Criteria air contaminants

Okay kiddo, you know how we breathe air all the time? Well, sometimes there are things in the air that can be really bad for us to breathe in. These are called criteria air contaminants.

Now, there are different types of these contaminants, but they all have special names to help us remember them. For example, one of them is called carbon monoxide. Can you say that?

Carbon monoxide is really dangerous because it can make us feel sick or even hurt our brain. That's why we have to be careful not to breathe in too much of it.

Another type of criteria air contaminant is called lead. You might have heard of this one before. It can also make us sick and hurt our brains, especially if we touch it with our hands and then put our hands in our mouths.

There are a lot of other contaminants too, like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and ozone. These can all make us feel sick or make it hard to breathe.

So, to make sure we stay healthy, grown-ups have rules called air quality standards that tell us how much of each contaminant can be in the air. If the air has too much of any of these contaminants, we might have to stay indoors or wear special masks to breathe safely.

So, it's important to remember that even though we can't see the air, there are things in it that can affect our health. But as long as we follow the air quality rules and stay safe, we can continue to breathe easy and enjoy life!