What's dust?

Question

Components, made of, has in it...

Answer 1

There are three main components of dust: first, dead skin cells, second, the dried feces and dessicated corpses of dust mites (lovely thought, eh? When people develop a house-dust allergy, this is usually the component they are reacting to), and the last component by volume is tiny fibers shed by clothing -- cotton is bad for this, and jeans are the worst. This is for ordinary house dust. (Incidentally, dust mites are not generally visible, except with a microscope; they are 200-300 microns long, they eat dead skin cells and live in bedding, carpets and soft furnishings. Always. Trust me on this, anything a year old or more has a good population of them.)

In the case of a new basement, on the other hand, the primary component of dust is likely to be the obvious: concrete. Elsewhere in a brand-new house plaster and plasterboard both "shed" copiously over the first few weeks.

And outdoor dust is fine particles of soil and stone dust (composition dependent on location and prevailing winds), with a hefty component of pollen and other plant material.

Answer 2

Dust is a general name for minute solid particles with diameters less than 500 micrometers. On Earth, dust occurs in the atmosphere from various sources; soil dust lifted up by wind, volcanic eruptions, and pollution are some examples. Airborne dust is considered an aerosol and can have a strong local radiative forcing on the atmosphere and significant effects on climate. In addition, if enough of the minute particles are dispersed within the air in a given area (such as flour or coal dust), under certain circumstances this can be an explosion hazard.

Coal dust is responsible for the lung disease known as Pneumoconiosis, including black lung disease, which occurs among coal miners. This danger has resulted in a number of laws regulating environmental standards for working conditions.

Answer 3

"Dust" can be made up of anything, from mineral to biological in nature, from plant matter animal matter (hair) to stone matter. It's just the size of the particles which renders it small enough to be called dust. On Mars, all dust is mineral in nature ( we assume ). Same with Moon dust. On Earth, it can be made up of other bio materials.

- The Gremlin Guy -

Answer 4

In your house, dust is about 90% dead skin cells.