Merryland International School
Department of Chemistry - Grade 7
Air
The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases.
Even though it is a mixture of gases it is retained in earth itself due to gravity.
The atmosphere protect the life from ultraviolet radiation by reflecting UV
radiation into the space
It warms the surface of earth through greenhouse effect (i.e. heat retention)
Composition of air
% composition of air by volume
1%
21%
Nitrogen
oxygen
78% argon and other gases
The other gases mainly contain argon. Out of 1%, 0.04% is carbon dioxide.
It also contain small amount of other noble gases. In addition to this air
atmosphere also contain water vapour. Its amount will vary from place to
place.1% to 4% of the atmosphere will be water vapour.
Oxygen (It is reactive gas)
It is needed for combustion
It is needed for sustaining life. (Living things can only breathe 21% oxygen. If
they inhale pure oxygen it will be toxic)
Oxygen is used in the breathing apparatus in hospitals and space ships.
It is used in chemical industries to make acids like nitric acid sulfuric acid
and some other compounds.
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Nitrogen (It is an unreactive gas)
If oxygen in the atmosphere was not diluted by nitrogen the combustion and
rusting would have become much quicker.
It is one of raw material for Haber process, (production of ammonia).
Since nitrogen is unreactive it provides an inert atmosphere for food
packaging (to increase shell life) and various chemical processes.
It is also used in the silicon chip production.
Liquid nitrogen is used to freeze food.
Uses of Noble gases
Noble gas uses explanation
Helium Used in balloons and It is much less dense
airships than air, so balloons
filled with it float
upwards
Neon Used in advertising signs It glows when electricity
is passed through it.
Different coloured neon
lights can be made by
coating the inside of the
glass tubing of the lights
with other chemicals.
Argon Used in light bulbs The very thin metal
filament inside the bulb
would react with oxygen
and burn away if the
bulb were filled with air
instead of argon. Argon
stops the filament
burning away because it
is unreactive.
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krypton Used in lasers. Krypton lasers are used
by surgeons to treat
certain eye problems and
to remove birthmarks.
Xenon Light house bulbs It produce light which
can travel long distance.
So marine vehicles can
detect the land from far
away
Radon Cancer treatment It is radioactive
Fractional distillation of liquid air
It is the source of nitrogen
Air is filtered to remove dust, and then cooled in stages until it reaches –200°C.
At this temperature it is a liquid. We say that the air has been liquefied.
Here's what happens as the air liquefies:
• water vapour condenses, and is removed using absorbent filters
• carbon dioxide freezes at –79ºC, and is removed
• oxygen liquefies at –183ºC
• Argon liquefies at –186ºC
• nitrogen liquefies at –196ºC
The liquid nitrogen and oxygen are then separated by fractional distillation.
Fractional distillation
The liquefied air is passed into the bottom of a
fractionating column. Just as in the columns used
to separate oil fractions, the column is warmer at
the bottom than it is at the top.
The liquid nitrogen boils at the bottom of the
column. Gaseous nitrogen rises to the top, where it
is piped off and stored. Liquid oxygen collects at the
bottom of the column. The boiling point of argon -
the noble gas that forms 0.9% of the air - is close to
the boiling point of oxygen, so a second fractionating
column is often used to separate the argon from the
oxygen.
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Air pollution
Various human activities release many other gases into the atmosphere. Most
of these gases are harmful to the living organisms. These are classified as
pollutants
Examples:
Carbon monoxide Oxides of nitrogen methane
Carbon dioxide Lead compounds
Sulfur dioxide Chlorofluorocarbon
Carbon dioxide
Source: Complete combustion of carbon containing fuels.
Respiration of living things.
Harmful effect: Since it is greenhouse gas higher percentage of CO2 will lead
to global warming.
Remedy
Minimize the use of fossil fuels
Go for alternative fuels like H2 which don’t produce CO2 on burning
Control the population
Plant more trees to absorb CO2
Carbon monoxide
Source: Incomplete combustion of carbon containing fuel in the automobile
engine
Harmful effects: If we inhale air containing lower percentage of CO, it cause
headache and dizziness
Inhalation of air containing 0.1% CO will lead to death. (It is a poisonous gas)
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Note:
CO combine with hemoglobin in preference to oxygen and makes
carboxyhemoglobin. Thus oxygen carrying capacity of the blood is spoiled. As a
result respiration of the cells is ceased and it leads to death of the organisms.
Remedy
Modify the automobile engine in such a way that it should produce less CO
Use a catalytic converter in the exhaust system of automobiles
Use alternative fuels like hydrogen which do not contain CO.
