<\/p>\n
Now on to size. The \u201c10\u201d and the \u201c2.5\u201d refer to microns (AKA micrometers). Microns are tiny. Here\u2019s an idea of how small microns are compared to human hair:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/11\/1-1.png\")
<\/p>\n
Next, there\u2019s a hidden (unlabelled) detail in the terms \u201cPM10\u201d and \u201cPM2.5.\u201d That is the \u201csmaller than\u201d piece. Each pollutant type is defined as that size\u00a0and below.<\/b>\u00a0So PM10 is particles 10 microns and below. PM2.5 is 2.5 microns and below. (That means PM10 includes PM2.5.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What PM is not<\/h3>\n
Finally, it\u2019s helpful to think of what PM is\u00a0not<\/b>. Particulate pollution does not include gas pollutants like ozone and NO2.<\/p>\n
For fellow nerds curious to read more about PM2.5:<\/p>\n
- \n
- I describe how governments measure PM2.5\u00a0here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(including the trick of how they get rid of any particles in the air larger than 2.5 microns)<\/li>\n
- I describe what PM2.5 does to our bodies in\u00a0this answer<\/a><\/span>.<\/li>\n
- In\u00a0this answer<\/a><\/span>, I detect PM2.5 in my home in Beijing and test whether a simple DIY air purifier I made can clean it up.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Hope this helps!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The difference between PM10 and PM2.5 is size. \u201cPM\u201d refers to particulate matter\u2014particles in the air. Those particles are things like organic dust, airborne bacteria, construction dust, and coal particles from power plants (for example, check out\u00a0this study from researchers in Shanghai who analyzed what those particles are really made … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4580,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":671,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions\/671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- I describe what PM2.5 does to our bodies in\u00a0this answer<\/a><\/span>.<\/li>\n