Dust is a general name for solid particles with diameters less than 20 thou A thou also known as a mil or point, is the verbalized abbreviation for "thousandth(s) of an inch", a unit of length incremented at 0.001 inch (500 micrometres A micrometre is one millionth of a metre, or equivalently one thousandth of a millimetre or one thousand nanometres. It can also be written in scientific notation as 1×10−6 m, meaning 1⁄1000000 m). Particles in the atmosphere The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night. Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78% nitrogen, 21% arise from various sources such as soil dust lifted up by wind, volcanic eruptions During a volcanic eruption, lava, tephra , and various gases, are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure, and pollution. Dust in homes, offices, and other human environments contains small amounts of plant pollen Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the female cone of coniferous plants. When pollen lands, human and animal hairs, textile fibers A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands. Textiles are formed by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or pressing fibres together, paper fibres Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets, minerals from outdoor soil, and many other materials which may be found in the local environment.^[1]

Domestic dust and humans

Insects and other small fauna found in houses subtly interact with dust and may have adverse impact on the health of humans Humans are a species of animal known taxonomically as Homo sapiens , and are the only extant member of the Homo genus of bipedal primates in Hominidae, the great ape family. However, in some cases "human" is used to refer to any member of the genus Homo^{[citation needed]}.

Dust may worsen hay fever Allergic rhinitis, pollenosis or hay fever is an allergic inflammation of the nasal airways. It occurs when an allergen such as pollen or dust is inhaled by an individual with a sensitized immune system, and triggers antibody production. These antibodies mostly bind to mast cells, which contain histamine. When the mast cells are stimulated by. Circulating outdoor air through a house by keeping doors and windows open, or at least slightly ajar, may reduce the risk of hay fever-causing dust. In colder climates, occupants seal even the smallest air gaps, and eliminate outside fresh air circulating inside the house. So it is essential to manage dust and airflow.^{[citation needed]}.

House dust mites The house dust mite , is a cosmopolitan guest in human habitation. Dust mites feed on organic detritus such as flakes of shed human skin and flourish in the stable environment of dwellings. House dust mites are a common cause of asthma and allergic symptoms worldwide. Some of the gut enzymes (notably proteases) produced by the house mite persist exist on all indoor surfaces and even suspended in the air. They feed on minute particles of organic matter, the main constituent of house dust. Dust mites flourish in the fibers of bedding, furniture, and carpets. They excrete enzymes to digest the organic particles, and excrete feces, that together become part of the house dust, and may irritate allergies.^[2]

Alternately, the hygiene hypothesis In medicine, the hygiene hypothesis is a hypothesis that states that a lack of early childhood exposure to infectious agents, symbiotic microorganisms , and parasites increases susceptibility to allergic diseases by modulating immune system development posits that the modern obsession with cleanliness Cleanliness is the absence of dirt, including dust, stains, bad smells and garbage. Purposes of cleanliness include health, beauty, absence of offensive odor, avoidance of shame, and to avoid the spreading of dirt and contaminants to oneself and others. In the case of glass objects such as windows or windshields, the purpose can also be is as much a problem as house dust mites. The hygiene hypothesis argues that our lack of prior pathogenic exposure may in fact encourage the development of ailments including hay fever Allergic rhinitis, pollenosis or hay fever is an allergic inflammation of the nasal airways. It occurs when an allergen such as pollen or dust is inhaled by an individual with a sensitized immune system, and triggers antibody production. These antibodies mostly bind to mast cells, which contain histamine. When the mast cells are stimulated by and asthma Asthma, from the Greek Άσθμα , meaning gasp, is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath.^[3][4]

Atmospheric dust

Airborne dust is considered an aerosol Particulates, alternatively referred to as particulate matter or fine particles, are tiny subdivisions of solid or liquid matter suspended in a gas or liquid. In contrast, aerosol refers to particles and the gas together. Sources of particulate matter can be man made or natural. Air pollution and water pollution can take the form of solid and can have a strong local radiative forcing In climate science, radiative forcing is loosely defined as the change in net irradiance at the atmospheric boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere . Net irradiance is the difference between the incoming radiation energy and the outgoing radiation energy in a given climate system and is measured in Watts per square meter. The change on the atmosphere and significant effects on climate. In addition, if enough minute particles are dispersed within the air in a given area (such as flour or coal dust), under certain circumstances can cause an explosion A dust explosion is the fast combustion of dust particles suspended in the air in an enclosed location. Coal dust explosions are a frequent hazard in underground coal mines, but dust explosions can occur where any powdered combustible material is present in an enclosed atmosphere hazard.

Coal dust Coal dust is a fine powdered form of coal, which is created by the crushing, grinding, or pulverizing of coal. Because of the brittle nature of coal, coal dust can be created during mining, transportation, or by mechanically handling coal is responsible for the lung disease known as Pneumoconiosis Pneumoconiosis is an occupational lung disease and a restrictive lung disease caused by the inhalation of dust, often in mines, including black lung disease, that occurs among coal miners. The danger of coal dust resulted in environmental legislation regulating work place air quality in some jurisdictions.

