I Breathe WHAT??
Students capture and examine air particles to gain an appreciation of how much dust, pollen and other particulate matter is present in the air around them. Students place "pollution detectors" at various locations to determine which places have a lot of particles in the air and which places do not have as many. Quantifying and describing these particles is a first step towards engineering methods of removing contaminants from the air.
Students examine how much air particles are present in the air we breatheCopyright Daniel Case. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_quality_index#/media/File:Women_walking_at_Temple_of_Heaven_Park,_Beijing.jpg
Engineers of all disciplines creatively design new technologies to reduce the production of air pollution. Some engineers examine the types of chemicals released in the manufacturing process, and re-design new ways of production or methods to remove the harmful chemicals before the factory air is released into the atmosphere. Others re-design engines to make more efficient the fuel burning process and/or reduce chemical emissions.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Identify some examples of particulate matter in the air.
- Create a particulate matter collector.
- Hypothesize why some locations have more particles in the air than other locations.
- Describe why engineers count particulate matter while observing air quality.