Got Dirty Air?
Students take a closer look at air pollution.Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA. All rights reserved.
Students are introduced to the concepts of air pollution and technologies that engineers have developed to reduce air pollution. They develop an understanding of visible air pollutants with an incomplete combustion demonstration, a "smog in a jar" demonstration, construction of simple particulate matter collectors and by exploring engineering roles related to air pollution. Next, students develop awareness and understanding of the daily air quality and trends in air quality using the air quality index (AQI) listed in the newspaper or online. Finally, students build and observe a variety of simple models in order to develop an understanding of how engineers use these technologies to clean up and prevent air pollution.
It is an engineering challenge to find solutions to clean our air, because so many factors contribute to air pollution. Engineers investigate the composition and characteristics of the air in a specific area before they start designing solutions for that region. Some engineering technologies currently used to clean industrial and factory air include: scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators, cyclones and baghouses.
After this lesson, student should be able to:
- Identify some of the main causes and sources of air pollution.
- Explain the affects of air pollution on humans and their environment.
- Identify some ways to reduce air pollution.
- Describe how engineers create technology to help industry clean up air pollution