Photochemical Smog
Downloaded by 80.82.78.170 on January 7, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: June 1, 1972 | doi: 10.1021/ba-1972-0113.pr001
A symposium sponsored by the Division of Physical Chemistry at the 161st Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Los Angeles, Calif., March 29, 1971. Bernard Weinstock Symposium
Chairman
Photochemical Smog and Ozone Reactions Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1972.
Photochemical Smog and Ozone Reactions Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1972.
Downloaded by 80.82.78.170 on January 7, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: June 1, 1972 | doi: 10.1021/ba-1972-0113.pr001
Downloaded by 80.82.78.170 on January 7, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: June 1, 1972 | doi: 10.1021/ba-1972-0113.pr001
Preface Iη the early 1950's A . J . Haagen-Smit demonstrated that the irradiation of mixtures of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons produced products with properties similar to that of atmospheric photochemical smog. This pioneering effort stimulated much research on the problem. Improved techniques for studying photochemical reactions at concentration levels on the order of parts per million have been developed, and knowledge of the rate constants and mechanisms of the reactions involved has been advanced. New compounds have been discovered; however, a quantita tive correspondence between laboratory studies and atmospheric obser vations has not been obtained. As a result, a reliable technical basis for the abatement requirements to alleviate photochemical smog in the Los Angeles Basin is still lacking. O n December 31, 1970, the Clean A i r Amendents were passed into law by the Congress. The law expresses the urgency that Congress felt for the solution of the air pollution problem i n this country. This sense of urgency is reflected in a number of unusual features of the law. For example, the technical feasibility of meeting the law had not and still has not been established. Also, an analytical model for the derivation of the abatement requirements seemed to be wanting. This can be inferred since the same factor of ten reduction was required for each of the pollutants without modification for the level of control already in force. Since hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions had already been substantially reduced for 1970 motor vehicles, the net overall reduction factor from precontrol levels for these substances became 37 and 26, respectively. Perhaps, even more significant was the fact that the air quality standards that the law purported to achieve had not then been established and were not announced until A p r i l 1971. Despite the important implications of the 1970 Clean A i r Amend ments and of the A i r Quality Standards to the purpose of this symposium, for the most part the cogency of the program was unaffected. The five papers presented at this symposium that were selected for inclusion i n this volume address themselves to significant aspects of the photochemical smog problem. Hopefully, this volume w i l l stimulate a broader interest of the scientific community i n the quantitative aspects of air pollution. BERNARD WEINSTOCK
Dearborn, M i c h . November 7, 1972 xi Photochemical Smog and Ozone Reactions Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1972.
