How much pollen are we inhaling?

April 20, 2009 12:41 PM

How much pollen and/or dust do we inhale every day?

It certainly changes day to day based upon the local pollen count. I know that the average adult breaths in about 11,000 liters of air every day. So if there were a formula for converting pollen count to mg of pollen per liter of air, then we would have our answer. Does such a formula exist?

posted by JeffK to health & fitness (5 comments total)

Do you want to count pollen/dust that doesn't make it to your lungs when your body's natural filtration mechanisms work properly?
posted by decathecting at 1:00 PM on April 20

I'm not even sure that's answerable in any kind of quantifiable form. The variables are so many it baffles the mind. Season, geographical location, wind speed, climate, house/apartment circulation, pets, human tidiness/cleaning habits, etc etc. Are you looking for an average from some generic location? Are you looking for some formula that postulates X amount of particulates given your 11,000 litres of air?
posted by elendil71 at 1:08 PM on April 20

Something like - Given a pollen count of X, what is the average count of particulates per liter of air.
posted by JeffK at 1:27 PM on April 20

Pollen count is a measure of particles per cubic meter. Average Respiratory minute volume is about five to eight liters per minute. A liter is a cubic decimeter or 0.001 cubic meters.

So you're rough formula here would be

(Pollen Count * 0.001) = Particles per Liter
Particles Per Liter * Liters Per Minute = Particles Per Minute
Particles Per Minute * Minutes Per Day = Particles Per Day

But yeah, if you want it in terms of mass you need the mass per particle.
posted by phrontist at 1:58 PM on April 20

Well, from this page you get the mass of dry air at 1.294 kg/m³. 1000 liters = 1 m³, so 11,000 liters = 11 m³ = 14.234 kg of air having been inhaled. Of course you exhale it back out, along with the pollen. Not sure how you'd account for the amount of pollen that "sticks" in the lungs, though.
posted by odinsdream at 2:30 PM on April 20