On May 18, 1980, Mount Saint Helens in Washington state ejected into the atmosphere an estimated 540 million tons of ash [5].

(a) How does that compare with the emissions of PM10 from human activities for 1997 shown in Table 1.1?

(b) Is it reasonable to make this comparison? Why or why not?

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TABLE 1.1 National emissions estimates for 1997 (Values in millions of short tons/yr) Source category Transportation Fuel combustion Industrial processes Miscellaneous Total Percentage of 1970 total PM10 0.7 1.1 1.3 - 3.1 - SO₂ 1.4 17.3 1.7 0.0 20.4 65% со 67.0 4.8 6.1 9.6 87.5 78% NOX 11.6 10.7 0.9 0.3 23.5 116% VOC 7.7 0.9 9.8 0.8 19.2 70% Pb 0.00052 0.00050 0.0029 0.0039 1.7% PM₁0 particulate matter, 10. or smaller; see Chapter 8. SO₂ = all sulfur oxides, mostly SO₂; see Chapter 11. CO = carbon monoxide; see Chapter 15. NOx = all nitrogen oxides, mostly NO and NO₂. The mass shown is based on all NO being converted to NO₂; this is referred to as "NOx expressed as NO₂"; see Chapter 12. VOC= volatile organic compounds; see Chapter 10. Pb= lead; see Chapter 15. TABLE 1.1 National emissions estimates for 1997 (Values in millions of short tons/yr) Source category Transportation Fuel combustion Industrial processes Miscellaneous Total Percentage of 1970 total PM10 0.7 1.1 1.3 - 3.1 - SO₂ 1.4 17.3 1.7 0.0 20.4 65% со 67.0 4.8 6.1 9.6 87.5 78% NOX 11.6 10.7 0.9 0.3 23.5 116% VOC 7.7 0.9 9.8 0.8 19.2 70% Pb 0.00052 0.00050 0.0029 0.0039 1.7% PM₁0 particulate matter, 10. or smaller; see Chapter 8. SO₂ = all sulfur oxides, mostly SO₂; see Chapter 11. CO = carbon monoxide; see Chapter 15. NOx = all nitrogen oxides, mostly NO and NO₂. The mass shown is based on all NO being converted to NO₂; this is referred to as "NOx expressed as NO₂"; see Chapter 12. VOC= volatile organic compounds; see Chapter 10. Pb= lead; see Chapter 15.

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a The emission of ash particles from Saint Mount Helen was a resul... View the full answer