
Scientists have figured out the reason London fog killed 12,000 people - mariusandreiana
http://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-have-finally-figured-out-what-caused-london-s-deadly-fog
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remarkEon
There's a new Netflix Original called _The Crown_ , and a few episodes in the
London Fog of 1952 is a prominent plot point (no spoilers beyond that, though
if you're a history buff it shouldn't be much of a spoiler anyway). Made me
think considerably about how far we've come in terms of environmental
regulations and our understanding of weather patterns.

I had honestly completely forgotten this even happened until that episode
(though it gets a few of the finer details wrong, but nothing catastrophic.)

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aychedee
Kind of how mustard gas works, compound that turns to sulphuric acid when it
gets wet.

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CamperBob2
_So the compounds released from burning coal and the compounds found inside
natural fog – an aqueous medium made of, you guessed it, water – work together
to make droplets of sulphuric acid, the same stuff that makes 'acid rain'._

Remind me again why we can't have nuclear power?

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labster
Because nuclear leaves toxic waste that lasts over 10000 years in the best
case; and because wind, hydro, solar, and tidal are better alternatives in
most cases.

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kahrkunne
Wind power kills more people per kWh than nuclear does. Hydro power often
relies on dams that devastate ecosystems. Solar is expensive as hell. I don't
even know about tidal, does anyone even do that?

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hyperpallium
> Wind energy kills a mere 100 people or so per trillion kWhrs, the majority
> from falls during maintenance activities

[https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/09/29/forget-
ea...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/09/29/forget-eagle-deaths-
wind-turbines-kill-humans/)

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opo
According to wikipedia, wind kills about 150 per trillion Kwh. This is
significantly more than nuclear.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_accidents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_accidents)

