The city of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska in Southern Poland is best known for this Sanktuarium pasyjno-maryjne complex which was in 1999 added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. But now it's making headlines thanks to its interesting way of battling smog.
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The country that is the worst when it comes to smog is most likely China. It has 42 out of the 100 most smoggy cities in the world. And in 2019 99 % of the world’s population lived in places that do not conform to the suggested atmospheric quality norms. In Europe, one of the worst countries is Poland and its city Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is now trying to solve its smog problems with a sound cannon.
The experimental device looks like a metal container that has an upside-down cone sticking from it. The shock waves that this device produces allow the concentrations of harmful particles in the city’s atmosphere. The sources of the shock waves are explosions of a mixture of acetylene and air. The toxic particles are sent several hundred meters higher into the atmosphere by the shock waves. The city says that if they run the device for half an hour to an hour it reduces the smog levels by 15 – 30 percent in an area 2 – 3 kilometers around the cannon and the effects last for an hour to three hours.
For the time being it seems the citizens of the city are in favor of these cannon shots. Jolanta Walkowicz says: The smog in the town is very strong. We can’t even ventilate our apartments because it smells so bad. If this can help, let them do their tests. We barely hear it – it’s as if there were some fireworks going off.
Whether this system of reducing system will prove itself is still a question. Nonetheless, any way of reducing particles smaller than 10 micrometers is worth it as they get stuck in our bronchi and even alveoli and can cause serious breathing problems.
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