{"id":28797,"date":"2024-12-17T03:09:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T21:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=28797"},"modified":"2025-04-08T22:11:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T16:41:02","slug":"hydroxymethanesulphonate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/hydroxymethanesulphonate\/","title":{"rendered":"Hydroxymethanesulphonate"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Key Findings of the Study:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hydroxymethanesulphonate Formation<\/strong>: Hydroxymethanesulphonate, a <strong>secondary aerosol<\/strong>, forms when <strong>formaldehyde<\/strong> reacts with <strong>sulphur dioxide<\/strong> in the presence of <strong>liquid water<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>Traditionally thought to occur only in <strong>clouds and fog<\/strong>, but found to occur in <strong>aerosol particles<\/strong> in Fairbanks winters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Role of Temperature<\/strong>: Extremely low temperatures (around <strong>-35\u00baC<\/strong>) cause <strong>supercooling<\/strong> of aerosol particles, where liquid water remains unfrozen below its freezing point.\n<ul>\n<li>Supercooled aerosols allow <strong>hydroxymethanesulphonate<\/strong> to form within them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Aerosol acidity dynamics<\/strong>: Aerosol acidity depends on the <strong>relative concentration<\/strong> of:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sulphate ions (SO\u2084\u00b2\u207b)<\/strong> \u2192 Increase acidity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ammonium ions (NH\u2084\u207a)<\/strong> \u2192 Neutralize acidity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Post-2022 sulphur fuel ban in Fairbanks:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sulphate ion concentrations<\/strong> dropped.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ammonium ion levels<\/strong> increased, reducing aerosol acidity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ammonium dynamics in cold weather<\/strong>: In low temperatures, <strong>ammonium ions<\/strong> are less likely to evaporate into <strong>ammonia gas<\/strong>. This buildup of ammonium ions further reduces acidity, creating favourable conditions for <strong>hydroxymethanesulphonate formation<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Key Concepts<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What are Aerosols?<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Aerosols<\/strong>: Tiny <strong>solid or liquid particles<\/strong> suspended in the air.<\/li>\n<li>Examples: Dust, smoke, fog, or chemical particles like sulphates and ammonium.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>What is PM2.5?<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>PM2.5<\/strong>: Fine particulate matter with a diameter <strong>less than 2.5 micrometres (\u00b5m)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Significance<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Penetrates the lungs and bloodstream.<\/li>\n<li>Causes reduced <strong>lung function<\/strong>, <strong>asthma aggravation<\/strong>, and <strong>premature deaths<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Supercooling: <\/strong>Process where <strong>liquid water<\/strong> remains unfrozen even at temperatures below <strong>0\u00b0C<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>Allows formation of <strong>hydroxymethanesulphonate<\/strong> in aerosol particles at very low temperatures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q.1. What are the main contributors to Delhi\u2019s air pollution?<\/h3>\n<p>Vehicular emissions (51.5%), crop stubble burning (8.19%), dust (3.7%), and industrial pollutants are key contributors. Winter weather worsens the pollution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>News: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/new-chemical-pathway-found-to-worsen-air-quality-in-harsh-winters\/article68988176.ece#:~:text=Scientists%20have%20found%20aerosol%20particles,allow%20the%20formation%20of%20hydroxymethanesulphonate&amp;text=In%20winter%2C%20the%20temperature%20in,the%20coldest%20place%20in%20India\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New chemical pathway found to worsen air quality in harsh winters &#8211; The Hindu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hydroxymethanesulphonate, a secondary aerosol, forms when formaldehyde reacts with sulphur dioxide in the presence of liquid water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":28798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}