Air Pollutants And Air Pollution

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Air pollution results from high concentrations of chemicals and particulate matter that pose a threat to human health, ecosystems, and manmade materials. Pollutants can be solid particles, liquids, or gases and are produced by human sources along with natural sources. Pollution from natural sources tend to become diluted and dispersed without causing major harm, whereas pollutants resulting from human sources tend to be more localized and a more serious problem. Scientists categorize air contaminants into two main categories: primary pollutants that directly enter the atmosphere and secondary pollutants formed between primary air pollutants and natural air components. Recent studies have been done in an effort to identify “the contributions of secondary pollutants formed by gas phase or surface chemistry to the levels and types of air pollutants that accumulate indoors (S).” It has been hypothesized that indoor air quality is two to five times worse than outdoor pollution due to the fact that buildings are enclosed, and therefore retain the particles inside with less chance to di...

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