Posted by Ron Hill on March 20, 2002, at 11:49:18
In reply to Re: Air Ionizers » OldSchool, posted by IsoM on March 18, 2002, at 23:14:05
IsoM,
Good information. Thanks for posting it.
-- Ron
------------------------------------> Air ionizers have been around for twenty or more years & there was a big hoopla about the benefits of of negatively charged air particles to make you feel good. I was interested back then & read what I could find on it. Much has been written since then & again it comes down to hype & salesmen's pitch.
>
> The difference between the ionization of the air after a storm & what these ionizers give is similar to the magnets in mattresses as opposed to the Earth's magnetic field. After a thunderstorm blows away, the air itself is slightly ionised. What an portable ionizer does is attach a negative charge to the fine dust & smoke particles in household air, not the actual air itself.
>
> An ionizer makes a great air cleaner. When these dust particles receive a negative charge, they're attracted to a surface with a positive charge. The negatively charged particles don't float about in the air, effecting your mood - they head to an opposite charged object instead. Ever notice how much fine dust accumulates around your TV & computer, on the wall & places nearby? It's from the electrical charge from those systems. If you put your nose down close, you can sometimes smell the ozone too - a sharp, metallic smell. Ozone is considered a harmful gas & many ionizers give off a fair amount. If you feel no benefit from working around your computer, you're not going to feel anything from an air ionizer either.
>
> Sorry to throw another monkey wrench into the discussion.
poster:Ron Hill
thread:98294
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020318/msgs/99012.html