New Kind of Sensor Provides Snapshot of Mankind’s Impact on Environment

Just how dusty is that room? Researchers at the Ohio State University have uncovered 63 different particles of dust in one room. The 63 unique dust particles were discovered when chemists were testing a new kind of sensor.

The dust was stuck inside the sensor and the researchers realized that they could measure the composition of the single dust particles inside the sensor. The most common ingredient was organic matter followed by quartz as the second most common ingredient in the dust particles. Other ingredients included manmade chemicals from air pollution, fertilizers, and construction materials.

James Coe, professor of chemistry at Ohio State University said that in a way the single dust particle was like a snapshot of mankind’s impact on the environment. The metal-mesh sensor used in the test has a 12.6-micron-square lattice of 5-micron-square holes, and detects dust particles in the 3 to 5 micron size range.

Coe’s team is now constructing computer algorithms to better analyze the mineral components and reveal details about the organic components. They can separate particles by size to isolate the ones that are small enough to get into people's lungs, and look at them in detail, said Coe. A library of dust types could aid the study of respiratory diseases that are caused by airborne particles.