Surprisingly, the air purifier was invented more than a century ago. The first air purification systems appeared in the second half of the 19th century. At that time, they were in the masks of miners and were made of charcoal. They were used to prevent toxic dust from entering the lungs of workers.
After the extraordinary success of this technology, developers added respirators to such masks, and they began to protect firefighters from smoke and harmful chemicals.
Reality and myths
Myth 1: A bottle of clean air
As funny as it sounds, alas, there are countries where it is considered normal to buy clean air in a bottle. And its price is much more expensive than a bottle of clean water. This is how Beijing fights the worst smog by buying bottled Canadian air.
Unfortunately, this myth turned out to be a reality.
Myth 2: The Dust of Many Faces
Folk talk and the expanses of the Internet say that dust contains paper and fabric fibers, skin particles, hair, sweat, flower pollen, soot and other unspecified particles called cosmic dust.
Medicine defines dust as a solid and liquid substance in the form of particles. They are unusually small, so they can rise into the air from the slightest movement, fly for a while, and come back down to the surface. Particles have a classification and are divided into types according to their origin, composition, shape, size, etc.
Myth 3: The shorter you are, the more dust you inhale
Many people claim that children inhale more dust than others because most of it is at a height of one meter from the floor.
This myth was dispelled by the results of a study by Aitken. The experiment took place in a room at a height of 1.2 meters and under the ceiling. In 1 cm³ was found 1 800 000 dust particles, but under the ceiling – 5 220 000.
Myth 4: Dust contains dust mites and allergens
Sad as it may sound, this is an indisputable fact. Without special equipment, it is impossible to detect dust mites, but they exist in every home. It does not bite people, animals and does not spread infection. But the waste of its life hover in the air. They cause allergies.
Myth 5: Dust is a breeding ground for viruses.
Another myth claims that dust is a home for various viruses, pathogens, microbes, tubercle bacilli and scabies mites.
This is true, albeit partial. There are such bacteria that are spread even by small air currents, but over quite a long distance. Tuberculosis bacilli linger for a long time. With the help of dust, the infection spreads and can cause various fungal diseases of the skin, lungs, etc. The only remedy against them is an air purifier. Only this device can eliminate harmful germs and viruses.