Concentration and Fate of Airborne Particles in Museums
Abstract
To investigate the potential soiling hazard to works of art posed by the deposition of airborne particles, time resolved measurements were made of the size distribution and chemical composition of particles inside and outside of three southern California museums. The measured indoor aerosol characteristics agree well with predictions of a mathematical model of indoor aerosol dynamics based on measured outdoor aerosol characteristics and building parameters. At all three sites, the fraction of particles entering from outdoor air that deposit onto surfaces varies strongly with particle size, ranging from a minimum of 0.1-0.5% for particles having a diameter in the vicinity of 0.15 µm to greater than 90% for particles larger than 20 µm in diameter. Deposition calculations indicate that, at the rates determined for the study days, enough elemental carbon (soot) would accumulate on vertical surfaces in the museums to yield perceptible soiling in as little as 1 year at one site to as long as 10-40 years at the other two sites.
Additional Information
© 1989 American Chemical Society. Received for review January 9, 1989. Accepted July 31, 1989. This work was supported by a contract with the Getty Conservation Institute and by fellowships from the Switzer Foundation and the Air Pollution Control Association (subsequently renamed Air and Waste Management Association). We thank Robert Harley, Michael Jones, and Wolfgang Rogge for assisting with the field experiments; Timothy Ma for fabricating the thermistor array and signal conditioning electronics; Luiz Palma for assisting with the performance evaluation of the optical particle counters; Richard Sextro for arranging a loan of a portable gas chromatograph; and the staffs of the three museum sites for their generous cooperation. The X-ray fluorescence analyses were carried out by Dr. John Cooper at NEA, Inc. Robert Cary at Sunset Laboratories measured the elemental carbon content of filter samples.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 68762
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20160629-135232569
- Getty Conservation Institute
- Switzer Foundation
- Air Pollution Control Association
- Created
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2016-06-29Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-11Created from EPrint's last_modified field