Air Quality and Particulate Matter
Figure 1. Air Quality Index (AQI) ChartCopyright https://climatekids.nasa.gov/air-pollution/
This activity introduces students to the relationship between air quality and wind. Students work together to learn about the color-coded Air Quality Index (AQI) chart that describes levels of air pollution for a primary transportation-sourced air pollutant—particulate matter (PM)— and what to do during high pollution days. Student teams design and build a PM Catcher, a prototype for collecting wind-blown PM 10 particles outdoors. Over a week, student teams will record the daily PM levels using AirNow.gov at their school location (or nearest town or city). Concurrently, student teams will leave their PM Catchers in the same vicinity to collect any wind-blown PM 10 particles. The class will then review the PM AQI data and observe their PM Catchers and count the number of PM 10 particles attached to the surface. Ways to stay safe on high air pollution days are also presented.
Clean air is essential for everyone and the environment. Air quality engineers are one type of environmental engineer, and they help to monitor, control, and most importantly, reduce air pollution to help improve public health. Like other engineers, air quality engineers perform a variety of tasks as part of their job including:
- Modeling and understanding pollution and its sources
- Monitoring emissions and compliance with applicable regulations
- Designing and implementing air quality improvement solutions
Air quality engineers have natural sciences knowledge and expertise, such as chemistry, biology, physics, and mathematics, to inform their decision-making processes.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Recall that particulate matter (PM) affects air quality and health.
- Design-build-test a prototype to collect wind-blown particulate matter.
- Record the Air Quality Index (AQI) PM levels for healthy and unhealthy air from AirNow.gov.
- Observe the PM Catcher for any wind-blown PM 10 particles on it.