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Smog towers and antismog guns(The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3:Environment
Prelims level: Smog towers
Mains level: Uses of Smog towers to curb smog

Context:

The Supreme court has recently approved deployment of Smogtowers and Anti-Smog guns to fight air pollution. In thiscontext, let us understand Smog and the functioning of theseinstruments.

The condition of air pollution in India:

According to WHO Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution,Delhi is the most polluted of any major city in the world. Italso affects the districts around Delhi.
Air pollution in India is estimated to kill about 2.5 millionpeople every year; it is the fifth largest killer in India.
India has the world's highest death rate from chronicrespiratory diseases and asthma, according to the WHO. InDelhi, poor quality air irreversibly damages the lungs of 2.2million or 50 percent of all children.
In this context, Supreme court has allowed the trial ofSmog towers and anti-smog guns.

What is smog?

Smog is basically derived from the merging of two words;smoke and fog. Smog is also used to describe the type offog which has smoke or soot in it.
Smog is a yellowish or blackish fog formed mainly by amixture of pollutants in the atmosphere which consists offine particles and ground-level ozone. Smog which occursmainly because of air pollution can also be defined as amixture of various gases with dust and water vapor. Smogalso refers to hazy air that makes breathing difficult.

How the smog is formed?

The atmospheric pollutants or gases that form smog arereleased in the air when fuels are burnt. When sunlightand its heat react with these gases and fine particles in theatmosphere, smog is formed. It is ..............................................................

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What are the devasting effects of smog?

Smog is harmful and it is evident from the componentsthat form it and effects that can happen from it.
It is harmful to humans, animals, plants, and nature as awhole. Many people deaths were recorded, notably, thoserelating to bronchial diseases. Heavy smog is responsiblefor decreasing UV radiation greatly. Thus heavy smogresults in low production of the crucial natural elementvitamin D leading to cases of rickets among people.
When a city or town gets covered in smog, the effects arefelt immediately. Smog can be responsible for any ailmentfrom minor pains to deadly pulmonary diseases such aslung cancer. Smog is well known for .......................................................................

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Smog towers:

A smog tower is a large vertical structure designed aslarge-scale air purifier to reduce air pollution particles.
It has been fitted ..............................................

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Difference with the Chinese smog tower:

The purifier will be different from China's Smog Tower inthe sense that it won't depend on the ionization technique to clean the air. The ionisation of air does not eradicate the pollutants but works by separating thepollutants from the oxygen, which could be a part of theproblem itself.

Anti-smog guns:

In India water cannons have been used recently in anattempt to wash out particles.
The anti-smog gun is a cannon shaped device that spraysatomised water droplets in the air. The gun is attached to awater tank built on a movable vehicle, which can be takento various parts of the city.
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General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1)With reference to the ‘100 Women of the Year’ project, consider the following statements:
1. TIME magazine released its ‘100 Women of the Year’ project, under which it named world’s 100 powerful women who defined the last century.
2. Former prime minister Indira Gandhi and freedom fighter Amrit Kaur have been named among world’s 100 powerful women who defined the last century.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2