Abstract
Definitely, tobacco is one of the most troubling plants in this planet because of its harmful effects on humans. Therefore, tobacco plantation declines continuously in the world. For such a plant, do we need to eliminate tobacco entirely from the surface of the earth? Perhaps, humans might have ignored the tobacco’s positive role in environment and ecology, especially in the heavily industrialized environments, for too long. Because the human activity generates more and more nitrogen oxides (NOx) in atmosphere, which not only cause imbalance in the global nitrogen cycle but also lead to haze, smog, acid rain, PM2.5, and eventually impact on environment and human health. Unfortunately the current technologies do not provide an efficient way to remove NOx from atmosphere. However, it is only tobacco can remove NOx from atmosphere. Perhaps, we should blame us, humans who use tobacco unwisely, rather than blame tobacco in nature. Anyways, the ability of tobacco to remove NO2 from atmosphere should not be ignored.
Highlights
Nitrogen is one of the most abundant elements in the earth, and accounts for 78.1% of the atmosphere
The nitrogen oxide (NOx) produced by lighting is located in rather remote regions of the troposphere [2]
Other estimates indicate that the global NOx is about 40 Tg N in 2000, of which the combustions of fossil fuel and biomass contribute to 87.5% while the emissions of soil nitric oxide (NO) account for 12.5% [9], i.e. each year soil microorganisms produce 9.7 - 21 Tg N NO [10, 11]
Summary
Nitrogen is one of the most abundant elements in the earth, and accounts for 78.1% of the atmosphere. Other estimates indicate that the global NOx is about 40 Tg N in 2000, of which the combustions of fossil fuel and biomass contribute to 87.5% while the emissions of soil NO account for 12.5% [9], i.e. each year soil microorganisms produce 9.7 - 21 Tg N NO [10, 11]. In such a case, NOx produced by lighting is not relevant to this estimation. The reaction of NOx with volatile organic compounds becomes an important precursor to increase the concentration of atmospheric PM2.5 [17], which contains nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs) and oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OPAHs) [18]
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