Do you know why the air is browish? ESP. in Beijing, China ?
By tudors
@tudors (1556)
China
February 27, 2009 6:23am CST
The brown haze poised over world's largest cities is called photochemical smog which results from chemical reactions that take place in the air, using the energy of sunlight.
The production of smog begins when gases are created in the vehicle engines' cylinders. It is there that O2 and nitrogen gas combine as the fuel burns to from NO, colorless gas. The nitric oxide is forced out into the air through the vehicle tailpipe along with other gases.
When the gases reaches the air, it comes into contact with O2 from the atmosphere and combines with O2 to produce NO2, whihch is a gas with a brownish hue. So, the sky is not as clear as blue, at least in my city, in my motherland.
2 responses
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
27 Feb 09
The word "smog" was coined in the 19th century as a description of the famous (or infamous) London fog. It's a combination of the words(sm)oke and f(og) In 19th century London the smoke came from the thousands of domestic coal fires which where the only form of domestic heating then.
Now of course, the pollution comes from the millions of internal combustion vehicles on the road and probably also from coal and wood burning fires. The result is the same, a lethal cocktail of chemicals that causes cancer and respiratory disease.
1 person likes this
@baileycows (3665)
• United States
27 Feb 09
I didnt know this. We really don't have this problem where I live. Our skies are very pretty. I hate to hear that you have to live under this. What a shame!No one thinks about walking or riding bikes anymore?
