The article that I have chosen for this brief research paper is based on how shed skin cells can actually work to reduce air pollution, especially ozone. Ozone is an element that prevents ultraviolet rays (which is the primary cause for cancer) from entering through the Stratosphere but when there is ozone within the Troposphere, it can be the source for very harmful effects towards vegetations and human health. Ozone can especially effect humans as it can trigger asthma and other related symptoms. Humans shed their skin every 2-4 weeks with the rate of 0.001-0.003 ounces of skin flakes every hour and nearly 500 million cells every day. Many may believe that this is a nuisance as it contributes to indoor pollution through household dust but the flakes, which include cholesterol, skin oils, and squalene, that settle in dust and other indoor material will actually work to decrease ozone levels by at least 2%-15%. Squalene was also proven to benefit humans as it has a role in oxidation chemistry indoors but the removal of interior ozone is also due to the exposure of human skin, hair and clothing. Experiments within several airplane cabins and 500 bedrooms of children between the ages of 3-5 years as well as 151 daycare centers have clearly shown a small but significant difference regarding the removal of ozone and other airborne indoor pollution.
I had personally found that this article was very unusual because it had explained how something that was found to be of an annoyance in our lives was actually of good use. With the world constantly being degraded through human actions, it is somewhat relieving to evaluate studies, such as to this one, which is proven to help the atmosphere. Like many others, I had once thought that animal and human dander was a large and negatively affecting factor to air pollution but once this article had been attained to my knowledge; there was a moment of realization when I began to understand that some things were naturally meant to benefit other causes. With new facts that are being proven all throughout the world, it questions many as to how we can connect this knowledge to make the world a better place and concerning this particular study, there are several actions we can take. First, we should educate the people and let them know that human skin cells can actually filter the air of a harmful element known as ozone. Next, we could use this advantage to build systems where we are able to purify the air and release it in a repetitive cycle. There is a lot of options we can choose from, regarding many other topics as well and although this was study was proven to only help decrease ozone amounts in the troposphere by 5-12%, this could possibly be a new solution to actions we can take in the future and after all, it will only give us an advantage as well as the earth.
Concerning the article that this essay had been based on, there are some unanswered questions and ideas. The studies have evaluated several different scenes but it could have possibly been more detailed if they did research on the levels of decreased ozone with animals or persons of various ages. The scientists could have also performed several experiments in different weather or continued a further research to observe if ozone levels fluctuated. They supposedly should wrote more information in addition as to how this could encourage a new epiphany on how one would be able to reduce indoor air pollution. This study on decreasing air pollution sounds fascinating and simple to take action but for those who are allergic to dust or have an excessive amount of dust in their indoor household/environment could be negatively affected. Overall, this proven study is a new step towards improving air pollution and hopefully it will be further looked into.
Citation/Resource:
Charles J. Weschler. Characterization techniques applied to indoor dust. (2011, May 9) Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110509114034.html
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