Research Paper
Motor Vehicle Air Pollution:
Public Health Impact
Introduction:
Air is an important natural resource providing the basis of life on earth. The air in the atmosphere provides oxygen to plants and animals by virtue of which they are able to live. It is therefore important to have good quality air for various activities. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult in view of large scale pollution caused by the industrialization of society, intensification of agriculture, introduction of motorized vehicles and explosion of the population.
Kaifu (2011) outlined the sources of air pollution to be the various locations, activities or factors which are responsible for the release of pollutants into the atmosphere. He defined a pollutant to be any substance (solid, liquid or gas) in the air that can cause harm to humans and the environment. Pollutants may be natural or man-made and can be further classified as primary or secondary. Usually, primary pollutants are directly emitted from processes such as ash from volcanic eruption, monoxide gas from a motor vehicle exhaust or sulphur dioxide released from factories. On the other hand, secondary pollutants are not emitted directly rather, they are formed in the air when primary pollutants react or interact. Besides, some pollutants may be both primary and secondary that is they are both emitted directly and formed from other primary pollutants.
The major contributor of air pollution is the motor vehicles in urban highways. This can be observed every time smoke billows from every car's exhaust pipe. When cars burn gasoline, they emit pollutants. Gasoline fumes escape into the air even when someone pumps gasoline into his or her fuel tanks. Cars rely from the fossil fuels, which constitute most of the cars on the road, are powered by a combustion reaction that produces a black smoke. This black smoke is emitted back into the atmosphere, which can cause detrimental effects sufficiently large numbers. Health
Public Health Impact
Introduction:
Air is an important natural resource providing the basis of life on earth. The air in the atmosphere provides oxygen to plants and animals by virtue of which they are able to live. It is therefore important to have good quality air for various activities. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult in view of large scale pollution caused by the industrialization of society, intensification of agriculture, introduction of motorized vehicles and explosion of the population.
Kaifu (2011) outlined the sources of air pollution to be the various locations, activities or factors which are responsible for the release of pollutants into the atmosphere. He defined a pollutant to be any substance (solid, liquid or gas) in the air that can cause harm to humans and the environment. Pollutants may be natural or man-made and can be further classified as primary or secondary. Usually, primary pollutants are directly emitted from processes such as ash from volcanic eruption, monoxide gas from a motor vehicle exhaust or sulphur dioxide released from factories. On the other hand, secondary pollutants are not emitted directly rather, they are formed in the air when primary pollutants react or interact. Besides, some pollutants may be both primary and secondary that is they are both emitted directly and formed from other primary pollutants.
The major contributor of air pollution is the motor vehicles in urban highways. This can be observed every time smoke billows from every car's exhaust pipe. When cars burn gasoline, they emit pollutants. Gasoline fumes escape into the air even when someone pumps gasoline into his or her fuel tanks. Cars rely from the fossil fuels, which constitute most of the cars on the road, are powered by a combustion reaction that produces a black smoke. This black smoke is emitted back into the atmosphere, which can cause detrimental effects sufficiently large numbers. Health