Ultrafine particle concentrations and exposures in six elementary school classrooms in northern California: Ultrafine particle exposures in six classrooms
Open accessAbstract
UNLABELLED: Potential health risks may result from environmental exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP), i.e., those smaller than 0.1 μm in diameter. One important exposure setting that has received relatively little attention is school classrooms. We made time-resolved, continuous measurements of particle number (PN) concentrations for 2-4 school days per site (18 days total) inside and outside of six classrooms in northern California during normal occupancy and use. Additional time-resolved information was gathered on ventilation conditions, occupancy, and classroom activity. Across the six classrooms, average indoor PN concentrations when students were present were 5200-16,500/cm(3) (overall average 10,800/cm(3)); corresponding outdoor concentrations were 9000-26,000/cm(3) (overall average 18,100/cm(3)). Average indoor levels were higher when classrooms were occupied than when they were unoccupied because of higher outdoor concentrations and higher ventilation rates during occupancy. In these classrooms, PN exposures appear to be primarily attributable to outdoor sources. Indoor emission sources (candle use, cooking on an electric griddle, use of a heater, use of terpene-containing cleaning products) were seen to affect indoor PN concentrations only in a few instances. The daily-integrated exposure of students in these six classrooms averaged 52,000/cm(3) h/day for the 18 days monitored. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This study provides data and insight concerning the UFP exposure levels children may encounter within classrooms and the factors that most significantly affect these levels in an urban area in northern California. This information can serve as a basis to guide further study of children's UFP exposure and the potential associated health risks.
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Resuspension of particles by students' indoor activities affects the indoor particle concentration in occupied classrooms.
“In school buildings, the resuspension of particles by students' indoor activities also affects the indoor particle concentration in occupied classrooms [28,29].”
From Investigation of Indoor Air Quality and the Identification of Influential Factors at Primary Schools in the North of China (2017) · cites this paper as [29]
The ‘Sources of particles in monitored classrooms’ section reports that a few indoor activities, including cooking and candle use, increased particle concentrations during student occupancy. It does not identify resuspension by students as the mechanism; the ‘Indoor and outdoor particle number concentrations’ section instead attributes generally higher occupied-classroom levels chiefly to ventilation, outdoor levels, and a few indoor sources. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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“In school buildings, the resuspension of particles by students’ indoor activities also affects the indoor particle concentration in occupied classrooms [28,29].”
Background
- Authors
- Mullen, N. A., Bhangar, S., Hering, S. V., Kreisberg, N. M., & Nazaroff, W. W.
- Affiliations
- Aerosol Dynamics (United States) (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Corresponding author
- Nazaroff, W. W.
- Venue
- Indoor Air
- Publisher
- Hindawi Limited
- Published
- 2010-10-28
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 77-87
- ISSN
- 0905-6947 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2164373378
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 5.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Indoor Air (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- California Air Resources Board
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Air Quality and Health Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
- Keywords
- ultrafine particles, particle number concentration, school classrooms, children's exposure, indoor air quality, ventilation, occupancy, cooking emissions, classroom activities, urban air pollution
- MeSH terms
- California, Child, Environmental Monitoring, Humans, Particle Size, Schools, Ventilation, Air Pollution, Indoor
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