Auto Exhaus essays

Auto Exhaus essays The purpose of the experiment was to understand and learn how to use Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for analyzing the content of exhaust gas, carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide, CO, is formed from burning oil, gas, coal, and wood, and is the most common air pollutant in urban areas (Peter et. al., 1999). Because its primary source is automobile emissions, carbon monoxide exposure is particularly high near heavily trafficked highways (Peter et. al., 1999). Carbon monoxide attaches to hemoglobin in the red blood cells which reduces the amount of oxygen transported to the cells. Scientific evidence indicates that exposure to carbon monoxide can reduce mental activities such as: time distortion (10-30 ppm), throbbing headache (100 ppm), vomiting and collapse (300 ppm), and coma and death (600 ppm) (Rowlen et al., 2004). This experiment was dealing with FTIR spectroscopy as a quantitative technique to determine the amounts of carbon monoxide, CO, in automobile exhaust samples. The FTIR method was chosen for this experiment, since it has given good results in analyses of gas compounds. The absorbance can be determined in all or parts of the infrared (IR) region, not only for one specific wavelength. The least concentration that can be detected with FTIR is about 0.2 ppm. The procedure for this experiment was adapted from the Carbon Monoxide in Auto Exhaust experiment.2 The instrument used for this experiment was an Avatar 360 FTIR spectrometer. To collect the exhaust samples from the cars, the evacuated metal flasks were used. Sample 1 was collected from a Toyota Tacoma from 1997 at the ground level parking lot, and sample 2 and 3 were collected from a Toyota Corolla from 1993 at the underground parking lot. The samples were collected at free idle after the car was holding at a fast idle (2500 RPM) for approximately 30 seconds. The time at whic ...