Vehicles:
Miscellaneous:
Totals:

3. With a Red marker, circle the pollutant that has the highest percentage in each Source Type category (Power Plants, Fuel Burning, Factories, Road Vehicles, Off-Road Vehicles, and Miscellaneous).

4. With a Blue marker, circle the source percentage that emitted the highest amount of CO. Circle the source that emitted the highest percentage amount for the rest of the pollutants.

Assessment:

As a class or individually, answer the following questions:

Part A

1. Which pollutant has the highest emission percentage of all the pollutants from all the categories listed in the table?

2. What is the main source of that pollutant?

3. Using the table Specific Source Type Examples located at the end of this worksheet (Appendix A), what specific source type or types contributes the most pollutant in your area, and WHY?

§ For example, in Nebraska 97% of the pollutant PM 10 comes from the miscellaneous source type category because there is a lot of farming, and farming by planting, fertilizing, tilling and harvesting emits a lot particulates.

4. Do you think it would be difficult or easy to limit the amount of pollution coming from the source? Explain.

Part B

Answer the following questions. You may need to refer to the resources and answers from Part 1 of this activity.

1. Does the pollutant contribute to acid rain?

2. Do you think acid rain might be a problem in your area? Explain.

3. Does the pollutant contribute to poor visibility?

4. Do you think poor visibility might be a problem in your area? Explain.

5. Is the pollutant known to aggravate asthma?

6. Do you think asthma triggered by pollution might be a problem in your area? Explain.

7. Can you think of ways to reduce the amount of the air pollutant released?

8. Review the table again. Of the sources listed, are there any that you might have some control over?

9. Do you think you could help limit the amount of pollutants emitted from the source? How would you do this?

Appendix A: Specific Source Type Examples

Power Plants:

· electricity generating plants (turbines)

Fuel Burning:

· boilers or industrial furnaces

· burning oil, coal, gasoline

· fireplaces, woodstoves

· residential furnaces

Factories:

· food or agricultural processing

· chemical manufacturing

· petroleum refining

· metal, wood, pain, plastics, paper production

Road Vehicles:

· passenger vehicles (all sizes)

· large and medium trucks

· motorcycles

Off-Road Vehicles:

· airplanes

· trains

· power boats

· bulldozers

· tractors

· harvesters

· forklifts

· snowmobiles

· jet skis

· lawnmowers, leaf blowers, snow blowers

Miscellaneous:

· farming (planting, fertilizing, tilling, harvesting, burning)

· forest fires

· repair shop

· hospitals