You wear them, you eat them, you drink them. Dust is a particle. Sand is a particle. Glass beads are particles. Viruses are particles.
Bacteria are particles.
Even chocolate is particles. Moudgil is director of the University of Florida's Center for Particle Science and Technology, funded by the National Science Foundation in 1994 to study particles as large as a grain of sand and as small as a dust particle split into 25 pieces. The center's primary mission is to do research on these particles and share that research with private companies, which in turn hope to use the technologies in such real-world applications as computer screens, drug delivery systems and water filters. Also next week, a National Science Foundation review committee will visit the center to evaluate how well it's fairing in its mission. The rest comes from the state, which provides facilities and staff salaries, and private companies, which provide money, their own lab space and equipment.