Atmosphere of Saturn

If you look across the skyline of American cities, this sight is not very uncommon. It seems like there is smoke coming out of these buildings, corporations, and factories. After all, they are called smokestacks. In fact, you would not be too far off to say that this is smoke. Smoke is a collection of tiny solid, liquid, and gas particles. But what you see in this picture is a specific form of smoke known as smog. Smog might not be as familiar to the average person. 

This cycle shows how smog is produced

Smog is created by the many pollutants in our atmosphere creating ozone, and reacting with light. Refineries, factories, chemical plants, and the burning of fossil fuels for car engines produces volatile organic compounds like acetone, benzene, formaldehyde, etc. , sulfur. and nitrogen oxides. This in turn makes ozone. While we regularly hear of ozone as the layer in the atmosphere protecting the earth from the ultraviolet rays of the sun, ground level ozone can be quite dangerous. The ground level ozone can be the cause of breathing problems, asthma, reduced resistance to lung infections and colds, and eye irritation. It can even inhibit plant growth and cause terrible damage to crops and forests. Smog is most visible as the morning haze we sometimes might see in the morning or "smoke and fog". 

An actual picture of Saturn

We know that tons and tons of pollutants are being released into the atmosphere, but a lot of the time don't even bother to think twice about it. Well here is a simple reason why we should put a lot more focus on the way we treat Earth: The picture above is a picture of Saturn. One of the first questions you might have is why Saturn is such a weird color? While Earth is approximately 79% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen, Saturn is 75% Hydrogen and 25% Helium. But in the atmosphere of Saturn there are trace amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. Why is this such a big deal? Surrounding Saturn is a layer of smog! Even with such small amounts of nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, the majority of the planet is covered in a film of it. It is almost scary to think that a layer of this nasty gunk is slowly building up on Earth and might destroy the beautiful blues and greens we think of when we look at a picture of Earth. Looking back at the picture at the top, a grayish Earth just might already be here...