A factory was started near a village. Suddenly villagers started feeling the presence of irriting vapour in the village and cases of headache, chest pain, cough, dryness of throat and breathing problems increased. Villagers blamed the emissions from the chimney of the factory for such problems. Explain what colud have happend. Give chemical reactions for the support of your explanation.

Explanation

The symptoms observed in a village indicate that nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide are released form the chimney of the factory. These are produced by the buming of fossil fuets such as gasoline, coal , naturals gas etc.
In an automobile engine, at high temperature when fossil fuel is burnt, dinitrogen and dioxygen combine to yield NO is i.e., nitric oxide.
`N_(2) + O_(2) overset(1200-1500^(@)C)rarr2NO`
`2NO + O_(2) overset(1100^(@)C)rarr2NO_(2)`
`SO_(2)` is produced by burning of sulphur containing fossil fuel or by roasting of sulphide ores such a iron pyrites, copper pyrites etc.
`Cu_(2)S+O_(2) rarr 2Cu + SO_(2)`