What is Dust: Definition and 181 Discussions

Dust is made of fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in homes is composed of about 50% dead skin cells. The rest, and in offices, and other human environments is composed of small amounts of plant pollen, human hairs, animal fur, textile fibers, paper fibers, minerals from outdoor soil, burnt meteorite particles, and many other materials which may be found in the local environment.

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  1. S

    How Can I Build a Dust Catcher for My Room?

    Any ideas on how to build a device that captures dust from the air? My room is full of it because I store all my clothes here, and I can't keep the window open for long as it's winter and it's really cold...
  2. B

    The Music of Space: Could Space Dust Transmit Sound?

    if space contains space dust, wouldn't the space dust be a medium for sound to travel?
  3. deccard

    Bucket launched into cloud of star dust.

    Homework Statement An empty bucket (mass M, area A) is launched with velocity v0 from a space station into a cloud of dust (density ρ). As the bucket moves through the dust it will collect dust in it until the bucket comes to a stop. Solve the place of the bucket x=x(t). 2. The attempt at a...
  4. K

    Why would dust be attracted to a CD wiped with a dry cloth?

    In terms of physics, why is dust attracted to CD's after they are wiped with a dry cloth?
  5. R

    Interstellar Dust: Extinction & Photon Ratio

    Homework Statement Suppose that the density of interstellar dust is uniform along the direction of the plane of the galaxy, but that its vertical density is given approximately by \rho = \rho \o exp - ( z / 0.15 )^2 where z is the distance from the plane of our galaxy in kpc. If the...
  6. A

    Can Electrostatic Charge Attract Dust in a Household Environment?

    What a great forum. I'm prototyping a small hand-held 110V tool. I need to add an electrostatic discharge function to it. We have all seen the "Ionic filter" devices at Sharper Image, where the plates will charge and attract dust. This is the opposite functionality - I need to push dust...
  7. U

    Calculating KE of a Dust Particle: 1 microgram at 1 mm/s

    Homework Statement Find the KE of a dust particle that weighs 1 micrograms traveling at a speed of 1 mm/s Homework Equations E = \frac{mv^2}{2} The Attempt at a Solution Would this question be applicable to the equation listed above? I thought it was only applicable to electrons...
  8. Ivan Seeking

    Inorganic dust with life-like qualities

    http://www.physorg.com/news105869123.html
  9. Andrew Mason

    Automobile energy cost - Dust to Dust report

    Some organization called CNW Marketing Research Inc. has published an "analysis" of the total energy consumption of various kinds of cars. It is called Dust to Dust: The Energy Cost of New Vehicles From Concept to Disposal. This is most certainly not a scientific paper (it refers to...
  10. edward

    News Another Bush Appointee Bites The Dust

    Dr. Richard Carmona a local Tucson resident and skilled trauma surgeon was not invited by the administration to serve another four year term as Surgeon General. Locals, myself included, had wondered why Rich had kept such a low profile as Surgeon General. He is a very outspoken person...
  11. L

    Difference between a Dust Storm and a Tornado

    If a tornado is identified as a violent column of air, then what is the difference between a tornado and a dust storm (or I should be saying a dust twister)?
  12. R

    Doesn't dust or debris collect at the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points?

    referring to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point it would seem to me that over the billions of years that the Earth/Moon pair existed in a relatively stable orbit around their common center of mass, that at the two stable Lagrangian points (depicted as L4 and L5 in the Wikipedia...
  13. G

    Rocket accelerating thru a dust cloud

    hi... a rocket of mass M is flying through a dust cloud the cloud has a density of P. the rocket's cross section is A. every dusticle the rocket colides with becomes permenantly attached. the rocket is ejecting material (as a propellant) at the same rate that it assimilates it. the speed of...
  14. Mk

    Chronological study of cosmic dust done on ice cores

    http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/news/2006/07_28_06b.htm :/ Hmmm, interesting. (also, a German report http://www.awi-bremerhaven.de/AWI/Presse/PM/pm06-2.hj/060728Cosmic%20dust-e.html )
  15. wolram

    Has any one analyzed what dust is composed of?

