Air Quality: Seeing The Invisible

Transcription

1 Activity 2.2 Air Quality: Seeing The Invisible DETAILS Type Whole-group, small groups and individual Time 45 minutes PRINTED Materials Handouts (Using Data to See Air Pollution and Plotting Air Quality: Seeing The Invisible) Technology Online access, computer projector or Computer Lab Preparation Copy handouts Activity Dashboard Perfect for Substitute Teachers PowerPoint Handouts Interactive - DVD or Web Learning Reinforcement Learning Extension STANDARDS & Skills Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS) Scientific investigation and reasoning Science (b) (2) (B) Understands patterns, relations and functions using words, tables and graph [NCTM: 3-5 Grade Algebra] LIFE SKILLS Health and environment protection Creating a hypothesis Objectives Explore factors that influence air quality Essential Questions Understand the connection between air quality and human health Practice researching online for data and then graphing data What factors influence air quality? What is the definition of air quality? What are some sources of air pollution? How does air pollution affect health? 37

2 DISCUSSION POINTS AND MORE Go to Have the class click on the interactive Save Smog City 2 from Ozone. Students should manipulate the factors that influence air pollution cloud cover, wind, temperature, energy sources, industry and population. Ask students what they know about asthma. Do they know what aggravates it? Read and discuss Using Data to See Air Pollution handout. Discuss Essential Questions. Tell students they will learn how to track the Ozone Air Quality Index number in Dallas. TEACHER DIRECTIONS 1. Review Seeing The Invisible: Plotting Air Quality Handout with students. 2. Have students choose five consecutive days in August for gathering data. Document the dates in the table on the handout. 4. Have students plot their data points in the graph provided and answer questions. LEARNING extension: Have students pick another city in the U.S. Based on their experience with Smog City 2, have students write a prediction or hypothesis about their new city. Will the new city have more or fewer days than Dallas with the Ozone Air Quality Index over 100? Graph the Ozone AQI for the same 5 consecutive days in August, as for Dallas above. Compare results. Have students answer the following questions: Was your prediction on target? What factors may have influenced the AQI levels in your chosen city compared to Dallas? How can we reduce pollution levels? 3. Have students go to Once on the site, ask students to do the following: Click on the state of Texas on the map. Click on the Dallas-Ft. Worth link in list appearing on the right side of the screen. Scroll down to the box titled Past Air Quality Maps and Data. Click on Yesterday s Maps and Data link. In the area under Select another date to see peak data and maps, click on the calendar or input the chosen date. Factors That Influence Ozone: Sunlight/Cloud cover Wind Temperature Inversions Vehicle exhaust Population Outdoor lawn mower, BBQs, off-road vehicles Manufacturing / Industry Click Get Data. Fill in the handout with the Ozone Air Quality Index number. Repeat process for each date of the five dates being researched. 38

3 HANDOUT Using Data to "See" Air Pollution Everyone wants to breathe clean air. However, human impact from vehicles, industry, machines, factories and other processes cause pollution. Many communities work with businesses and the public to reduce pollution by promoting cleaner manufacturing processes and encouraging less driving. These practices help keep people healthy by reducing lung disease and asthma. Air Pollution How can you study air pollution when it is invisible to your eyes? Sometimes the air is hazy on hot days but is that pollution? Trash, litter and water pollution are more visible than air pollution. Scientists monitor the air and test for pollution levels twenty-four hours a day in most cities. They analyze lots of data gathered from scientific instruments. Data helps them see how much pollution is in the air and the type of pollution present. Air pollution is made up of chemicals, sand, soot, smoke, carbon dioxide, fine particles and OZONE. These elements travel deep in the lungs and cause asthma and health problems especially in kids. Fossil fuels and transportation are two of the biggest contributors to air pollution and ozone. The invention and innovation of new fuels and vehicles are critical for our future. The AQI is a scale from 0 to 500. The higher the number on the scale, the higher the level of pollution in the air. AQI values below 100 are generally thought of as GOOD. When AQI values are above 100, air Air Quality Index Scale quality is considered to be 200 BAD and unhealthy for certain 150 sensitive groups. Everyone is 100 affected by POOR air quality when 50 the index is over 300. Even crops 0 and trees can be damaged. GOOD BAD What to do when the AQI is high: Play outside in the morning when levels are lower. If you do play outside, take it easy. Be sure to tell a teacher or parent if you have difficulty breathing. Air Quality Index The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) records and stores data about air pollution levels in most American cities. The data is found in the Air Quality Index (AQI) on the Environmental Protection Agency website ( The AQI shows the levels of pollution in the air and the related health effects. Reduce Air Pollution! Turn lights off when they are not needed. Use buses and trains instead of cars. Walk and ride bike whenever you can. Go to to see a video showing ways you can help. 39

4 HANDOUT Plotting Air Quality: Seeing The Invisible While there are many kinds of pollution in our air, we will focus on ozone pollution levels in this activity. You will learn how to plot the OZONE Air Quality Index levels in Dallas. two TYPES OF OZONE: One type of ozone is GOOD, and one ozone type is BAD. Good Up High Ozone in the stratosphere, high up, is GOOD. It blocks the sun's damaging ultraviolet rays (UV Rays) from our planet. Bad Nearby Ozone in the troposphere, nearby at ground level, is BAD for health. It damages lung tissue essential for healthy breathing. Why plot data? Data offers scientific numbers that tell a story. Data provides evidence and shows trends to help us understand complex issues. Data also shows changes over time. Plotting ozone and air quality data helps us understand factors influencing air pollution. When you combine scientific data time of year, sunlight, temperature, and population you can make predictions. What might your data in this activity show you? Directions Choose five consecutive August days from the past year. Write the dates in the table below. Go to Click on the state of Texas on the map. Click on the Dallas/Ft. Worth link in list appearing on the right of the screen. Scroll down to the box titled Past Air Quality Maps and Data. Click on Yesterday s Maps and Data link. In the area under Select another date to see peak data and maps, click on the calendar or input the chosen date AIR QUALITY Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX Date Ozone Air Quality Index Click Get Data. Fill in the table below with the Ozone Air Quality Index number. Repeat process for each date being researched. 40

5 Plotting Air Quality: Seeing The Invisible (Continued) OZONE AIR QUALITY INDEX DATA GRAPH TO 500 Dallas, TX UNHEALTHY UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS MODERATE 0-50 GOOD / / / / / / / / / / DATE DATE DATE DATE DATE When and why was the AQI sky-high? What dates did the AQI register above 100? What does it mean if the AQI is over 100? How should we protect ourselves if the AQI is over 100? What are ways we can reduce the pollution and keep the AQI under 100? Poll three classmates. How many days in their graph were over 100? You: days over 100 Ozone AQI Classmate 1: days over 100 Ozone AQI Classmate 2: days over 100 Ozone AQI Classmate 3: days over 100 Ozone AQI 41