Transcript Slide 1
Carbon monoxide is a by-product of combustion, present whenever fuel is burned without enough air (oxygen). It is produced by common home appliances, such as gas or oil furnaces, gas refrigerators,. gas clothes dryers, gas ranges, gas water heaters or space heaters, fireplaces, charcoal grills, and wood burning stoves Fumes from automobiles and gaspowered lawn mowers may also contain carbon monoxide and can enter a home through walls or doorways if an engine is left running in an attached garage. Other sources include fire places, industrial processes, cigars, smoldering fires, etc. Fortunately the CO combusts if it reaches another part of the combustion zone if the temperature is still high enough and there is sufficient oxygen. Note: With cigars and cigarettes the CO produced is inhaled by the smoker and combines with the smoker's blood to form carboxyhemoglobin. This emoves the CO from second hand smoke . Carbon Monoxide is and odorless, tasteless, and non-irritating,gas making it difficult for people to detect. This gas also known as the Silent Killer. Carbon Monoxide is a dangerous gas that KILLS PEOPLE Once exposed to Carbon Monoxide it seeks into your Lungs with every breath you take making it to a deadly way into the air sacs of your lungs were it binds with haemoglobin (is the iron-containing oxygentransport metalloprotein in the red blood cells). The Red Blood Cells carry oxygen threw your body. The problem is Carbon Monoxide latches on to haemoglobin more quickly than Oxygen(O2) and its starts taking over on the most basic of levels. Your cells are lithely suffocating With in Minutes a person can feel flue symptoms such as: Headaches Sore eyes Runny noise When it attaches at 10 to 15 percent of the bloods haemoglobin you feel:Dizzy Confused Achy At 30 to 40 percent a person feels:Drousy Lethargic And leads to a Coma At 60 to 70 percent Its death According to the CDC 500 people die from accidental Carbon. Monoxide poisoning Nearly 2,000 people make suicide using this gas by inhaling car fumes Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning can happen within a matter of minutes and is responsible for more deaths than any other single poison. This odorless, colorless poison can hurt you slowly in low levels, cause permanent neurological dysfunctions in moderate levels or take lives in higher levels. Protection against this deadly poison is as easy as installing a simple carbon monoxide detector in your home or office. CO emissions produced whenever fuel such as gas, oil, kerosene, wood or charcoal is burned. The amount of CO produced while using fuel-burning appliances is usually not harmful. It becomes hazardous when appliances are used improperly or are not functioning adequately. Carbon monoxide poisoning is a serious threat that people need to get informed about. By educating ourselves on the dangers of CO we can significantly reduce the health risk as well as save lives. Although everyone needs to be aware of the dangers, some people are more susceptible than others. The following are more susceptible to carbon monoxide poisoning. Foetuses Infants Elderly People Those who suffer from anaemia, respiratory or heart disease You Can Prevent Carbon Monoxide Exposure •Do have your heating system, water heater and any other gas, oil, or coal burning appliances serviced by a qualified technician every year. •Do install a battery-operated CO detector in your home and check or replace the battery when you change the time on your clocks each spring and fall. If the detector sounds leave your home immediately and call 911. •Do seek prompt medical attention if you suspect CO poisoning and are feeling dizzy, light-headed, or nauseous. •Don't use a generator, charcoal grill, camp stove, or other gasoline or charcoal-burning device inside your home, basement, or garage or near a window. •Don't run a car or truck inside a garage attached to your house, even if you leave the door open. •Don’t burn anything in a stove or fireplace that isn’t vented. •Don’t heat your house with a gas oven. Precautionary Measures Routinely at the beginning of every heating season home owners should have their fuel burning appliances checked by a qualified technician. Appliances deteriorate with time and can be a health risk to those who live in the home. Besides having your appliances inspected, those using fuel-burning appliances should have their homes equipped with carbon monoxide detectors to provide added peace of mind. Appliances can break down any time of year so it is important to have a back-up system in place to keep you informed when CO levels increase. A CO detector should be placed on every floor in the home to provide the best protection. Also knowing which carbon monoxide detectors to choose and knowing how CO detectors work can help With carbon dioxide, it is important to distinguish between natural and manmade sources. One of the largest sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide is through plant and animal decay as microorganisms break down the dead material, releasing carbon dioxide into the air as part of the process. Other naturally occuring sources include forest fires and volcanoes. Burning fossil fuels is a primary source of greenhouse gases caused by man; as the chemical energy in a hydrocarbonrich fossil fuel is converted into heat, carbon dioxide is produced as a byproduct. Forest clearing - or deforestation - and the burning of solid waste, wood, and wood products are also sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The troposphere is the lower part of the atmosphere, of about 10-15 kilometres thick. Within the troposphere there are gasses called greenhouse gasses. When sunlight reaches the earth, some of it is converted to heat. Greenhouse gasses absorb some of the heat and trap it near the earth's surface, so that the earth is warmed up. This process, commonly known as the greenhouse effect, has been discovered many years ago and was later confirmed by means of laboratory experiments and atmospheric