Environmental issues in Syria Attacks on oil refineries can cause oil fires which release harmful chemicals into the air, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The sulphur and nitrogen compounds are linked to acid rain which can have dire impacts on vegetation as well as cause soil acidification. PAHs persist in the environment for long periods of time and are known carcinogens. Syria also extracts heavy crude oil, which generally has a higher proportion of noxious substances, including heavy metals, making it especially dangerous when these substances seep into the soil. Syria has two oil refineries. The
Lower sulfur oxides Disulfur monoxide (SO) is an unstable analogue of sulfur dioxide. Like SO as well as ozone (O), and trisulfur (S), it adopts a bent structure. The S-S bond length is 188.4pm, the S-O bond is 146.5pm and the SSO angle is 117.88. The two dipole moment components are μa = 0.875D and μb = 1.18D This species decomposes to give a polymeric sulfur oxides ("PSO's") with the approximate formula [SO]. PSO's decompose at room temperature to elemental sulfur and SO. PSO's have been proposed to be responsible for the colour of Io. Trisulfur monoxide, SO is an unstable molecule. It