You may be familiar with one kind of fume. This is the fume that is made by a car exhaust. It is made by the burning petrol in the car's engine and comes out of the exhaust pipe as a smelly harmful gas. Many materials give out fumes when they burn. Plastic materials give out very poisonous fumes. People can be overcome by these fumes as they try to escape from a burning building and be killed by them.

When materials are made in factories fumes are also produced. These may escape from the factory chimney and cause air pollution. In many countries the fumes from factories have to be controlled so that there is as little air pollution as possible.

Some materials may give off fumes when they get warm. Some people warm perfumed oils in their homes. The fumes that are released from the oils make the home smell very pleasant.