Road dust

Dust kicked up by vehicles traveling on roads A road is an identifiable thoroughfare, route, way or path between two places which may or may not be available for use by the public; public roads, especially major roads connecting significant destinations are termed highways. Modern roads are normally smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel although historically many roads,^[5] may make up 33% of air pollution Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment into the atmosphere^[6] Road dust consists of deposition of vehicle exhausts and industrial exhausts, tire and brake wears, dust from paved roads or potholes A pothole is a type of disruption in the surface of a roadway where a portion of the road material has broken away, leaving a hole. Most potholes are formed due to fatigue of the pavement surface. As fatigue fractures develop they typically interlock in a pattern known as "alligator cracking". The chunks of pavement between fatigue, and dust from construction sites.^[7] Road dust represents a significant source contributing to the generation and release of particulate matter Particulates, alternatively referred to as particulate matter or fine particles, are tiny subdivisions of solid or liquid matter suspended in a gas or liquid. In contrast, aerosol refers to particles and the gas together. Sources of particulate matter can be man made or natural. Air pollution and water pollution can take the form of solid into the atmosphere.^[8] Control of road dust is a significant challenge in urban areas, and also in other spheres with high levels of vehicular traffic upon unsealed roads such as mines and garbage dumps. Road dust may be suppressed by mechanical methods like sweeping vehicles,^[9] with vegetable oils,^[10] or with water sprayers.

Dust control

Control of atmospheric dust

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged to protect human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. The EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon and began operation on December 2, 1970, when its establishment was passed (EPA) mandates facilities that generate dust minimize or mitigate the production of dust in their operation. The most frequent dust control violations occur at new residential housing developments in urban An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets areas. United States Federal law requires that construction sites obtain permits to conduct earth moving, and include plans to control dust emissions Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment into the atmosphere. Control measures include such simple practices as spraying construction and demolition Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use sites with water, and preventing the tracking of dust onto adjacent roads. US federal laws require dust control on sources such as vacant lots, unpaved parking lots, and unpaved roads. Dust in such places may be suppressed by mechanical methods^{[citation needed]}, including paving or laying down gravel, or stabilizing the surface with water, vegetable oils^[10] or other dust suppressants, or by using water misters to suppress dust that is already airborne^{[citation needed]}.

Control of domestic dust

Dust control is the suppression of solid particles with diameters less than 500 micrometers. Dust in the airstream poses a serious health threat to children,^[11] older people, and those with respiratory illnesses Respiratory Disease is the term for diseases of the respiratory system. These include diseases of the lung, pleural cavity, bronchial tubes, trachea, upper respiratory tract and of the nerves and muscles of breathing. Respiratory diseases range from mild and self-limiting such as the common cold to life-threatening such as bacterial pneumonia or. House dust can become airborne easily. Care should be exercised when removing dust to avoid causing the dust to become airborne. Some dust removing devices trap some dust. One way to repel dust is with an electrical charge^{[citation needed]}. Water-trap vacuums such as the Rainbow, eliminate the risk of broadcasting dust by drowning the dust particles in water. Dust subsequently cannot escape the container to fly back into the air.

Control of dust resistance on surfaces

A dust resistant surface In mathematics, specifically in topology, a surface is a two-dimensional topological manifold. The most familiar examples are those that arise as the boundaries of solid objects in ordinary three-dimensional Euclidean space R3 — for example, the surface of a ball. On the other hand, there are surfaces, such as the Klein bottle, that cannot be is a state of prevention against dust contamination or damage, by a design Engineering is the discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific, and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or invention or treatment of materials Material is anything made of matter, constituted of one or more substances. Wood, cement, hydrogen, air and water are all examples of materials. Sometimes the term "material" is used more narrowly to refer to substances or components with certain physical properties that are used as inputs to production or manufacturing. In this sense, and items in manufacturing Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to make things for use or sale. Also it can be used for selling things. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale. Such or through a repair Maintenance, repair, and operations involves fixing any sort of mechanical or electrical device should it become out of order or broken (known as repair, unscheduled or casualty maintenance). It also includes performing routine actions which keep the device in working order (known as scheduled maintenance) or prevent trouble from arising ( process. A reduced tacticity Tacticity is the relative stereochemistry of adjacent chiral centers within a macromolecule . The practical significance of tacticity rests in the link between tacticity and the physical properties of the polymer. The regularity of the macromolecular structure influences the degree to which it has rigid, crystalline long range order or flexible, of a synthetic layer or covering can protect surfaces and release small molecules that could have remained attached. A panel, container or enclosure with seams may feature types of strengthened rigidity Structural rigidity is the property of a structure that it does not bend or flex under an applied force. A structure is built of rigid components, that hold their ends apart, but it may also have components that pull their ends together, called "tension elements". The components in the simplest cases are straight rods, or rods and solid or sealant A sealant is a viscous material that changes state to become solid, once applied, and is used to prevent the penetration of air, gas, noise, dust, fire, smoke or liquid from one location through a barrier into another. Typically, sealants are used to close small openings that are difficult to shut with other materials, such as concrete, drywall, to vulnerable edges In geometry, an edge is a one-dimensional line segment joining two zero-dimensional vertices in a polygon. Thus applied, an edge is a connector for a one-dimensional line segment and two zero-dimensional objects and joins.

