Hello.
Well, it turns out that most of worn tire rubber ends up as "road
dust," much of it airborne. Dust or small particles blows around
instead of piling up. Some larger tire particles do apparently stay on
the road for a while, but rain eventually washes the big particles
into gutters, streams, runoff, etc. That's why you don't see a
century's worth of tire rubber piled high on the road.
sources:
"Denver's Allergy Institute became puzzled recently by tiny black
blobs that cluttered air samples. With analysis, researchers found the
blobs were actually automobile tire particles that had flaked off and
been thrown into the air by passing motorists...
As many as five million tons of latex particles wear off tires in the
United States each year"
source: Indoorairquality.com
http://www.indoorairquality.com/il12.html
"Researchers say tires, principally radials, spew billions of these
particles into the atmosphere every day."
source: South Coast Today
http://www.s-t.com/daily/11-95/11-08-95/1108allergy.HTML
"Past studies regarding airborne allergens have focused on radial
tires... These tires have a certain amount of natural rubber in them,
and the rubber sap has allergens in it. As the tires wear down, pieces
of the tires are thrown up into the air. At certain times as much as
two percent of the airborne allergens in Los Angeles have been
attributed to these rubber particles."
source: Environmental News Network
http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/1999/12/120999/dust_7986.asp
"In 1974, when there were 524.3 million tires in use in the U.S. (on
cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses), tire industry scientists
estimated that 600,000 metric tonnes (1.3 billion pounds) of tire dust
were released by tire wear in the U.S., or about 2.5 pounds (a little
over one kilogram) of dust released from each tire each year. In 1991,
there were 782 million tires in use in the U.S.; if each tire releases
2.5 pounds of dust per year, tire dust released in 1991 would total
1.9 billion pounds. A billion is a thousand million.
http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/bulletin.cfm?Issue_ID=686&bulletin_ID=48
"A recent health effects study in Denver suggests that latex in road
dust produced as vehicle tires wear is probably responsible for an
increase in asthma attacks and asthma-related deaths in the United
States during the last decade. Road dust, including tiny bits of tire
wear, can account for up to 50% of particulate pollution in urban
areas, AQMD officials said."
source: South Coast Air Quality Management District
http://www.aqmd.gov/tao/roaddust.html
"In Case You Were Wondering: Where Does All the Rubber Go?
...One author did a scholarly study on the fate of tire rubber... it
was most likely in the Society of Automotive Engineers' journal.
Turns out about half the rubber gets vaporized. The rest is small
solid chunks that end up on the road..."
http://cartalk.cars.com/Mail/Letters/1999/05.01/3.html
"Motor vehicles are a significant source of water pollution too. Oil,
anti-freeze, and small tire particles accumulate on roads and
highways: during the rainy season, they are washed into streams and
waterways, causing damage to aquatic life."
http://www.autobuyology.org/car22.html
" Tire rubber wears off automobile tires during regular use, and has
been shown to deposit in particulate air pollution, road dust and
runoff water. When the larger tire particles run off roadways, they
sink to the bottom of streams and leach chemicals into water. "
http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/chem/pubpres/seminarseries/draper2003.htm
search strategy:
"tire particles", wear
"tire particles", air
I hope this helps. |
