Air Pollution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Air Pollution - Essay Example The size of asbestos particles in relation to their risk to humans has been discussed. The methods used in assessing the risk of asbestos will be given. The global standards and problems associated with asbestos will be discussed. Most asbestos fibers that are respired are invisible to the unaided human eye since their size is just 3 to 20 micrometers long and can be as thin as 0.01 micrometers (Benarde, 1990, pp. 187-203). The human hair varies in size from 17 to 181 micrometer in width. Asbestos fibers eventually form after minerals initially cooled and crystallized, were shaped by the polymeric molecules that lined up parallel to each other and therefore formed oriented crystal lattices. The crystals formed have three cleavage planes, exactly like other gemstones and minerals have. But in the case of asbestos crystals, there are two cleavage planes that are to a great extent, much weaker than the third direction. When enough force is applied, they are inclined to break along their weakest directions and this result in a linear fragmentation pattern and consequently a fibrous form. This process of fracturing can keep happening and one larger asbestos fiber can eventually become the cause of hundreds of much smaller and thinner fibers. As the asbestos fibers get lighter and smaller, they more easily turn out to be airborne and exposure to the human respiratory can result. The asbestos fibers will finally settle but may be re-suspended movement such as air currents. The friability of a product that contains asbestos is a term used to say that the product is so weak in structure and soft that it can be shattered with simple finger crushing pressure. The ease of damage of friable materials makes them to have the most initial concern. The conditions or forces of usage that come into close contact with a large amount of non-friable materials that contain asbestos are considerably higher than finger pressure. Asbestos fibers can have severe effects on