Impact of smog in cities

currently i am studying a teaching degree at uni (college for u yanks) and i am in a class of year 9's studying science which i want to teach in a few years...one of the students inquired about why we cant see the amount of stars in the city compared to out in the country.

i understande that this has something to do with the smog or general pollution that cities produce, myself living in a city of around 1 million people can see the smog on particular days.

my question is: Is it smog the underlying cause for not being able to see stars in cities compared to that witnessed in the country areas, and if so how does smog impact on light reaching the skies above mass populated areas?

I am new to this site so apologies if this seems a tad amatuer compared to what everyone is used to. Any comments are appriciated.

Thats a really good thought. Light pollution is a HUGE problem in the city. I know because I live near downtown and seeing stars is a job. I'm thinking that smog/haze would reflect more light and make seeing more difficult. Of course that doesn't compare to what a good snowpack will do. When we have snow on the ground it seems to stay light most of the night because of the city lights reflecting off the snowy surface.

So what you are saying is that just like snow, smog in cities is reflecting light and therefore we cannot pick the faint light up compared to that in ares where there is no issues from smog or snow?

How does smog as a pollution constructed fog reflect sunlight as effectivly as the solic snow built up on the the surface?