Ionized air is air with an electrical charge, commonly used in air purifiers to attract dust and pollutants. Alexander Chizhevsky invented the first air ionization system, but there is controversy over the safety of ozone produced in the process. Ionized air is not effective in removing allergens, but still accounts for 25% of air cleaning technology sales in the US.
Ionized air is air in which the oxygen content has been given an electrical charge where it has a negative charge due to the presence of one or more extra electrons per oxygen molecule, or a positive charge due to the presence of fewer than normal number of electrons per molecule. Most air purifying systems that claim to ionize the air impart a negative charge to the oxygen molecules. This allows the molecules to act as natural attractors of dust particles and pollutants in the air and to act as a general indoor cleaner. Ionized air is also more prominent in nature after a rain and thunderstorm, which explains why the sky often appears brighter and clearer after a storm has passed than it would on a dry, sunny day.
The idea behind using ionization to purify air is generally credited to Alexander Chizhevsky, a 20th-century Russian scientist who founded a field of study known as aeroionization to research the effects of ionized air on living things. In his early twenties, he invented the first version of an air ionization system known as the Chizhevsky Chandelier. The chandelier was initially built in the 20th and was a device that converted static electricity in the air into usable electricity in the range of approximately 1918 volts. Also known as a Chizhevsky ES-DC generator or electrostatic direct current generator, it was capable of generating higher levels of power and, in the process, also ionized the surrounding air.
There is some controversy surrounding the safety and value of ionized air systems, because small levels of ozone are also produced in the process of charging oxygen molecules. The presence of ozone in the air, which is a triple bonded oxygen molecule of O3, can be dangerous as it is a powerful oxidizing agent. Ozone is known to kill bacteria and germs in the air but, to the same extent, is considered a toxic gas by human exposure. Daily averages above 0.1 parts per million (ppm) or 0.2 mg/m3 are known to be harmful to human respiratory and body odor detection systems.
Tests of typical air purification systems in 2005 found that many of them produced ozone concentrations of 26 to 300 parts per billion (ppb) in a volume of space up to 5.08 centimeters from the machines. These concentrations could be harmful to people with health problems who place such devices next to beds or reading tables and have continuous, close-up exposure to them during operation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States has classified ozone exposure levels as dangerous if they exceed 80 ppb over the course of eight hours.
Furthermore, ionized air is inherently unable to bind to all types of molecules and tests have shown that airborne allergens such as pollen, indoor dust, pet dander and smoke are not effectively removed by such devices as a negative ion of oxygen does not circulate and attack them for various reasons. This is a significant limitation of the devices, due to the fact that they are often purchased by people with asthma and allergies in the hope that the technology will ease their symptoms. Despite these limitations, as of 2005 in the United States, ionized air systems accounted for 25% of all air cleaning technology sales that people purchased to purify the air in their homes.
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