Dust in other contexts

Dust in outer space

Cosmic dust Cosmic dust is a type of dust composed of particles in space which are a few molecules to 0.1 mm in size. Cosmic dust can be further distinguished by its astronomical location; for example: intergalactic dust, interstellar dust, interplanetary dust and circumplanetary dust (such as in a planetary ring) is widely present in space, where gas and dust clouds are primary precursors for planetary systems A planetary system consists of the various non-stellar objects orbiting a star such as planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, meteoroids, comets, and cosmic dust. The Sun together with its planetary system, which includes Earth, is known as the Solar System. The zodiacal light The zodiacal light is a faint, roughly triangular, whitish glow seen in the night sky which appears to extend up from the vicinity of the sun along the ecliptic or zodiac. It is so faint that it is completely masked by either moonlight or light pollution. The zodiacal light decreases in intensity with distance from the Sun, but on very dark nights seen in the dark night sky, is produced by sunlight reflected from particles of dust in orbit around the Sun. The tails of comets A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma , and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet. Comet nuclei are themselves loose collections of ice, dust, and small rocky particles, ranging from a few are produced by emissions of dust and ionized gas from the body of the comet. Dust also covers solid planetary bodies, and vast dust storms A dust storm or sandstorm is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front blows loose sand and dust from a dry surface. Particles are transported by saltation and suspension, causing soil erosion from one place and deposition in another. The Sahara and drylands around the Arabian peninsula occur on Mars that cover almost the entire planet. Interstellar dust is found between the stars, and high concentrations produce diffuse nebulae and reflection nebulae.

Dust is widely present in the galaxy. Ambient radiation heats dust and re-emits radiation into the microwave band, which may distort the cosmic microwave background In cosmology, cosmic microwave background radiation (also CMBR, CBR, MBR, and relic radiation) is a form of electromagnetic radiation filling the universe. With a traditional optical telescope, the space between stars and galaxies (the background) is pitch black. But with a radio telescope, there is a faint background glow, almost exactly the same power spectrum. Dust in this regime has a complicated emission spectrum, and includes both thermal dust emission and spinning dust emission.^[12]

Dust samples returned from outer space may provide information about conditions in the early solar system. Several spacecraft have sought to gather samples of dust and other materials. Among these craft was Stardust Stardust is an American interplanetary mission of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, whose primary purpose was to investigate the makeup of the comet Wild 2 and its coma. It was launched on February 7, 1999 by NASA, travelled nearly 3 billion miles , and returned to Earth on January 15, 2006 to release a sample material capsule. It is the first, which flew past Comet Wild 2 in 2004, and returned a capsule of the comet's remains to Earth in January 2006. The Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft is on a mission to collect samples of dust from the surface of an asteroid.

Art and entertainment

Stippling and airbrushing are fine art techniques that can create dust. In video games, a particle system is usually used.

Gallery

See also

• Contamination control
• Dust bunny
• Dust explosion
• Medical geology
• Mineral dust
• Sawdust

Notes

1. ^ Kathleen Hess-Kosa, (2002), Indoor Air Quality: sampling methodologies, page 216. CRC Press.
2. ^ Abadi, Sara (August 2009). "The Great American Hygiene Survey Results Revealed". AOL Health. http://www.aolhealth.com/healthy-living/good-hygiene. Retrieved August 2009.
3. ^ http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=416594
4. ^ http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002421.html
5. ^ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/11/991130062843.htm
6. ^ http://www.hinduonnet.com/2007/10/27/stories/2007102759600100.htm
7. ^ http://www.cleanair.hamilton.ca/events/street-sweeping-study.asp
8. ^ http://www.ec.gc.ca/pdb/npri/consultations/2006/Road_Dust_e.cfm
9. ^ http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=936477
10. ^ ^{a b} http://www.usroads.com/journals/rmej/9806/rm980604.htm
11. ^ "Dust mites in the humid atmosphere of Bangalore trigger around 60% of asthma" [1]
12. ^ D. P. Finkbeiner, M. Davis and D. J. Schlegel (1999). "Extrapolation of Galactic Dust Emission at 100 Microns to CMBR Frequencies Using FIRAS". Astrophys. J. 524: 867. doi:10.1086/307852. arXiv:astro-ph/9905128

References

• Holmes, Hannah; (2001)The Secret Life of Dust. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-37743-0
• Steedman, Carolyn; (2002) Dust. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0719060151

External links

• The Bibliography of Aeolian Research
• The German Asthma & Allergy Federation (DAAB) (German)

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