The air pollution from cars is caused, in significant part, by fuel emissions. This is a very familiar term although few of us can tell out friends and neighbors what it means. A fuel emission is a particle of the same fuel that you put into your car when you hit the petrol station.

This fuel particle has gone through the combustion process without burning in its entirety. Releasing this particle into the air contributes to the air pollution caused by cars.

These fuel emissions are known as hydrocarbons, which have a molecular makeup that entices them to react with sunlight and nitrous oxides. When this reaction happens, the molecule actually alters to form what is known as ground level smog. Ground level smog contributes to the air pollution caused by cars that irritate respiratory symptoms, cause cancers, and creates eye irritation.

Nitrous oxides contribute to more air pollution from cars. The nitrogen and the oxygen atoms that are found within the fuel is compounded by the high temperatures that engines run, causing a smashing of atoms that turn the individual atoms into what we know as nitrous oxides. This is one serious cause of acid rain and other air pollution problems.

Over the years, car manufacturers have reduced the number of nitrous oxide atoms are released, but cars that are equipped with catalytic converters are responsible for more than half of the air pollution caused nitrous oxide released from cars. These are the same gases that cause just under 8% of global warming.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is something that most of us have heard of, and we even protect ourselves inside our own homes from the deadly, poisonous, odorless gas. Yet the family car contributes to 2/3 of the world’s carbon monoxide gases in the atmosphere.

Carbon cells smash with oxygen cells to become carbon dioxide when cars are not well tuned, when the air to fuel ratio when turning the ignition is simply low, and in higher altitudes. Oxygen is a necessary component of combustion, which is needed for gasoline and diesel to power our vehicles. In many urban areas, the carbon monoxide air pollution from cars can reach over 90%.

Carbon dioxide is released during gas combustion, which is one of the continuing factors in the fight against global warming. Carbon dioxide is a trapping gas, which means that it lingers in the upper atmosphere and traps the planet’s heat. This naturally leads to more problems with the planet’s health.

Air pollution caused by cars is a serious problem, and there are many plans that may or may not come to fruition over the next few years. Hybrid cars a fantastic contributor to the reduction of combustion fuel gases that linger in the atmosphere, but their higher price and their lack of perceived power reduces interest from the consumer. The bicycle is the best alternative of all, but there are few who are willing to deal with variances in weather and temperature to bike to work and the inconvenience of riding a bike to the store presents more consumer resistance.

There are not many easy answers that have been produced in light of the information that the one billion cars that are driven in the United States are rapidly producing a world wide phenomenon of air pollution from cars.With air pollution on the rise, there is an increased need for air pollution control equipment to be used.