The Forgotten Pollution

The increasing pace of industrialization throughout the world has brought with it a serious and ever increasing threat from air pollution. It is true that this threat is being taken seriously, and that many responsible research workers, government advisors and others are working towards its reduction. But air pollution seems to have something of the nature of a hydra-headed monster: tackle one problem and another immediately grows to take its place. Actions taken sometimes have results that are far from what was envisioned, sometimes even seeming to make the problem worse. In The Forgotten Pollution, Roos shows clearly, and in an often entertaining way, how many of the 'unexpected' side effects of pollution by waste gases and particles can be explained by paying attention to the electrical activity of the atmosphere and the earth. Using an instrument which he has developed, the Electrostatic Charged Aerosol Monitor (ECAM), together with other instruments and reference to the literature, much of it dating back to the early days of science when electrostatics was appreciated as a science more than it is today, Roos has succeeded in explaining many hitherto 'puzzling' phenomena in a clear, simple and intellectually satisfying way.