Effects of Air Pollution

In our industrial age man releases a variety of trace substances into the atmosphere. Apart from the compounds primarily emitted, one also finds secondary components created by chemical transformations. All of them are integrated in manifold ways into substance cycles not only involving the atmosphere but also the soil (lithosphere), water (hydrosphere) and living space of man and animal (biosphere). Whether atmospheric trace substances become noxious for humans depends on both their direct effects on man’s physical well-being and on his living conditions in his environment, with the food chain representing a particularly close connection to animal and plant life. Indirect damage, also, to climate and living space influence both physical health as well as mental well-being. Damage to material goods, on the other hand, merely causes material and psychological irritation.