The dominant forces determining the motion of interplanetary particulates are gravitation, solar radiation pressure and Lorentz force. The latter two becoming significant for micron- and submicron- sized particles. In situ measurements by spaceprobes, microcrater distributions and remote observations both in the IR and visible wavelength range have established the mass frequency and spatial distribution of dust particles in interplanetary space. Consequences of the Poynting-Robertson effect and mutual collisions on these distributions and the contributions of various sources (interstellar dust, asteroids and comets) are discussed. It is shown that the contribution from a distributed source of large particles in the inner solar system is most important. Collisions between these meteor sized particles (m > 10^-5 g) produce large amounts of zodiacal light particles (10^-5 g to 10^-10 g) and
β-meteoroids (m < 10^-10 g) which leave the solar system on hyperbolic orbits. At the present time the Poynting-Robertson effect transports into the inner solar system less than 10% of the zodiacal light particles which are produced by collisions from bigger particles.