Fossil fuels are undoubtedly the most widely used today in the world and, therefore, there is a huge

environmental concern, because the combustion produces a lot of air pollution (greenhouse gases), which is a phenomenon characterized by changes in air composition or concentration of the gases that composes it. The earth's atmosphere comprises a gaseous mixture, with an approximately constant composition throughout the earth's surface. The natural approximate composition of air is: Component Percentage% Nitrogen 78.08 Oxygen 20.95 Argon 0.93 Carbon Dioxide 0.035 Neon 0.0018 Krypton 0.0001 Nitrogen Dioxide 0.00005 Methane 0.00014 Ozone 0.000007 Helium 0.00052 Hydrogen 0.00005 Xenon 0.000009

For fuel combustion occurs within the technical standards and expansion cycle of the gases to produce work and the pressure allowed it is necessary that the mass of fuel injected into the engine is mixed with a quantity of air, thus formed fuel-air mixture, which the determination is made by the carburetor or fuel injection. Thus, the stoichiometry of the complete combustion of gasoline is defined by the equation: CxH(2x+1) + (1.5x+0.5) O2 x CO2 + (x+1) H2O (for 5 x 12) It is important to reiterate that these calculations are ideal, i.e., only consider the stoichiometry of the mass of fuel and air to a reaction of complete combustion. Typically, the work vehicles with so-called economical blend, which allows excess air to increase the combustion efficiency. When we pass from the ideal to the real engine combustion is incomplete. The oxidation reactions, which should combine oxygen and carbon, producing carbon dioxide (CO2) is not complete, resulting in the formation of carbon monoxide (CO), a toxic pollutant.

The fuels also have other chemicals in its composition, which react to form other compounds in the combustion. An example is the sulfur in gasoline, which reacts with oxygen or hydrogen to form SO2 and H2S, but dealing with gasoline and removing the maximum sulfur can reduce these products. 2 SO2 + O2 2 SO3 SO3 + H2O H2SO4 Incomplete combustion also produces nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons, aldehydes and particulates than the black soot typical of poorly regulated engines. 4 NO + 3 O2 + 2 H2O 4 HNO3 2 NO2 + H2O HNO2 + HNO3 We must mention also that part of the gasoline (hydrocarbons) isnt burned and released to the atmosphere. Thats what we call VOCs (volatile organic compounds). One way of checking is the modern electronic injection which analyzes the ratio of CO in the exhaust gas. The higher the ratio, in comparison to the specifications of the engine, the combustion is incomplete and less efficient the process of dispensing the fuel-air mixture. As shown before, in the presence of water of the atmosphere, sulfur and nitrogen oxides react in to strong acids (e.g. H2SO4 and HNO3) increasing the acidity of the rainwater. The term "acid rain" was first used by Robert Angus Smith, English chemist and climatologist. He used the term to describe the acid precipitation that occurred over the city of Manchester in the early Industrial Revolution. With the development and industrial progress, the problems with acid rain have become increasingly serious. The acid rain causes many problems. Among them: - The weakening of the trees (the trees will not grow as they should) causing the death of many forests; - Reduces the pH of lakes and rivers can kill all the organisms living in these aquatic environments (directly and indirectly); - Accelerates the degradation of natural stone (marble), metal or paint destroying statues, buildings and monuments (which also increases spending on restoration); - Affects human health by releasing toxic metals that were in the soil to rivers that are consumed by man.

Acid rain can be transported over long distances and may fall on places where there is no source of pollutants that cause the formation of it. Another problem is the smog (term that comes from the combination of the words smoke and fog) that as the name already says is a combination of fog and the atmospheric pollution. Smog is formed by a gas mixture of nitrogen oxides, VOC and tropospheric ozone (also known as bad ozone). The ozone, which is highly reactive and toxic, comes from a reaction between NOx, O2, CO and/or VOCs in sunny and hightemperatures conditions. Smog is the major cause of respiratory problems in big cities around the world. The problem that is, currently, the most talked about is the global warming. It is important mentioning that global warming is a natural process on our planet, but the pollution accelerates it. This happens because the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, already mentioned above, form a thick and difficult to dispersion layer in the atmosphere causing the greenhouse effect. What happens is that these gases absorb much of the infrared radiation emitted from the sun hindering the dispersion of heat. The results are many issues as rising of sea levels, growth and development of desert areas, higher incidence of hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones. As can be seen, most of the problems are caused by the emissions of certain gases, result of internal combustion engines, to the atmosphere. Today modern cars already come equipped with three-way catalytic converters (a reference to the three regulated emissions it helps to reduce) to help minimize the emission of these gases. To explain it better, lets separate it in 3 steps: a reduction catalyst, an oxidation catalyst and a control system. The first part of the catalytic converter is a reduction catalyst that uses platinum and rhodium which help to reduce the emissions of NOx. When NO or NO2 get contact with the catalyzer, it removes the nitrogen atom from the molecule releasing N 2 and O2. 2 NO N2 + O2 2 NO2 N2 + 2 O2 The second part is an oxidation catalyst which reduces carbon monoxide and VOC by a combustion reaction on platinum and palladium catalyzers. 2 CO + O2 2 CO2 The last part is a control system that monitors the outflow and uses this info to control the full injection system. There is a sensor putted before the catalyzer which tells the computer the amount of oxygen in the outflow, so the computer can control the amount of oxygen by adjusting the air-to-fuel ratio. By that, the computer is sure that

the engine is running close enough to the stoichiometric point and there is enough oxygen to burn the rest of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. Bibliography: http://www.suapesquisa.com/geografia/aquecimento_global.htm http://educacao.uol.com.br/geografia/atmosfera-camada-gasosa-e-fundamental-paravida.jhtm http://chuva-acida.info/ http://www.brasilescola.com/geografia/chuvaacida.htm http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/514gasoline.html http://www.epa.gov/glo/ http://auto.howstuffworks.com/catalytic-converter.htm http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/icengine.html http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blinternalcombustion.htm http://www.colegioweb.com.br/biologia/poluicao-do-ar.html http://environment.about.com/od/smogfaq/f/smog_faq_five.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/t/tropospheric_ozone.htm www.universoambiental.com.br/AR/Ar_Controle3,4.htm http://weather.about.com/od/ozoneinformation/qt/smogcity.htm