At all stages of his development, man has always been closely connected with the outside world, but for a long time he did not have any significant impact on the environment. With the advent of a highly industrialized society, human intervention in nature intensified sharply. Currently, the Earth’s biosphere is subject to an ever-increasing anthropogenic impact.
The main sources of air pollution are industry, domestic boiler houses and transport. Industrial production pollutes the most. Thermal power plants, metallurgical enterprises, chemical and cement plants - products of the "vital activity" of these institutions make significant changes in the composition of the atmosphere. As a result of burning fuel for industrial needs, heating homes and transport, processing household and industrial waste, harmful gases enter the air. All pollutants are divided into primary and secondary. The former directly enter the atmosphere, the latter are formed in it through chemical reactions, for example, with water vapor. Harmful atmospheric impurities are carbon monoxide, sulfur and sulfur anhydrides, hydrogen sulfide and carbon disulfide, nitrogen oxides, fluorine and chlorine compounds. They are formed as a result of the combustion of certain substances and are therefore called pyrogenic pollutants. Carbon monoxide, for example, is formed during the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing chemical compounds. It enters the air along with exhaust gases and industrial emissions. Carbon monoxide actively reacts with other components of the atmosphere, contributes to the creation of a greenhouse effect and an increase in the global temperature. During the combustion of sulfur-containing fuels or during the processing of sulfur ores, sulfur dioxide is released (sulfur dioxide, sulfur dioxide). During its oxidation, sulfuric anhydride is formed. Ultimately, suspended particles of sulfuric acid, which can also dissolve in this water, fall into the rainwater. Sulfuric acid dissolved in rainwater acidifies the soil and exacerbates respiratory diseases. Settling on the leaves of plants, it leaves necrotic spots on them. Tens of millions of tons of sulfur oxide are released annually into the atmosphere of thermal power plants and enterprises of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy. In addition to gas, there is also aerosol pollution of the atmosphere. Aerosols are solid and liquid particles suspended in air. They are perceived as smoke, fog, haze or haze. In some cases, such components are especially dangerous for living organisms and can cause serious diseases. Artificial dust particles, among which there is also a lot of organic dust, in large quantities enter the atmosphere in the course of human activities.
