This is the 2007 version of this glossary. The definitions in this glossary were initially generated by the students in a senior-level class studying air quality and atmospheric chemistry at Sam Houston State University during the spring of 1995 in a course entitled Environmental Science 440/Chemistry 442, AIR QUALITY. In the main, they wrote these definitions as part of a class requirement. The references found at the end of most entries are an effort to supply additional resources for each of the terms. No supposition of comprehensiveness or absolute correctness can be assumed in any way. Many of the glossary entries have hypertext links to other sites on the Internet. These external links were valid in the Spring semester of 2007.
The 2007 version was created in the twelfth year for this project and is dedicated to the SHSU Air Quality students who are its authors.
Click on a letter to find definitions that begin with that letter.
Here is an example of an entry. There is a link to another site on the Internet for the entry itself:
Photochemical
Smog - Natural and artificially emitted hydrocarbons in
the presence of oxides of nitrogen undergo photochemical reactions which
produce a cloud of toxic chemicals including ozone and a variety of harmful
chemical gaseous and particulate agents. This process is powered by sunlight and some of the products, such as
ozone, reach a peak soon after photon flux from the sun reaches a maximum,
around midday. The thermal inversions often associated with some cities can
lead to a dangerous buildup of smog in urban areas. Human deaths have been
attributed to photochemical smog since the Industrial Revolution in cities such
as