Air chemical analysis "homemade"?

[Marvin94]

I have a steelworks nearby my home. Is it possible to perform an air analysis in order to know how much the air is polluted? Which instrument do I need ? Are there cheap possibilities? Thanks a lot in advance for your help!

 

[Borek]

Sorry, no way of making it cheaply, reliably, without expensive hardware and years of training.

 

[Marvin94]

Thanks for your reply. Do you know however, how it should be performed?

 

[bigfooted]

What are you afraid of? If you are worried about something specific, like CO or NOX, go to ebay and by a cheap meter. Also do some measurements in the city center, it will probably be worse there.

You can also call the steelworks and ask if they can provide information on the emission levels. Probably there is also an external (government) agency that will measure emissions every once in a while. This might be information that must be made available to the public if they ask for it (in the US it is the freedom of information act I think).

 

[Marvin94]

I'm just worried about the steelwork near my home. Even if somebody measure emissions every once in a while, two problems can arise:
1) In some particular time frame (for example night) the steelwork could also emits more than usual pollution; it means that emissions control which are eventually done every once in a while could not really fully correspond to the reality.
2) The level of pollution, I think, is not the same in all the area. If I live near the steelwork maybe there is more pollution with respect to someone living far away. So a given measure is however not reflecting the effective pollution in every housing units.
However , thanks for your interest.