In conjunction with Cross Roads School and other participating high schools, we use a Dwyer air quality monitoring device to run 24 hr samples. The device is essentially a vacuum pump open to the air, whose sampling volume rate can be controlled and monitored. The device is set in an open second story window and left on for 24 hrs. Particulate matter caught in the entering air stream is trapped in a 2.0 cm air filter and examined the next day.
Typical materials filtered out of the air are pollens, carbon particulates and blowing dust.
These materials may be examined in a high powered microscope here, or sent to Cross Roads for examination in their electron microscope. Problems encountered in this study include difficulty in excluding water from the sample and getting the electron microscope to function on demand. Get two cups and cut a 1 in hole in the bottom of each one. Place a small piece of window screening over one hole and put the tissue over the screen. When you blow air through the tissue, the screen keeps the tissue from tearing.