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Assessment of Aerosols within Philippine Science High School - Central Luzon Campus via the Utilization of Light Sensors and Settling Plates

Country:Philippines
Student(s):Joey Emmanuel S. de la Paz Larraine Niale S. Mercado Arianna Larisse I. Olivar Francesca Loraine I. Olivar Maria Antonina Anaielle S. Seva
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
Contributors:Rex S. Forteza Josephine Joy T. Antalan
Report Type(s):Virtual Science Symposium Report
Protocols:Aerosols
Presentation Poster: View Document
Language(s):English
Date Submitted:2023-03-14
Aerosols are minuscule particles suspended in the air that can either be natural or human-made. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of studies on aerosols due to the growing concerns about their implications on human health, the environment, and Earth’s climate. This study aimed to quantify the number of aerosol particles in the Philippine Science High School - Central Luzon Campus (PSHS-CLC) with the use of settling plates. Five areas in PSHS-CLC served as data points for this study, and in each data point two Petri dishes containing unflavored gelatin where one served as the control were left for 21 hours. The mass of gelatin in each sample was measured before and after exposure to the air to determine the mass loss in each sample. Moreover, the settling plates were also observed before and after exposure to the air using a light sensor and their differences were calculated. Our study shows that the mass change of the settling plates had an average value of 38.5183 ± 15.5287 g and the volume of the gelatin had an average of 67486.98 ± 23766.46 mm3 of volume loss. The mass loss with the most and least are the samples in the GRH (Residence Hall) and the library, respectively. In addition, all settling plates resulted in a lower value of relative light intensity which suggests its correlation with the mass of the air particulates. Factors such as elevation, air pressure, and air temperature affect the number of air particles that settle. Lastly, our findings show that the relative light intensity of the settling plates can be used to measure and monitor the amount of suspended particles in the air. Keywords: aerosols, settling plates, light sensor, PSHS-CLC



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