Topic: Sources, types and effects of air pollutants

Target group

Elementary school student (grades 7. and 8.)

Core curriculum:

Primary school. Chemistry.

IV. Oxygen, hydrogen and their chemical compounds. Air. Pupil:

10) lists the sources, types and effects of air pollution; lists the ways to protect the air from pollution.

General aim of education

The student lists the sources, types and effects of air pollution

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn;

• mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to characterize the sources, types and effects of air pollution.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Introduction

1. The teacher hands out Methodology Guide or green, yellow and red sheets of paper to the students to be used during the work based on a traffic light technique. He presents the aims of the lesson in the student's language on a multimedia presentation and discusses the criteria of success (aims of the lesson and success criteria can be send to students via e‑mail or posted on Facebook, so that students will be able to manage their portfolio).

2. The teacher together with the students determines the topic – based on the previously presented lesson aims – and then writes it on the interactive whiteboard/blackboard. Students write the topic in the notebook.

3. Health and safety – before starting the experiments, students familiarise themselves with the safety data sheets of the substances that will be used during the lesson. The teacher points out the need to be careful when working with them.

Realization

1. The teacher asks students to read the fragments of „Sources of air pollutants”, „Types of air pollutants” and „The effects of air pollution”. Then the participants of the classes, working in pairs, ask each other about the knowledge of fragments.

2. The teacher asks students to recall how carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are formed. Willing/selected students write reactions equations on the board.

3. Students analyze the infographic „Selected air pollutants and their harmful effects” and interactive illustration „Impact of air pollution on health”. With their own words, they explain how air pollution affects the environment and man.

4. Students solve crossword - exercise 2. The teacher makes sure that the task has been correctly performed and gives feedback.

5. Students perform exercises 3, 4, 5 – they complement the equations of reactions with sulfur, nitrogen and carbon oxides.

6. The teacher plays the abstract recording for all students. Participants listen carefully and give feedback on the difficulty of the text being heard using the traffic light method. Students are provided with green, yellow and red cards. While listening to the recording, they display the appropriate color for self‑assessment and to inform the teacher: green - I'm fine, I understand everything; yellow - I have some doubts; red - I do not understand anything, please help. The teacher responds depending on the needs of the students, deciding to repeat the recording, listen to the recording while following the text or translate the text.

Summary

1. The students, working in groups, prepare a map of the concepts learned during the lesson.

2. The teacher asks a willing student to summarize the lesson from his point of view. He asks other students if they would like to add anything to their colleague's statements.

Homework

1. Carry out an interactive exercise number 1.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Sources, types and effects of air pollutants

Air pollutants include all substances in the form of gases, liquids or solids (dust), which are not the natural components of air or are present in concentrations higher than natural ones.

In the past, the only source of pollution were natural processes, such as volcanic eruptions, forest and steppe fires, atmospheric discharges and decomposition of organic substances. As their result, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, methane, dust and volcanic gases are formed, including carbon dioxide. The natural sources of pollution can also include particles of soils and rocks carried by the wind, pollen and various microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi and others).

The development of motorization and industry has increased the demand for energy produced from raw materials such as oil, natural gas and hard coal. During their combustion, oxides of carbon, sulfur and nitrogen are formed. This type of pollution is therefore anthropogenic (artificial) pollution related to human activity: industry, communication, agriculture, and municipal economy.

Pollutants can be divided due to the states of matter in which they occur in the air.

• Gas compounds, e.g. oxides of carbon (CO and COIndeks dolny 2₂), sulfur (SOIndeks dolny 2₂ and SOIndeks dolny 3₃) and nitrogen oxides, ammonia (NHIndeks dolny 3₃), fluorine, (chain and aromatic) hydrocarbons, as well as their chlorine derivatives, phenols;

• Solid particles inorganic and organic (dust), e.g. volatile ash, soot, cement dust, metallurgical dust, compounds of lead, copper, chromium, cadmium and other heavy metals;

• Microorganisms – viruses, bacteria and fungi, the type or quantity of which deviates from the natural composition of the air microflora;

• Liquid droplets, e.g. droplets of acids, bases, solvents.

Air pollutants negatively affect the natural environment. Their most dangerous effects include acid precipitation, intensification of the greenhouse effect, ozone hole, smog, dust, pollution of soil and water.

Acid precipitation occurs when air polluted with sulfur and nitrogen oxides, combined with water or water vapor in the air, falls with rain or snow onto the ground. This precipitation causes environmental damage, accelerate metal corrosion and devastation of buildings.

The greenhouse effect occurs as a result of accumulation of carbon dioxide and water vapor (as well as: methane, nitrogen oxides, freons and ozone), which retain heat in the atmosphere. Excessive amount of these elements result in global warming, which can lead to melting of glaciers, rising sea and ocean levels, and climate changes.

The impact of air pollution on health

Air pollution can have a significant impact on human health. Elderly people and children are particularly vulnerable.

• Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) – is created in the process of incomplete fuel combustion. This substance is mainly formed as a product of wood burning and waste as well as in the production of coke and steel, and is emitted from vehicle engines.

• Particulate matter (PM) – they are particles floating in the air. PM contaminants include sea salt, „black carbon” type coal, dust and condensed particles of some chemical substances.

• Air pollution has global character. It may originate from natural sources or be the result of human activity.

• Air pollutants include, among others, oxides of carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, dust, freons.

• Unfavorable phenomena caused by atmospheric pollution include: greenhouse effect, ozone hole, acid precipitation and smog.