What are the major pollutants in vehicle exhaust fumes, and what are their health effects?
1 Answer
In the past, fuel contained lead, so lead poisoning could be caused where there was lots of exhaust gas. Now exhaust gas is mostly carbon dioxide and water vapor. See more details below.
Explanation:
If a car is not well tuned there can also be carbon monoxide in the exhaust gases, and this can be lethal. Carbon monoxide replaces oxygen in red blood cells and makes them incapable of carrying oxygen to the body.
Exhaust gases also include some oxides of nitrogen, and these can cause 'smog' when atmospheric conditions are right, and can irritate lungs.
The main two ingredients are water vapor and carbon dioxide. It is the water vapor we see as 'steam' from the exhaust pipe on a cold morning.
Carbon dioxide is one important greenhouse gas, so reducing the amount emitted is important as a response to climate change.
