Air Pollution: Contamination Of The Environment

Pollution is the contamination of the environment, more specifically, air pollution is a combination of solid particles and contaminated gasses that accumulate within the air (Union, 2007) (unknown, 2014). Air pollution causes many ecological problems that can be identified within the modern world of today. Air pollution is the main cause for acid rain - which is harmful to living organisms- depletion of the ozone layer and unhealthy air for the environment (Union, 2007).

The biggest contributor to air pollution shown by statistics is exhaust fumes. Exhaust fumes are emitted by vehicles; cars, busses, trucks, motor bikes etc. The use of vehicles has elevated throughout the years. They are used for commuting purposes and due to the high demand

Due to exhaust fumes contaminating the air, plants have taken a major hit. In the study conducted in the Philippines, Ye Chun Hur found that the plants started to turn brown which hinted at the loss of chlorophyll. Exhaust fumes would enter through stomata in the plant and damaged the plants process to allow it to photosynthesize. Thus demonstrating for us how toxic exhaust fumes can be on plants (Hur, 2009). This source may be considered reliable as it was conducted by scientist. The information provided by this study is valid and useful for the current experiment as it explains how the air is taken into the plant for the process of photosynthesis and explains how the plants may get damaged if the air is polluted. The limitation of this study is it was conducted in the Philippines. The climate there is different as opposed to the South African climate. The South African Climate is warmer and

It is commonly found in regions of Europe, eastern Asia, and Eastern North America. The ostrich fern can easily be grown in medium to wet soil with exposure to medium light of full shade. They tend to grow from an average of 1 metre to 1.82 metres (Unknown). The ostrich fern can also be purchased as a household plant. In general, ferns are known for their fronds and multiple leaves which mean the production of photosynthesis in the ferns is high (Croft). The ostrich fern was chosen as the plant for this experiment because observation of the effect of car exhaust fumes would be more evident as it is easier to view the colour change from the multiple laves as well as size difference because of the tall standing