We were lucky enough to get a chance to participate in 908 devices webinar on aerosols and chat with our dear friend Dr. Mark Norman on the topic. We learned a lot.

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What is an aerosolWe going to take a definition right from WikipediaOk before we go forward a word about Wikipedia. I was personally corrected for saying that Wikipedia is a shitty resource for science based research. And then i was doing a class with a friend of mine in California Jim Davis. We have had him on the show before. He has a white paper that details how incredible accurate the science info on Wikipedia is. And honestly i was shocked. It seem that although anyone can go in a change stuff. Trolls don't really give a rats ass about science. So with that said……An aerosol (abbreviation of "aero-solution") is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in air or another gas.[1] Aerosols can be natural or anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog or mist, dust, forest exudates and geyser steam. Examples of anthropogenic aerosols are particulate air pollutants and smoke.[1] The liquid or solid particles have diameters typically less than 1 μm; larger particles with a significant settling speed make the mixture a suspension, but the distinction is not clear-cut. An aerosol includes both the particles and the suspending gas, which is usually air.[1] Frederick G. Donnan presumably first used the term aerosol during World War I to describe an aero-solution, clouds of microscopic particles in air. This term developed analogously to the term hydrosol, a colloid system with water as the dispersed medium.[4] Primary aerosols contain particles introduced directly into the gas; secondary aerosols form through gas-to-particle conversion.Various types of aerosol, classified according to physical form and how they were generated, include dust, fume, mist, smoke and fog.Danger to first respondersPrimary chemical hazardParticles in the lungsParticles that are of concern for us us are between .005 to 15 micrometersWe said lungs but its actual the entire respiratory track from the nose and mouth, tongue, pharynx esophagus, trachea, Bronchus, Bronchiole, and alveoli.How particulates are deposited into the lungs.Interceptions.A particle is intercepted or deposited when it travels so close to a surface of the airway passages that an edge of the particle touches the surface. This method is most important for fibers such as asbestos. The fiber length determines where in will be intercepted - like if they were 1 micrometer long and 200 µm wide, then they would be more likely to deposit themselves on surfaces near 20-micron widths than 5-microns.ImpactionAn object in motion will stay in motion. One of sir Isaac newtons first observations on mater and energy. So if you think of a particulate as an object flying in the air it want to go in a straight line. When the air in our body makes turns to get into the throat, or lungs it natural wants to stay in a straight line. Depending on the size of the particle and its momentum these particles can be deposited in various spots where a change of direction is occurring in the body. Particles greater than 10 micro meters usually stay in the nose and throat and will not go into the lower tissues of the respiratory tract.SedimentationThis is similar  to interception but instead of touching the side wall of the body while its moving it does so as it settles between breaths. This type of deposit is found mostly in the bronchi and the bronchioles. It tends to be between .