Secondary pollutants are the products of the bond between which two types of materials?

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

To tackle this question, let's break down what secondary pollutants are and how they form.
Option a: 'Some primary pollutants with other harmful substances' – while it hints at interactions, it is vague about which substances are involved. Secondary pollutants are not simply other harmful substances combining with primary pollutants; they specifically form through reactions with environmental components.
Option b: 'A primary pollutant with another primary pollutant' – this would describe simply the combination of two primary pollutants, which might produce new pollutants, but the classic formation of secondary pollutants involves interaction with the ambient atmosphere, not just a union of primaries.
Option c: 'Some primary pollutants with some atmospheric substances' – this aligns with the established mechanism: primary pollutants react with atmospheric components such as sunlight, water droplets, oxidants like ozone, and radicals like hydroxyl (OH) to create secondary pollutants (e.g., ozone formed from NOx and volatile organic compounds in sunlight, or sulfates/nitrates formed from sulfur and nitrogen oxides in the presence of oxidants).
In terms of the underlying concept, secondary pollutants emerge from chemical reactions between existing pollutants and environmental atmospheric constituents, not merely from physical mixing or combining primaries with each other. Therefore, this option most accurately captures the defining process.
Examining the wording of each choice helps prevent common misunderstandings: option a lacks specificity about the atmospheric reactants, option b ignores the crucial role of atmospheric chemistry, and option c explicitly mentions atmospheric substances as partners in the reaction, which is the key idea behind secondary pollutant formation.

ME Mod4 Intake 2A - 14 Apr 2025 - 4 Jul 2025 Practice Listening Quiz 1

Secondary pollutants are the products of the bond between which two types of materials?

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