In our industrialized society, pollutants are, to an extent, unavoidable. Even with technologies to drastically reduce the amount of pollutants leaving a factory or plant, some will still get released. It’s up to engineers to make sure that those released spread out enough that their overall concentration does not pose a risk to public health. In this Practical Engineering video, Grady explains some of the physics and engineering considerations that go into this task.
As he demonstrates, taller smokestacks speed up the buoyant exhaust plume (to an extent), which exposes the plume to higher winds, greater turbulence, and, thus, quicker dispersal. But atmospheric conditions and even nearby buildings all affect how a plume spreads. (Image and video credit: Practical Engineering)
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