    Has anyone analyzed what dust is composed of? i saw once that a lot of it is dead skin but what about the other stuff.
  16. D

    Studio grade microphones are sensitive to dust

    Studio grade microphones are sensitive to dust. Over time dust can collect on the diaphragm and degrade the sound quality. I've been told that putting a plastic bag over the microphone when it's not in use will prevent this. I've also been told that it is better to use a clothe covering...
  17. Pengwuino

    Getting dust out of computers, heavy duty

    One thing I've noticed about cleaning computers is that when they're left non-cleaned for a few months, there are 2 layers of dust. One layer is easily blown away with pressurized air. The problem I'm facing now is this second layer. It's like, impossible to remove without using a surface like a...
  18. Pengwuino

    Make an Improvised Dust Filter Now!

    Ok I am cleaning out my comptuer with some high pressure air... and i need a way to filter the air... and i need it now! I'm going to have big gusts of wind flying out of my computer full of dust and it don't want it to just all settle on my floor and on the furniture. save me batman! save...
  19. Z

    Light being intercepted by dust

    There exists one dust grain of radius 0.1 micrometer per every 10^12 hydrogen atoms. Show that as light travels through a 1 cm layer of this comrpessed gas, only about 1% will be intercepted. Then show how thick a layer would be needed to block 1/e of the rays. I believe the density of...
  20. J

    Can dust agglutinate without water?

    I saw a guy claiming to have studied geology and telling that "only dust of hydrated minerals could agglutinate, because agglutination is produced only by Van Der Wall forces". I read many times that dust can agglutinate without water traces, so I see this is wrong, but I would like to read...
  21. z-component

    Cleaning the Dust Out of My PC - A Year Later

    Today I decided to open up my PC's case and de-dust it. I usually do it once every 4-5 months but I've been putting it off and before today I hadn't done it for over a year... :uhh: It took me about 20 minutes to clean all the dust out, starting with the main fan, the dust case around the...
  22. R

    Pp waves - Null dust solutions

    Easy question...does anyone know if pp stands for anything?
  23. I

    Exploring the Potential of Atomically Fine Metal Dust in Hydraulic Pressing

    I wanted to do some research on Atomic dust. The process would take a metal and vaporize it by a high powered LASER in a vacuum and then allow the metal vapor to cool in the vacuum an then fall to the bottem of the chamber as Atomically fine dust particles of the metal. Is there any...
  24. P

    Planet dissolving dust cloud headed for earth

    Hello everyone, I'm a physics/astronomy noob, actually I don’t even begin my curricula till later this 2006.Yes, the credibility of this source is well umm… it’s a tabloid! But my friend who studies astronomy sent me this and this is the debunking thread afterall. :biggrin...
  25. Pengwuino

    Purchases just sitten around collecting dust

    So what do you feel is the most expensive thing you bought that is just sitting around collecting dust (or something you rarely use that's expensive or something you thought you just HAD to have and never/rarely used it)?
  26. Pengwuino

    Overwhelmed by Dust? Tips for Cleaning Up & Reducing Allergies

    Ahhh so i used a can of compressed air to blow out allllll the dust in my computer case and it was just so much that it filled the air pretty well. I get up and all of a sudden it felt like my stomach detached itself and almost threw up... and of course while sitting right now I am getting that...
  27. M

    What Molecules in Air Hit Dust Particles?

    On a chemistry test I just had one of the questions was. Which part of air hits dust particles? I just didn't know what to write. Some of my friends said that nothing hits it, and that it moves simply because it has kinetic energy and then other people said it was N2 that hits it. Does anyone...
  28. H

    Inhomogeneous and anisotropic dust models

    The cosmological models of Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi describe spherically symmetric universes with isotropic but inhomogeneous space, i.e. there are concentric shells with different mean mass densities. The LTB line element is: ds^2 = -dt^2 + \frac{(R'(t, r))^2}{1+2E(r) r^2}dr^2 + R^2(t...
  29. Tsu

    News Is the Bush Administration Trying to Overturn Oregon's Death With Dignity Act?

    Looks like Oregon may be losing one of their rights (the voter-approved Death With Dignity Act.) to Bush's personal religious views. Sweet. :uhh: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2893634 He tries this again! - even when, in May of last year, a federal appeals court...
  30. Mk

    How Does Moon Dust Exist Without Weathering?

    How can there be dust on the moon if there is no weathering whatsoever? I'm going insane over it.
  31. E

    Shouldnt the wind generated from the fan blow the dust away

    i just woke up and i looked at my electric fan...and noticed a lot of dust had accumulated on the fan...anyone haf any idea y? shouldn't the wind generated from the fan blow the dust away?
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