4 ms·

Breathing mosts kind of dust is not good for you... being cement, wood, asbestos... which is why workers wear dust masks.

by awqrre 11y ago

dogma1138 11y ago
There's bad and worse, naturally occurring dust including asbestos (more on that a head) while isn't good isn't necessarily a major health risk because we've evolved to live on this planet that well has dust. While Asbestos isn't good the 2 types of Asbestos that actually pose a major health risk Amosite and Crocidolite are also the modern types of Asbestos that were discovered in the 19th century. Serpentine which is the most common and oldest types of Asbestos while still being classified as a potential risk isn't a major health risk. You are exposed to natural sources of Asbestos every day, it's one of the oldest materials we've used, and it's a great analogy for nano materials because until very recent modern times when Asbestos production kicked off a new methods to produce longer and tougher Asbestos fibers it wasn't a major health risk. The risky needle fibers that are known for giving people "asbestos lungs" aren't the common natural occurrence of Asbestos that we've been exposed too during most of our existence as a species, including the 5000 thousands or so years we've been using it. They are a product of modern manufacturing techniques just like nano-particles are a product of more recent manufacturing and engineering.
- ChuckMcM 11y ago
  Interestingly enough, if you look at the "spider webs" of a large forest fire or a house fire, what you are looking at are carbon nanotubes. While difficult to selectively make single walled or double walled, free carbon in the presence of a static field (which is pretty much everywhere) has a chance to form a tubular shape (and also buckyballs). I did some experiments using acetylene in a low oxygen environment to create a lot of free carbon (aka soot :-)) when trying to find ways to make conductive nanotubes reliably. Further, this isn't a "new" phenomena, so I expect the raging wildfires around the world are the primary source for nanotubes in the lungs.
  - dogma1138 11y ago
    I'm not saying that carbon nanotubes are a health risk, the might be and they might not be. There are plenty of nano particles that are created in nature, the question comes what happens when we create similar but not identical particles, a small change in Asbestos fibers due to modern manufacturing turned them form a mostly benign annoyance that clears the lungs easily into microscopic razor blades that cause scar tissue to form leading to multiple diseases. Soot is natural nanoparticles so as long as there been fires we've been exposed to them in certain levels, however we've been exposed to nanoparticles that have been created under certain conditions and a small change in their size, shape or other properties might very large implications on their chemical and biological interactions.
    - jacobolus 11y ago
      Breathing wood smoke is a terrible health hazard, and people have been suffering the consequences of cooking over wood-fire hearths in small poorly ventilated houses for millennia. The air pollution we used to breathe every day in peasant agricultural societies (and still do in many parts of the world) is worse than the worst smog days in a city powered by coal burning power plants or the worst second-hand cigarette smoke you’ll breathe going to parties filled with chain smokers. You shouldn’t assume something is safe just because it is “natural”.

Breathing mosts kind of dust is not good for you... being cement, wood, asbestos... which is why workers wear dust masks.

by awqrre 11y ago

Breathing mosts kind of dust is not good for you... being cement, wood, asbestos... which is why workers wear dust masks.

dogma1138 11y ago

There's bad and worse, naturally occurring dust including asbestos (more on that a head) while isn't good isn't necessarily a major health risk because we've evolved to live on this planet that well has dust. While Asbestos isn't good the 2 types of Asbestos that actually pose a major health risk Amosite and Crocidolite are also the modern types of Asbestos that were discovered in the 19th century. Serpentine which is the most common and oldest types of Asbestos while still being classified as a potential risk isn't a major health risk. You are exposed to natural sources of Asbestos every day, it's one of the oldest materials we've used, and it's a great analogy for nano materials because until very recent modern times when Asbestos production kicked off a new methods to produce longer and tougher Asbestos fibers it wasn't a major health risk. The risky needle fibers that are known for giving people "asbestos lungs" aren't the common natural occurrence of Asbestos that we've been exposed too during most of our existence as a species, including the 5000 thousands or so years we've been using it. They are a product of modern manufacturing techniques just like nano-particles are a product of more recent manufacturing and engineering.

ChuckMcM 11y ago
Interestingly enough, if you look at the "spider webs" of a large forest fire or a house fire, what you are looking at are carbon nanotubes. While difficult to selectively make single walled or double walled, free carbon in the presence of a static field (which is pretty much everywhere) has a chance to form a tubular shape (and also buckyballs). I did some experiments using acetylene in a low oxygen environment to create a lot of free carbon (aka soot :-)) when trying to find ways to make conductive nanotubes reliably. Further, this isn't a "new" phenomena, so I expect the raging wildfires around the world are the primary source for nanotubes in the lungs.
- dogma1138 11y ago
  I'm not saying that carbon nanotubes are a health risk, the might be and they might not be. There are plenty of nano particles that are created in nature, the question comes what happens when we create similar but not identical particles, a small change in Asbestos fibers due to modern manufacturing turned them form a mostly benign annoyance that clears the lungs easily into microscopic razor blades that cause scar tissue to form leading to multiple diseases. Soot is natural nanoparticles so as long as there been fires we've been exposed to them in certain levels, however we've been exposed to nanoparticles that have been created under certain conditions and a small change in their size, shape or other properties might very large implications on their chemical and biological interactions.
  - jacobolus 11y ago
    Breathing wood smoke is a terrible health hazard, and people have been suffering the consequences of cooking over wood-fire hearths in small poorly ventilated houses for millennia. The air pollution we used to breathe every day in peasant agricultural societies (and still do in many parts of the world) is worse than the worst smog days in a city powered by coal burning power plants or the worst second-hand cigarette smoke you’ll breathe going to parties filled with chain smokers. You shouldn’t assume something is safe just because it is “natural”.