Particulate: Unburnt carbon.
Sulfur dioxide
Source: Burning of coal as a fuel in power stations (because coal contain
1%-5% sulfur as an impurity) / Coal burning power stations.
Waste gas from the chemical factories like steel industry, industries which
roast sulfide ore contain sulfur dioxide.
Harmful effect
It cause acid rain, It cause skin allergy, It create breathing difficulties.
Acid Rain
When acidic gases like sulfur dioxide reaches in the atmosphere it is further
oxidised and is converted into sulfur trioxide. During raining it is converted
into sulfuric acid and makes the rain water highly acidic.
SO3 + H2O H2SO4
Remedy
The emission of sulfur dioxide in the waste gas can be reduced by passing
exhaust gas through ammonia or slurry of calcium hydroxide .This is called
desulfurisation, it converts sulfur dioxide into ammonium sulfate and calcium
sulfate respectively.
Desulfurisation: Process by which SO2 present in flue gas is removed by
passing over lime or limestone.
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Oxides of nitrogen
Sources: engines of automobile, in atmosphere during thundering, when air is
heated in the furnace
How do oxides of nitrogen form in automobile engine?
Due to the combustion of fuel, the temperature of automobile engine is very
high.
At this high temperature nitrogen and oxygen in the air react each other and
form oxides of nitrogen.
During thundering, the temperature of the atmosphere increase as happens
during the burning of fuel. At this higher temperature also nitrogen and oxygen
react each other.
N2 +O2 2NO
N2+ 2O2 2NO2
Harmful effects
It cause acid rain (it produce nitric acid when it dissolve in rain water)
It is toxic in nature
If it reaches in stratosphere it can even deplete ozone layer
It cause global warming since it is a greenhouse gas.
Photochemical smog is a brownish-gray haze caused by the action of solar
ultraviolet radiation on atmosphere polluted with hydrocarbons and oxides of
nitrogen.
Remedy
Use a catalytic converter in the exhaust system of automobile engine, there
oxides of nitrogen react with CO in the presence of a catalyst and is converted
into nonpoisonous N2 and CO2 respectively.
Before releasing the factory waste gas into the atmosphere remove all the acidic
oxides with basic substance like slurry of CaO or ammonia
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Chlorofluorocarbons
Sources: CFCs were using as a refrigerant, solvent, propellant in aerosol
containers.
It will not decompose easily. So from troposphere CFCs will reach in upper
atmosphere (stratosphere), where the ozone layer presents.
In the presence of UV light it will produce chlorine free radicals.
This chlorine free radical in turn converts huge number of ozone into oxygen
molecules.
This called depletion of ozone layer.
Ozone layer is a protective layer. Because it reflect the UV radiations of
sunlight into the space. As a result of the depletion of this protective layer, UV
radiation reaches into troposphere.
It cause eye cataract, skin cancer.
Harmful effects:
It is a greenhouse gas. Hence it cause global warming
It depletes the ozone layer. It allows UV radiation to come into troposphere. It
cause skin cancer, eye cataract
Remedy
Go for any alternative chemical which don’t have this side effects
Methane
Source: Natural gas production industries and petroleum industry
Domestic livestock such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and camels
(bacterial actions in the digestive system of these animals produce CH4)
When animals' manure is stored or managed in lagoons or holding tanks CH4
is produced
Methane is generated in landfills as waste decomposes and also produced in
the treatment of wastewater.
Bacteria that decompose organic materials in the absence of oxygen, termites,
and volcanoes are the other natural source of methane.
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Harmful effect: It causes global warming since it is greenhouse gas.
Global warming: A long-term increase in the average temperature of the
Earth’s surface, which may be caused in part by human activities.
Remedies
In industries upgrade the equipment used to produce, store, and transport oil
and gas. Hence it avoid leakage of methane
Alter manure management strategies at livestock operations to capture
methane effectively.
Change animal feeding practices at livestock operations to reduce methane
production
Capture landfill CH4 through an efficient system
Catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is a vehicle emissions control device that converts toxic
pollutants in exhaust gas to less toxic pollutants by catalysing a redox reaction
The catalyst present in the catalytic converter is platinum
If we use leaded petrol catalytic converter will get spoiled, because lead can
poison the catalyst
In catalytic converter oxides of nitrogen react with CO in the presence of a
catalyst and is converted into nonpoisonous N2 and CO2 respectively.
2NO +2CO 2CO2 +N2
2NO2 +4CO 4CO2 +N2