Air Pollution Awareness Demonstration
This demonstration is dedicated to raising your students' awareness of the air pollution created by their everyday activities. It costs almost nothing, yet really gets the point across in a dramatic way and prepares elementary through high school students for further studies in air pollution.
NGSS Standards:
| Science and Engineering Practices | Disciplinary Core Ideas | Crosscutting Concepts |
| Practice 1: Asking Questions and Defining problems • Upon completion of the activity, students will evaluate the impact that their personal actions and daily activities have on the amount of pollutants released into the air, helping to define the problem of air pollution. |
DCI: ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems • Students will visually assess how specific, personal behaviors impact air quality. |
Concept: Patterns • Observe patterns of events that guide organization and classification, and prompt questions about relationships and factors that influence them. |
Background
Each of your students begins the demonstration with a cup of clean water
representing unpolluted air. During the demonstration, you'll read them 6
everyday activities from the Air Pollution Awareness Sheet. Each of the activities generates one or more of
the pollutants listed below. When your students recognize an activity that
they have participated in, they add a drop of food coloring to their cups to
represent the pollutant or pollutants created by that activity. At the end
of the demonstration, their cups of colored water provide a striking visual
reminder of each student's contribution to air pollution.
Familiarize yourself with the pollutants in the list below so that you can
explain them to your students during the demonstration.
Particulate matter (PM10)—Particulate matter
consists of airborne solids less than 10 micrometers in diameter. These tiny
particles are easily inhaled into the lungs, where they can cause damage to
lung tissue. Diesel fumes from busses and trucks are a source of airborne
particulate matter.
Sulfur dioxide (SO2)— Sulfur dioxide is a toxic gas with a
pungent odor. Electric power plants fueled by coal or oil are the primary
source of sulfur dioxide pollution. Sulfur dioxide emissions can cause
sulfur dioxide.
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)— Nitrogen dioxide is a toxic, reddish
brown gas byproduct of the combustion of fossil fuels (e.g., coal, diesel
fuel, and gasoline). Nitrogen dioxide can irritate airways and increase
susceptibility to respiratory diseases. It is also a factor in the formation
of acid rain. Learn more about nitrogen dioxide.
Carbon monoxide (CO)— Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless toxic gas.
Motor vehicles are the primary source of carbon monoxide pollution. CO is
highly toxic. At low concentrations it causes drowsiness and headache; it is
carbon monoxide.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)— Volatile organic
compounds are toxic gases made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and other atoms
that form gases easily. They are found in nature as well as in glue, paint,
gasoline, tobacco smoke, and clothes that have been dry-cleaned. VOCs form
ground level ozone, a main component of smog.
Materials
- Clear, plastic, 7-oz cups (one per student)
- Red, green, yellow, and blue food coloring (one set of colors per work group)
- Water
Procedure (Teacher)
- Divide your class into work groups of 3–4 students each.
- Give each student a clear plastic cup that is ¾ full of clean water.
- Give each work group a set of red, green, yellow, and blue food coloring.
- Discuss the list of air pollutants with your students, including as much technical detail as is appropriate to their grade level. Write the names and abbreviations of the pollutants on the board so that your students can refer to them during the demonstration, or distribute photocopies of the list to each work group.
- Read the Air Awareness Sheet to your students. They will complete the demonstration as you read from the sheet.