British Sign Language Glossaries of Curriculum Terms

BSL Environmental Science Glossary - Synergism definition

Definition: Synergism is the process where the presence of two or more pollutants combine to cause more damage than by themselves individually. An example is ozone, a pollutant produced by factories, and sulphur dioxide, produced by car exhausts, factories or burning fuel. Leaves on a tree have a wax cuticle protecting the cells inside. Ozone damages the wax cuticle, and this then exposes the vulnerable cells underneath to sulphur dioxide, which damages the cells, killing the leaves. The combination of the 2 pollutants' effects is worse than the individual pollutants' effects. Ozone on its own would not damage the leaf cells, sulphur dioxide on its own would not be able to get through the wax cuticle to cause any damage.