Smog

For other uses, see Smog (disambiguation).

Smog is a type of air pollutant; the word "smog" is a combination of smoke and fog. Classic smog results from large amounts of coal burning in an area and is caused by a mixture of smoke and sulfur dioxide.

Claude Monet's painting of London smog in 1904. It was mainly caused by burning coal in homes and trains

London is where it first happened. Coal fires are now illegal in London, and trains are driven by other fuels. In cities like Los Angeles it is the exhaust fumes of cars which cause the smog.

Delhi is supposed to be the most polluted city on Earth.^[1] Smogs cause lung diseases and increase the death rate. According to one estimate, air pollution causes the death of about 10,500 people in Delhi every year.^[2][3][4]

Peking (Beijing) is another city where air pollution is serious.^[5] Car emissions and coal burning are the main reasons for their pollution. They also get pollution from some neighbouring regions, due to the pattern of air movement in the area.

References

1. "Delhi is most polluted city in world, Beijing much better: WHO study". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
2. "Delhi's air has become a lethal hazard and nobody seems to know what to do about it". Time magazine. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
3. "India's air pollution triggers comparisons with China". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
4. "A Delhi particular". The Economist. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
5. J.R. McNeill 2000. Something new under the Sun: an environmental history of the 20th-century world. New York: Norton, 2000, ISBN 978-0-14-029509-2.