measurements. Life as we know it exists only because of this natural greenhouse effect, because this process regulates the earth's temperature. When the greenhouse effect would not exist, the whole earth would be covered in ice. The amount of heat trapped in the troposphere determines the temperature on earth. The amount of heat in the troposphere depends on concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gasses and the amount of time these gasses remain in the atmosphere. The most important greenhouse gasses are carbon dioxide, CFC's (Chlor-Fluoro-Carbons), nitrogen oxides and methane. Since the industrial revolution in 1850 began, human processes have been causing emissions of greenhouse gasses, such as CFC's and carbon dioxide. This has caused an environmental problem: the amounts of greenhouse gasses grew so extensively, that the earth's climate is changing because the temperatures are rising. This unnatural addition to the greenhouse effect is known as global warming. It is suspected that global warming may cause increases in storm activity, Melting of ice caps on the poles, which will cause flooding of the inhabited continents, and other environmental problems Together with hydrogen, carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas. However, hydrogen is not emitted during industrial processes. Humans do not contribute to the hydrogen amount in the air, this is only changing naturally during the hydrological cycle, and as a result it is not a cause of global warming. Increasing carbon dioxide emissions cause about 50-60% of the global warming. Carbon dioxide emissions have risen from 280 ppm in 1850 to 364 ppm in the 1990s. In the previous paragraph various human activities that contribute to the emission of carbon dioxide gas have been mentioned. Of these activities fossil fuel combustion for energy generation causes about 70-75% of the carbon dioxide emissions, being the main source of carbon dioxide emissions. The remaining 2025% of the emissions are caused by land clearing and burning and by emission from motor vehicle exhausts. Most carbon dioxide emissions derive from industrial processes in developed countries, such as in the United States and in Europe. However, carbon dioxide emissions from developing countries are rising. In this century, carbon dioxide emissions are expected to double and they are expected to continue to rise and cause problems after that. Carbon dioxide remains in the troposphere about fifty up to two hundred years. The first person who predicted that emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels and other burning processes would cause global warming was Svante Arrhenius, who published the paper "On the influence of carbonic acid in the air upon the temperature of the ground" in 1896. In the beginning of the 1930 it was confirmed that atmospheric carbon dioxide was actually increasing. In the late 1950s when highly accurate measurement techniques were developed, even more confirmation was found. By the 1990s, the global warming theory was widely accepted, although not by everyone. Whether global warming is truly caused by increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is still debated. Rising carbon dioxide concentrations in air in the past decades Carbon dioxide is essential for internal respiration in a human body. Internal respiration is a process, by which oxygen is transported to body tissues and carbon dioxide is carried away from them. Carbon dioxide is a guardian of the pH of the blood, which is essential for survival. The buffer system in which carbon dioxide plays an important role is called the carbonate buffer. It is made up of bicarbonate ions and dissolved carbon dioxide, with carbonic acid. The carbonic acid can neutralize hydroxide ions, which would increase the pH of the blood when added. The bicarbonate ion can neutralize hydrogen ions, which would cause a decrease in the pH of the blood when added. Both increasing and decreasing pH is life threatening. Apart from being an essential buffer in the human system, carbon dioxide is also known to cause health effects when the concentrations exceed a certain limit. Asphyxiation:- Caused by the release of carbon dioxide in a confined or unventilated area. This can lower the concentration of oxygen to a level that is immediately dangerous for human health Frostbite. Solid carbon dioxide is always below -78 oC at regular atmospheric pressure, regardless of the air temperature. Handling this material for more than a second or two without proper protection can cause serious blisters, and other unwanted effects. Carbon dioxide gas released from a steel cylinder, such as a fire extinguisher, causes similar effects Kidney damage or coma. This is caused by a disturbance in chemical equilibrium of the carbonate buffer. When carbon dioxide concentrations increase or decrease, causing the equilibrium to be disturbed, a life threatening situation may occur Carbon dioxide is a gas which harms humans and animals although it makes plants survive since they use it for photosynthesis. First of all Carbon Dioxide is created by burning fuels and also mammals breathing out. To prevent it from increasing: We have to use as much less electricity as much as we can We can plant more trees to decrease it. Storing carbon dioxide below ground may prevent polluting above - A new analysis led by an MIT scientist describes a mechanism for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from a power plant and injecting the gas into the ground, where it would be trapped naturally as tiny bubbles and safely stored in briny porous rock. This means that it may be possible for a power plant to be built in an appropriate location and have all its carbon dioxide emissions captured and injected underground throughout the life of the power plant, and then safely stored over centuries and even millennia. The carbon dioxide eventually will dissolve in the brine and a fraction will adhere to the rock in the form of minerals such as iron and magnesium carbonates.