Re: Electric chairs in our homes?

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

	This sounds like the equivalent of electrostatic precipitators
that cost 1/10 as much and do reduce the radon daughters. But they
increase the unattached fraction which essentially cancels out the
benefit. 

Bernard L. Cohen
Physics Dept.
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245
Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu


On Wed, 11 Feb 1998, Pickett, Bruce D wrote:

> The following short article appears on page 45 of the March 1998 issue
> of Popular Science magazine, published by Times Mirror Magazines.
> 
> Bruce Pickett
> The Boeing Company, Seattle, WA
> bruce.d.pickett@boeing.com------------------------------------------Fight with PowerTHE FUTURE OF radon removal may be as simple as powering up your living
> room. In tests conducted under a grant from the EPA, SR Environmental of
> Amherst, New York, has shown that electrically charging a few furniture
> surfaces continuously can eliminate as much as 90 percent of radon
> particles circulating in a large room.Taking advantage of radon particles' affinity for highly charged
> surfaces, scientists attached a 10-kilovolt power supply to various
> pieces of furniture -- bookcases, sofas, tables. After about 3 hours,
> they found the airborne concentration of radon had decreased 76 to 90
> percent, depending on how large a surface area was charged.The charged surfaces also attracted other pollutants, such as pollen,
> spores, cigarette smoke, and dust. That's good for clearing the air, but
> bad for occupants who use the furniture. The company is now attempting
> to figure out how to either repeatedly clean these surfaces or create a
> single collection plate -- say, a bookcase -- with a surface area large
> enough to be effective.Radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas, is the second-leading
> cause of lung cancer in the United States. The gas emanates from trace
> amounts of radium found in soil underneath or adjacent to many homes.
> The gas itself doesn't do the damage; rather, small particles emitted
> from its decay seep through cracks or porous building materials and are
> inhaled.SR Environmental is now conducting more studies to determine whether the
> system is feasible. One benefit: It would cost about $400, half that of
> the traditional method of subslab piping to remove radon. -- Gunjan
> Sinha
>