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

  1. release
  2. natural
  3. molecules
  4. sulfur
  5. sulfates
  6. beijing
  7. pollutants
  8. break
  9. 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

  1. air
  2. beijing
  3. blanket
  4. break
  5. burn
  6. called
  7. cases
  8. century
  9. cities
  10. coal
  11. compounds
  12. concentrations
  13. condense
  14. continues
  15. damage
  16. easily
  17. factories
  18. fine
  19. form
  20. formed
  21. high
  22. impair
  23. london
  24. lung
  25. molecules
  26. natural
  27. occurs
  28. oxidants
  29. oxides
  30. oxidize
  31. oxygen
  32. particles
  33. plague
  34. pollutants
  35. rain
  36. reactions
  37. release
  38. result
  39. secondary
  40. severe
  41. smog
  42. sulfates
  43. sulfur
  44. sulfurous
  45. sunlight
  46. toxic
  47. transformation
  48. travel
  49. vapor
  50. visibility
  51. washed
  52. water