Airborn Contaminants, Essay Example

Airborne contaminants are defined as a system of particles suspended in air and exist in gaseous form or as aerosols. Gaseous form here means they assume the form of gases and vapors.Aireborne contaminant exists in different types and is products of different source. They include; dust, fumes, smokes, mists, gases and vapours (Pye, 2013).

Dusts are solid particles produced either mechanically or stirred up and dispersed into the air. It can also refer to the solid particles precipitated from the gas state and settled on the surfaces. Dusts are emanates from both mechanical and natural processes. Examples dusts from natural sources are volcanic ashes and pollen grains, one the other hand those from mechanical processes are; mineral dust like cement and chemical dusts (Hinds, 2012).

Fumes refer to solid matter dispersed into the air originating from thermal or chemical processes. Chemical reactions many a times releases fumes into the air for instance metal oxide fumes also incomplete combustion of organic materials may release impurities into the air for example soot particles.

Mist is a composition of liquid dispersions into the air. They result from either chemical process for example oil mist or during condensation of liquids from vapour state. The mist state would soon disappear due to sedimentation. Vapour is the gaseous state of a substance that is liquid or solid at a room temperature.

Gas is a substance, which occurs in gaseous state at a room temperature and pressure (Pye, 2013). Smoke on the other hand consists of aerosols, gases, and vapours resulting from incomplete combustion of substances. Aerosols consist of solid and liquid particles, which remain suspended in the air for a long time; they may include a mixture of smokes, fumes, dusts, and mists.

Airborne contaminants are harmful to the human health and these calls for engineering and respiratory controls (Hinds, 2012) whenever airborne contaminants encounter human beings. Applications of basic exposure controls like adequate ventilations; maintainace of an ideal exposure standards and use of protective gears is one of the respiratory controls. On the other hand, engineering controls are like; creation of local exhausts ventilation; down flow booths or recycling mechanisms and fume-cupboards.

References

Hinds, W. C. (2012). Aerosol technology: properties, behavior, and measurement of airborne particles. John Wiley & Sons.

Pye, K. (2013). Aeolian dust and dust deposits. Elsevier.