Does air, especially polluted air, contain metal in it?

Question

We are making a device for our science project that will remove particles in the air, and we're trying to use electromagnetism.

Answer 1

There is metal in polluted air; however most of the pollutants in air is not metal. Thus if you just removed the metals from polluted air, the air would still be polluted.

However, you can still use electromagnetism. All you have to do is ionize the air-- the pollutants will ionize easier and accrue charge. Then you can use electromagnetism to cause this charged pollutants to be filtered out of the air.

Answer 2

I will tell you how you can tell. Find your periodic table (the one in the book that shows you which elements are metals -- that would be all the elements to the left of the "stair step".

If there are any compounds in your air that contain any of these elements, then there are metals in your air.

Caution: Elemental metals and compounds that contain metals have different chemical properties. Magnetism is a chemical property.

Just because a compound contains metals doesn't necessarily mean that it is magnetic.

You might want to reconsider your question for your hypothesis.

(Chemistry Teacher)

Answer 3

Unfortunately there is metal in air. If you go anywhere near a coal burning power plant you will find vaporized mercury, uranium, and thorium.

Answer 4

no, it contains elements that make up some metals