科学美国人60秒 SSS A Green Solution to Improve Indoor Air Quality
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：2016年Scientific American(八)月
Air pollution outside is easy to spot, hanging over the city, or sputtering 1 from a tailpipe. But there's lot of indoor air pollution, too, even if it's not as obvious. It's caused by volatile 2 organic compounds, or VOCs.
"They can come from building materials like paints, carpet, adhesives 3, vinyl floors, varnishes 4, solvents 5, etc." Vadoud Niri, an analytical 6 chemist at the State University of New York, Oswego. "And also they can come from home and personal care products, cleaning chemicals, air freshener, cosmetics 7."
And that cosmetics part… is what caught Niri's attention. "One day when I went to a nail salon 8 with my wife, I noticed the smell of, specifically, acetone in there. And since I was doing air analysis at that time, I thought maybe we can do something about this." Acetone can irritate your eyes, skin, nose and throat and at high concentrations can cause nausea 9, headaches and other nervous system problems.
Niri figured one way to get rid of acetone might be with houseplants. So he reviewed decades of literature in the field of plants as environmental cleanup agents—which is called biofiltration or phytoremediation. He then ran his own experiment, using an airtight chamber 10, eight VOCs, in concentrations similar to those found in nail salons 11, and five common houseplants: a jade 12 plant, a spider plant, a bromeliad, a Caribbean tree cactus 13, and what’s known as a Dracaena plant.
Turns out, after a twelve-hour test, it was the bromeliad that scrubbed the most chemicals from the air. But as for his original quest, removing acetone from nail salons? The Dracaena beat out the others, sucking up 94 percent of the offensive compound. He presented the results at a meeting of the American Chemical Society, in Philadelphia. [Vadoud Niri et al., Monitoring volatile organic compound removal by common indoor plants using solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry]
Niri hasn't worked out all the details on the nail salon solution yet—that's next. But for a house or apartment, he says, "use a variety of plants to make sure you take all types of VOCs from your indoor air." Plus, they're an energy-free alternative to other air cleaning devices. In other words, a truly green solution.
—Christopher Intagliata
- A wick was sputtering feebly in a dish of oil. 瓦油灯上结了一个大灯花，使微弱的灯光变得更加阴暗。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
- Jack ran up to the referee, sputtering protest. 贾克跑到裁判跟前，唾沫飞溅地提出抗议。 来自辞典例句
- With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
- His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。
- These include dyes, adhesives, solvents, detergents, metals, and other foreign materials. 其中包括染料，粘合剂，溶剂，洗涤剂、金属等外界物质。
- Preparation, properties and kinds of polyurethane adhesives were described. 综述了聚氨酯胶粘剂的合成、特性和种类。
- Current uses by subbase layer and color pigments, varnishes tier. 漆布一般由底基层，色料层和光漆层组成。
- UV varnish: Varnishes which dried immediately by exposure ultra-violet light. 紫外线光油：在紫外光照射下，即时乾燥的光油。
- It is resistant to borohydride reduction in alcoholic solvents. 在醇溶剂中，它不能被硼氢化物还原。
- Strains require special treatments for removal such as spotting with organic solvents. 要清除这些着色物质，需要特殊处理，例如：滴加有机溶剂。
- I have an analytical approach to every survey.对每项调查我都采用分析方法。
- As a result,analytical data obtained by analysts were often in disagreement.结果各个分析家所得的分析数据常常不一致。
- We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
- Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。
- Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗？
- You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。
- Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
- He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
- For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
- The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。
- He used to attend to his literary salons. 他过去常常去参加他的文学沙龙。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Conspiracy theories about Jewish financiers were the talk of Paris salons. 犹太金融家阴谋论成为巴黎沙龙的话题。 来自互联网