What is Smog

Air pollution that hangs over urban areas and reduces visibility is called smog. Car exhaust reacts with air
& sunlight to make ground level ozone. Ozone reacts with more car exhaust to make smog.

History of Smog

Name comes from a mix of “Smoke” and “Fog”. First observed in London during the industrial
revolution. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century, and is a contraction (portmanteau)
of the words smoke and fog to refer to smoky fog; its opacity, and odor. The word was then intended to
refer to what was sometimes known as pea soup fog, a familiar and serious problem in London from the
19th century to the mid-20th century. This kind of visible air pollution is composed of nitrogen
oxides, sulphur oxides, ozone, smoke and other particulates. Man-made smog is derived from coal
combustion emissions, vehicular emissions, industrial emissions, forest and agricultural fires and
photochemical reactions of these emissions.

Types of smog

There are 2 types of smog: Industrial Smog and Photochemical Smog. Smog name comes from a mix of
“Smoke” and “Fog”. It was first observed in London during the industrial revolution. Smog is often
categorized as being either summer smog or winter smog. Summer smog is primarily associated with
the photochemical formation of ozone. During the summer season when the temperatures are warmer
and there is more sunlight present, photochemical smog is the dominant type of smog formation. During
the winter months when the temperatures are colder, and atmospheric inversions are common, there
is an increase in coal and other fossil fuel usage to heat homes and buildings. These combustion
emissions, together with the lack of pollutant dispersion under inversions, characterize winter smog
formation. While photochemical smog is the main smog formation mechanism during summer months,
winter smog episodes are still common. 

Industrial Smog (Reducing)

Source: Pollution from the burning of coal and oil that contains sulfur
Consists: Sulfur Dioxide, Sulfur Trioxide, soot (impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete
combustion of hydrocarbons)and ash (particulate matter) and sulfuric acid. It can cause breathing
difficulties in humans, plus acid rain damage to plants, aquatic systems, and metal or stone objects

Methods of reducing this smog: Alkaline Scrubbers reduce SO2 and SO3 levels; electrostatic
precipitators reduce particulates.

Photochemical Smog (Oxidizing)

Source: Mainly automobile pollution

Contains: Nitrogen Oxides, Ozone, Alkanals, Peroxyacyl Nitrates (PANs), plus hundreds of other
substances

Effects: PANs cause eyes to water and can damage plants, O3 irritates eyes and deteriorates rubber and
plants, NOx cause acid rain. First observed in LA in the 1940s, Manila and Mexico City also experience
this kind of smog

Reactions of Smog: Sulfur Dioxide can be oxidized to Sulfur trioxide, a secondary pollutant. Metallic
Particulates act as a catalyst for this reaction. In addition, free radicals from NO2 also speed up the
reaction

Reactions of Smog

The formation of Secondary Pollutants in Photochemical Smog.

1. Formation of NOx:

N2 +O2 2NO

2NO+ O2 2NO2

2. Photo-Dissociation of nitrogen dioxide to produce oxygen atoms:

NO2 + UV LIGHT NO + O
3. Atomic oxygen forms Ozone:

O + O2 O3

4. Formation of organic free radicals:

3O+ HC HCO3

O3 +HC HCO3

R -CH =CH -R +O 3 R -CH =O + R -O· +CH -O·

Thermal Inversions: Abnormal arrangement of air masses. A warmer layer of air is trapped between two
layers of colder air. This causes pollutants to be trapped near the earth’s surface. Warm air collects over
the polluted air, acting as a lid to stop the pollutants from being dispersed. In London, 1952, a thermal
inversion lasting several days resulted in the deaths of several thousand people, most severely affecting
the very old and young

Temperature inversions, which form smog, are frequent in winter nights after the ground has cooled
down so much that it begins to chill the air closest to it often causing mist to form as water vapour
precipitates on dust particles. Normally, the morning sun swiftly breaks through the mist and heats the
ground, which warms the air above it, breaking the inversion. The smog is also a type of stratus cloud,
which is low-lying, and the moisture in the smog is often generated locally from a nearby pond, lake,
ocean or from nearby moist ground or marshes. Smog is distinguished from mist only by its density, as
expressed in the resulting decrease in visibility to the extent of less than 1 km.

Pakistan Smog Problem

The causes of the fog as investigated by Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission
(SUPARCO) showed extraordinarily high concentrations of ammonium Sulphate. Concentrations of SO4-
2, NO3-1, and selected trace elements were determined here in the provincial capital. Officials in
SUPARCO say that widespread and thick smog has frequently occurred over large parts of Pakistan for
the last several years, which thoroughly disrupts human activities in the affected areas. On motorways,
M-2 Lahore Thokar Niaz Beg to Pindi Bhattian, M-3 Pindi Bhattian to Faisalabad and M-1 Peshawar to
Rashkai interchanges are identified as most foggy areas.