Surrounding this newly negatively charged particle are many other particles that are positively charged. These positively charged particles are drawn to the negatively charged particle and begin to build up, Eventually these particles, being built up like a snow ball, become too heavy to stay in the air and fall harmlessly to the floor where they are cleaned up by dusting or vacuuming. If a room is kept reasonably free of incoming pollutants, the air becomes very clean and free of air born particulate. In addition, negative ions aid in mood elevation and increased oxygen intake resulting in the feeling of alertness and vitality similar to the feeling we get when we are in a beautiful forest or near a crashing waterfall or the fresh feeling of breathing crisp, clean mountain air, This article is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. T. Neil Davis is a seismologist with the Institute.
Evidence seems to be mounting that ion concentrations in the air do affect how people feel.
Further, there is evidence that the new trend toward using computerized equipment in offices may be creating a special problem. Cosmic rays coming into the earth from the sun and elsewhere break apart air molecules and thereby create much of the ionization that exists in the air. Since more cosmic rays come in at the high latitudes, the high-latitude air normally has a higher proportion of ionized air molecules or molecular clusters. However, in cities and in confined spaces such as offices, processes take place to reduce the number of ions. One important process is attachment of charge-carrying molecular clusters to pollution particles in the air.