Environmental Information

Air Pollution Problems Facing Cities

In many of today’s modern cities, the main environmental health hazard to the population is exposure to air pollution.

The three main air pollutants are:

1. Suspended Particles – made up of soot, smoke, dust and liquid droplets.

2. Associated health hazard: particles and soot exposure over a long period of time is related to a wide range of chronic respiratory illness such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases as well as worsening heart conditions and other conditions.

3. Sulfur Dioxide – produce by the combustion of fossil fuels, on the whole, motor vehicles and small and varied sources (such as boilers and stoves) contributing the most.

4. Associated health hazard: causes acid rain and can be extremely detrimental to the health of the young and elderly.

5. Nitrogen Dioxide – caused by fuel combustion, aerobic decomposition and nitrogenous fertilizers.
Associated health hazard: causes acid rain and can damage lung tissue by forming into acid in the presence of water
Associated with the considerable but temporary spikes of air pollution related deaths is Winter smog which is made up of mainly of dust, soot and sulfur dioxide. A good example of a severe case of Winter smog which was related to a large number of deaths of the London Smog of December 1952 which was thought to be responsible for up to 4000 deaths.

What is Ozone?

The ancient Hebrew meaning is the breath of god. Webster defines it as:

1. Oxygen with a sharp, clean smell, produced by an electrical discharge in the atmosphere.
2. Pure air.

It is created naturally during thunder and lightning storms with concentration levels triple the allowable limit, as set by the EPA. It is created electronically or through ultraviolet light by converting molecules of oxygen into three molecules. Its also referred to as activated oxygen, allotropic oxygen or triatomic oxygen.
Being an unstable gas, its life is about 20 minutes, depending on the temperature. After completing its job, it reverts back to oxygen.

Ozone occurs naturally in the environment. In nature oxygen is released from plants and sea plankton during photosynthesis. Oxygen floats upward into the atmosphere and in turn is converted into activated oxygen by ultraviolet radiation. When you look up at the sky, the ozone layer is what makes it blue. It blocks out the harmful UV rays that cause skin cancer.

The production of allotropic oxygen is dependent on the amount of the suns energy. This explains the hole in the ozone layer over the poles in the winter months when there is a lack of sunshine.
Ozone has a distinctive smell that has been used to purify water since 1893. It can also be used in air conditioning for sanitation and to deodorize along with many medical applications. The first time ozone was used in food preservation was in the early 1900 in a Cologne meat packing house.

Ozone Machine Benefits
Purifies Air, Foods and Water, Environmentally Friendly, Oxidizes Obnoxious Odors, Reduce Indoor Air Pollutants, Eliminates Ethylene Off Gas, Reduces Formaldehyde Levels, Kills Bacteria, Fungus, Mold, Mildew and Viruses, Reduce Harmful Chemicals on Foods, Prevents Bacterial and Odor Cross Contamination, Kills Bacterial Slime On Refrigeration Coils and Drain Pans