London smog

Photochemical smog comprises mixtures of particulate matter and noxious gases, similar to those that occurred in the typical London-type pea-soup smog. The London smog was a mixture of particulates and oxides of sulfur, chiefly sulfur dioxide. But the overall system in the London smog was... 

London Smog Sulfur Dioxide, Acidic Aerosols, and Soot... 

Approximately half of the world s population now lives in urban areas, and half of these people suffer an atmosphere containing harmful amounts of substances such as sulfur dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter. Approximately 4000 people died from lung and heart conditions during a London smog episode in December 1952. Globally, around 50% of cases of chronic respiratory illness are now connected with ah pollution. The most... 

Bell ML, Bell ML, Davis DL, Fletcher T (2004) A retrospective assessment of mortality from the London smog episode of 1952 the role of influenza and pollution. Environ Health Perspect 112( 1 ) 6—8... 

Lyster, W.R. Altered sex ratio after the London smog of 1952 and the Brisbane flood of 1965. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. Br. Commonw. 81 626-631, 1974. 

Fig. 3.5 The London smog of 1952. Photograph courtesy of Popperfoto Northampton, UK.

Table 3.5 Comparison of Los Angeles and London smog. From Raiswell et al. (1980).

London smog was an object of fascination. A recent study explains artistic depictions of the murk—by painter Claude Monet and a multitude of writers—through the chemistry of coal tar, the source of the dye chemicals that were so important to the early study of environmental cancer. The yellow morning fog, Oscar Wilde s ochre-coloured hay, was tinted by tars in the smoke of household coal furnaces that burned at low temperature. By afternoon, the dark smoke from hotter-burning industrial furnaces would turn the smog to brown or black.3... 

Here we should compare the visibility decrease due to particulates concentration in urban air, so called London smog, with a similar atmospheric phenomenon, Los Angeles photochemical smog. 

Because fossil fuels are the remains of once-living organisms, fuels like coal contain sulfur. In electrical power plants, sulfur burns along with the carbon in coal, forming sulfur dioxide (SO ). There also is some sulfur in gasoline, so motor vehicles are also a source of SO3 (not SO2 because catalytic converters convert SO into SO3). Sulfur dioxide and trioxide are both noxious gases (see the section in chapter 3 titled The NO Problem ) and two of the main components of so-called London smog. Oxides of sulfur cause respiratory disease and contribute to the formation of haze that reduces atmospheric visibility. 

Industrial smog Smog generally caused by industrial activity such as coai burning also known as London smog... 

London Smog Disaster and Donora Smog Disaster Nitrogen Oxides Sulfur Oxides Carbon Monoxide... 

FIGURE 1 Daily concentrations of smoke and sulfur dioxide and daily deaths in the December 1952 London smog. 

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