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posted by martyb on Tuesday November 22 2016, @08:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-acid-rain-feels-like-for-fish? dept.

In December 1952, a dense fog fell over London that lasted roughly four days, dropping visibility and making it hard to breathe. At the time, residents paid little attention to the strange event, writing it off as just another natural fog, but once it lifted, people started dying.

The event – referred to as the Great Smog – led to the death of roughly 12,000 people, and the hospitalisation of up to 150,000. But how could something like this happen? 

[...] Nw [sic], over 60 years later, an international team of researchers might have finally figured it out, as part of an investigation into China's modern air pollution issues.

The answer is actually pretty terrifying – it turns out people were breathing in the fog equivalent of acid rain.


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  • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday November 22 2016, @06:34PM

    by Whoever (4524) on Tuesday November 22 2016, @06:34PM (#431393) Journal

    My memory (back to the '60s, not the '50s) was that my parents' house had a coke-fired stove (not coal) for hot water. We had coal fireplaces in every room, but mostly used electric heaters in the rooms.

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 22 2016, @09:28PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday November 22 2016, @09:28PM (#431496)

    1990s (no longer East) Berlin and Potsdam had regular coal service to residences and businesses, great piles of the stuff waiting to be burned. About the same time, I encountered one of those acid clouds on the streets of Potsdam, nasty stuff.

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