http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/101005-planes-pollution-deaths-science-environment/
Summary
"There's a new fear of flying: You're more likely to die from exposure to toxic pollutants in plane exhaust than in a plane crash, a new study suggests." Researchers have learned that about a thousand people die in a plane crash and about ten thousand people die form the plane's exhaust fuels. The airplanes exhaust fuels include sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. About 8 thousand deaths accour at cursing alltitude which is about 35,000. About 2 thousand accour at take off and landing. The air is affected to because the fuels pullute the air. When people breath in the exhaust fuels they may get lung canncer. In the US there is only about 450 deaths form this and in India there is about 1,640 deaths per year. A way to reduce this is to take sulfer out of the jet fuel, sulfer is a major killer. To remove sulfer it would cost another 5 cents per gallon.
Reflection
I am suprised to learn that more people die form the exhaust feuls then the airplane crashes. I would have thought that it was the opposite way. I'm not afraid of dieing form the exhaust fuel because there is a very small chance that it could happen to me considering that about 450 accour in the US. The government should spend that extra 5 cents so that we can not only reduce the deaths but also the air pollution.
Questions
1. What is your reaction to this article? Explain.
2. Do you think you could be affected by the exhaust feuls because you live near a naval air base?
3. Do you think that the government should spend that extra 5 cents to save about 450 live or not? Why or why not?
My reaction to this article is that I'm pretty shocked. I always thought the fear while on planes was that it would crash or hit into something. I never really thought that plane exhaust would be the cause of more deaths then crashes. Now that I know about this, I do think I could be affected by the exhause feuls. I live pretty close to the naval air base, and this worries me. If there are enough exhaust feuls to kill people who are flying, then there is probably enough to affect people around the area. Something needs to be done to prevent this from happening in our town, in other towns, and while on the plane. The US should definitely spend the extra 5 cents to save 450 lives, because people shouldn't be dying for something they couldn't control. The government has a responsibility to make sure that people aren't dying from something they could prevent. Here is link for another website I found about this issue:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/planes-dont-kill-people-plane-exhaust-does/19669550
This is quite a surprising thing to hear. If you think about it though, it does make sense. Plane crashes don't happen all that often, and plane exhaust is constantly polluting the air. However, while most of us would say, "Spend the extra five cents. It's only five cents!", the money does add up. Planes have huge tanks of hundreds of gallons of fuel, so five cents more per gallon would translate to a much larger amount of money being spent on jet fuel. This would then mean higher costs for plane tickets, which would deter a lot of people from flying.
ReplyDelete1. If plane tickets cost more, but gave off less pollution, would you pay the higher price?
2. How do researchers know that people are dying specifically from the exhaust?
3. Why are there more deaths from this in India than in the United States?
Reaction: I reacted to this article in a very surprised manner. I am really shocked that more people die from plane exhaust than crashes. You would think that plane crashes would be more common and would kill almost everyone on the plane. In a way, this is sort of relieving to me because now i know that less than 450 people in the US die from plane crashes, and I there is probably a very low chance that I will get affected with the exhausts.
ReplyDeleteMy Questions:
1. How do the exhausts affect the people if they are inside the plane?
2. Can this exhaust only affect people when the plane is crashing or after the crash?
3. If you are affected with the exhaust, do you die immediately, or does it just affect your health and eventually cause sicknesses that can kill you? (like you said lung cancer)