Quantitative Analysis of Air Pollution by Means of ¹⁴C Concentrations in Plant Leaves

Abstract

The air pollution caused by CO₂ from fossil fuel origin was quantitatively studied by radiocarbon (¹⁴C) measurement on the samples of new leaves taken from roadside trees. In the area where concentration of CO₂ (¹²CO₂+¹³CO₂) of fossil fuel origin was high, the count of β-ray radiation from ¹⁴C tended to be low. The relation between the concentration of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) in the air and the count of β-ray radiation from the leaf samples could be represented by a linear regression,
Y= (17.568/X) -67.385; r = -0.995
Where Y is the SO₂ concentration in ppb and X is the β-ray radiation count (Bq/g-carbon) .