Acid RainAir PollutionChernobyl

Sulfur and nitrogen which are found in acid rain eat holes in the surfaces of statues and buildings

 

Sandstone figure over the portal of a castle in Westphalia, Germany, photographed in 1908 (left) and again in 1968 (right). Acid rain produced by air pollution generated in the heavily industrialized Ruhr region of Germany probably accounts for the severe damage. The castle was built in 1702. (Photos courtesy of Herr Schmidt-Thomsen.)

 

In the past 30 years acid rain has killed more than half of the Black Forest in Germany

Forest trees damaged by acid rain in Germany.

Which branch has been exposed to acid rain?

Pollutes the rivers and kills the wildlife

Main cause is smoke from factories and power plants

Air current bring chemical-filled air from other countries to Germany

Emissions from cars and buses add to the problem

Europe's Worst Pollution Pocket Found Above Western Germany

 Home to Germany's steel and coal industries, the area between Amsterdam and Frankfurt is the most polluted in Europe, scientists said.

Use the map on page 281 to finish these notes.

Northwestern Germany, and northern Italy have such high levels of pollution because . . .

London, Paris, Moscow, and Madrid have high levels of pollution because . . .

London is notorious for air pollution called smog which is caused by sunlight acting on the gases from cars and factory exhausts.

London is notorious for air pollution called smog which is caused by sunlight acting on the gases from cars and factory exhausts.

The Great Smog of 1952 lasted for 4 days and killed thousands of people.

This event made people around the world realize they needed to work on the problem of air pollution.

Today the British government has regulations for industries and regularly checks air quality.

The use of cleaner forms of energy and cars with less harmful emissions has helped the air quality

Disaster at Chernobyl

Location of the Nuclear Power Plant

April 26, 1986- Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in then Soviet Union (Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic), now Ukraine

Worst nuclear power plant disaster in history

A reactor exploded that caused other reactors to explode, fires, and a plume of highly radioactive fallout

400 times more than the fallout of the Hiroshima atomic bomb

Chernobyl nuclear reactor after the disaster. Reactor 4 (image centre). Turbine building (image lower left). Reactor 3 (centre right)

Lumps of graphite moderator ejected from the core. The largest lump shows an intact control rod channel.

The plume drifted over extensive parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Northern Europe

Light nuclear rain falling as far as Ireland Large areas in Ukraine, Belarus, and

Russia were badly contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people

Land was poisoned with radiation

Drinking water was unsafe for months

Animals died Forests turned brown and

died 30 mile radius of the

power station was abandoned and became a ghost town

Evacuation of Pripyat

The abandoned city of Pripyat with Chernobyl in the distance .

Lava flows formed by fuel-containing mass in the basement of the plant. Lava flow (1). Concrete (2). Steam pipe (3). Electrical

equipment (4)

Radio-operated bulldozers being tested prior to use

The Sarcophagus, the concrete block surrounding reactor #4

Map of radiation levels in 1996 around Chernobyl.