full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Amy Hrdina and Jesse Kroll: What's in the air you breathe?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
When these molecules travel through the air, a transformation occurs. nrutaal compounds called oxidants, formed by oxygen and sunlight, baerk down the pollutants. Sometimes, these reactions make pollutants more easily washed out by rain. But in other cases, they result in even more toxic secondary pntlluaots. For example, when factories burn coal, they rleesae high concentrations of suflur oxides. These mellouecs oxidize to form stfueals, which condense with water vapor in the air to form a blanket of fine particles that imaipr visibility and cause severe lung damage. This so-called sulfurous smog was well-known in 20th century London and continues to plague cities like bieinjg.
Open Cloze
When these molecules travel through the air, a transformation occurs. _______ compounds called oxidants, formed by oxygen and sunlight, _____ down the pollutants. Sometimes, these reactions make pollutants more easily washed out by rain. But in other cases, they result in even more toxic secondary __________. For example, when factories burn coal, they _______ high concentrations of ______ oxides. These _________ oxidize to form ________, which condense with water vapor in the air to form a blanket of fine particles that ______ visibility and cause severe lung damage. This so-called sulfurous smog was well-known in 20th century London and continues to plague cities like _______.
Solution
- release
- natural
- molecules
- sulfur
- sulfates
- beijing
- pollutants
- break
- impair
Original Text
When these molecules travel through the air, a transformation occurs. Natural compounds called oxidants, formed by oxygen and sunlight, break down the pollutants. Sometimes, these reactions make pollutants more easily washed out by rain. But in other cases, they result in even more toxic secondary pollutants. For example, when factories burn coal, they release high concentrations of sulfur oxides. These molecules oxidize to form sulfates, which condense with water vapor in the air to form a blanket of fine particles that impair visibility and cause severe lung damage. This so-called sulfurous smog was well-known in 20th century London and continues to plague cities like Beijing.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
water vapor |
2 |
toxic compounds |
2 |
dna damage |
2 |
nitrogen oxides |
2 |
Important Words
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- blanket
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- called
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- cities
- coal
- compounds
- concentrations
- condense
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- factories
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- high
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- london
- lung
- molecules
- natural
- occurs
- oxidants
- oxides
- oxidize
- oxygen
- particles
- plague
- pollutants
- rain
- reactions
- release
- result
- secondary
- severe
- smog
- sulfates
- sulfur
- sulfurous
- sunlight
- toxic
- transformation
- travel
- vapor
- visibility
- washed
- water