Dense traffic on the Kaiserdamm in Berlin-Charlottenburg
Photo: dpa/Michael Kappeler
Steffen, I recently cleaned the bathroom window. I noticed dust that has spread to the frame. Where does it come from?
First, a lot is being built in Berlin. And construction sites are a common source for all kinds of dust. Second, we live in a fairly sandy area. And thirdly: There are many forest fires in summer. But you don’t see the most dangerous dust.
Is that the so -called fine dust?
Ultra ie dust. Crochets under two and a half micrometers, i.e. significantly smaller than a human hair is thick.
And the car traffic? What role does it play?
A big one in the ultra -in -depth dust. For example, as a soot from the exhaust. The quantity of fine dust in road traffic is coarser. And it does not come from the exhaust, but from the abrasion of the tires. In addition, finely grinding dirt on the streets is grinded and whirled by the cars even more finely. The concentrations are very high, especially at busy intersections.
The dirt not only gets stuck on my window, we also breathe in. How dangerous is that?
The fine dust you scrubbed you away is somewhat coarser and usually does not come deep into the lungs. The ultra -upters, on the other hand, breathe in quite deep. This can even go into the bloodstream.
That doesn’t sound good.
It is not either. There are indications that cardiovascular diseases multiply through very fine dust. An increased risk of cancer can also result. There are studies that show how it comes about.
If I say that car traffic in our cities kill people through fine dust, is that true?
An exact mortality rate cannot be striked for car traffic in terms of fine dust. However, he is otherwise responsible for enough dead, namely through accidents. However, there are not only in cities.
In mid -February, the Federal Environment Agency published an index that provides information about air quality in Germany. In large parts of the country, the quality is bad. This obviously has to do with winter.
Certainly even.
Why is air worse in winter than in summer?
More is burned in winter than in summer. There are still heating systems with us that are fueled with oil, wood and coal. In addition, there are often weather conditions with relatively little wind in winter, where the smoke, which leaves the chimneys, gets stuck.
You know the pictures from China or South America, where a kind of haze hangs over the cities.
Sure, of course. It was similar with us in Berlin. During my school days in the 1970s, the Klingenberg power plant was still operated with coal and without smoke gas swift. Then pulled a kind of fog over the school premises. During the break I got a medium asthma attack.