Author: Jennifer Leman / Source: Science News for Students
Car tires and brake pads wear down with use. Road surfaces wear down, too. All that spews synthetic rubber and other materials into the air.
And they don’t just disappear. They linger in the form of tiny particles. Many are light enough to float in the air. Indeed, a new study found that almost nine in every 10 of the small particles sampled from the air around three busy highways came from vehicle tires, brake systems and roads themselves.The researchers classify these particles as microplastics. (Actually, not all the materials are truly made of plastic.)
These particles get blown by wind and later washed by rain into waterways that lead to the ocean. There, the debris can harm aquatic animals and fragile ecosystems, says Reto Gieré. He’s an environmental scientist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
He presented the findings November 6 at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America. It was held in Indianapolis, Ind. Previous research…
The post Car tires and brakes spew harmful microplastics appeared first on FeedBox.