Ozone (Good and Bad)

Go to: http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/gooduphigh/ Click on: Good Up High Answer the following questions in your own words: (On separate piece of paper) 1: How can ozone be both good and bad? It is consider good when it is in the stratosphere because it helps protect Earth from UV radiation. It becomes bad when it is in the troposphere because it is an air pollutant that is harmful to breathe and causes other damages. 2: What is happening to the good ozone layer? Man-made chemicals also known as ozone-depleting substances (ODS) are being released into the troposphere, which destroys the good ozone layer. 3: How much damage can 1 Chlorine atom do? Explain. 100,000 good ozone molecules will be damaged by one chlorine atom. The ODS would move from the troposphere to the stratosphere, then gets broken down by the UV rays, and releasing chlorine and bromine molecules. 4: How does the good ozone protect the Earth? It protect the Earth by reflecting back the UV radiations that is from the sun. 5: What is being done about ozone depletion? Montreal Protocol; EPA regulates ozone-depleting chemicals in the United States; United States and other countries stopped producing ozone-depleting substances. Click on: Bad Nearby 1: What causes bad ozone? Through chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of sunlight. 2: What are some sources of bad ozone? Industrial facilities, electric utilizes, motor vehicle exhaust, gasoline vapors, and chemical solvents 3: How does bad ozone affect human health and environment? Human health: Chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, congestion, asthma, reduce lung function Environment: damage vegetation and ecosystem; reduce agricultural crop and commercial forest yields; reduced growth and survivability of tree seedlings; increased susceptibility to diseases 4: What is being done about bad ozone? Clean Air Act 5: What can we do/actions can we take to reduce our risks? Reduce harmful emissions by doing things like carpooling

Ozone- Air Now Go to: www.epa.gov/airnow/ In the far right corner- choose Ozone- found under Air Quality Basics. Read about good and bad ozone and answer the following questions. 1: Where is the good ozone located and what is its function? In Earths upper atmosphere (6-30 miles above the Earths surface) 2: What depletes good ozone? Manmade chemicals 3: Where is the bad ozone located and what creates it? What does NOX and VOC stand for? In Earths lower atmosphere near ground level. It is created by pollutant emitted from cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources. NOX= nitrogen VOC= volatile organic compounds 4: List three health problems associated with bad ozone. (Hint: You may need to go to ozone and your healthHow can ground-level ozone affect your health?) Chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, congestion, asthma, reduce lung function 5: Scroll down to the Air Quality Index Color Chart- Write down a one-word descriptor of each color code. Green: Good Yellow: Moderate Orange: Unhealthy for sensitive groups Red: Unhealthy Purple: Very unhealthy

6: After answering this question, go back to Air Now at: www.epa.gov/airnow/ In the far left corner, choose National Overview and then choose Ozone Now. What is the current ozone reading for our area? Yellow (moderate) The AQI for Students Go to: How Ozone is Formed- Watch the video and take notes. NOx and VOCs combined in the presences of sunlight to form ozone o Produced from factories and power plants, vehicles Go to: O3- Good Up High, Bad Nearby- Watch the video and take notes. When it is in the upper atmosphere, it protects the Earth But when it is at ground level, then it affects your health and the environment in a negative way Human-made pollutant causes ground-level ozone (in troposphere) o Causes chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, congestion o Damages crops, trees and other vegetation Ozone depletion increases amount of UV radiation

Smog City 2- Save the Smog City from Ozone Go to: www.smogcity2.org Instructions: Change the settings in Smog City and notice the effects that those changes have on the Take notes about what the various condition changes do to the AQI. Which set of conditions produce the best possible scenario for the city? Which set of conditions produce the worst scenario for the people, animals and plants of Smog City? Summary: On your paper, write a 2-3 paragraph summary about what you have learned about ozone, ozone depletion, ozone destruction and air quality by completing this assignment. Make sure to use the new vocabulary that you have learned. Ozone is created from the nitrogen oxides combined with volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight. When it is in the upper atmosphere near the stratosphere, then it is good for the environment because it reflects back UV radiation, which protects people from getting sun burned and other health issues. But now the ozone layer that is supposed to be good is depleting due to man-made pollutants. There have been laws that are being set to reduce ozone depletion such as the Montreal Protocol. When ozone is in the troposphere, it can cause many health and environment issues. It can cause people to have lung irritation and other problems that involves the lungs. It can also cause damages to vegetation and ecosystems. Ozone does not naturally occur in the troposphere but due to factories, vehicles and other sources emitting VOCs into the environment, it caused ozone to be in the troposphere.