Smog is a type of air
pollutant. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century as a
portmanteau of the words
smoke and
fog to refer to smoky fog. The word was then intended to refer to what was sometimes known as
pea soup fog, a familiar and serious problem in
London from the 19th century to the mid 20th century. This kind of visible air pollution is composed of nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, ozone, smoke or particulates among others (less visible pollutants include carbon monoxide, CFCs and radioactive sources). Man-made smog is derived from coal emissions, vehicular emissions, industrial emissions, forest and agricultural fires and photochemical reactions of these emissions.