There are a couple dozen other elements that are in there in trace amounts, but to a first approximation you're just a bag of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. Now, it turns out that the atmosphere is a bag of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen as well, and it's not living.
Cigarette smoking is the most common irritant that causes emphysema. Pipe, cigar, and other types of tobacco smoking can also cause emphysema, especially if the smoke is inhaled. Fumes and Dust. Breathing in other fumes and dusts over a long period of time may also cause the disease.
The main cause of emphysema is smoking. The tiny air sacs or alveoli at the bottom of the lungs, which cover a huge lung area, are surrounded by tiny blood vessels. Here, as the oxygen reaches the alveoli, it is absorbed by the blood vessels and then transferred into the bloodstream and to the rest of the body.