WHAT IS DUST?
Discover the ingredients that gather to form everyday household dust
WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD
Did you know?
An average adult sheds 500 million skin cells daily
Dust accumulates around the house in a similar way to how a snowball rolling down a hill gathers snowflakes and builds into a large, icy sphere Particles of dust, such as soil and pollen that float around in the air, become slightly positively or negatively charged. A positively charged dust particle will then be attracted to a nearby surface with the opposing negative charge, and vice versa for negatively charged dust particles.
Over time, more and more dust particles bind together until they begin to form a visible layer of dust. On its journey to becoming a thick coating on the top shelf, dust gathers many ingredients from within and outside the house. Skin cells are thought of as the predominant ingredient for making dust. However, that’s not quite the case. The composition of household dust can be divided into two parts. Around 60 per cent of what creates dust is produced inside the home, such as skin cells, hairs, food debris and fibres. The remaining 40 per cent is brought into a house from outside and includes materials such as soil and pollen.