Microatmosphere

The microatmosphere inside buildings is an important aspect of air pollution, for example, with respect to potentially toxic or allergenic vapors released from varnishes, wall paneling, and carpets. Indoor air pollution is discussed in more detail in Chapter 7, Section 7.10. 

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The results of the SOIREE experiment were similar in many ways but were not as definitive with respect to carbon flux. In this experiment biomass increased 6-fold, nitrate was depleted by 2pmol 1 and carbon dioxide by 35-40 microatmospheres (3.5-4.0 Pa). This was a greatly attenuated signal relative to IronEx II. Colder water temperatures likely led to slower rates of production and bloom evolution and there was no observable carbon flux. 

PN. Gray, Generation of active microatmosphere environments from and in packages , in Proceedings of the International Conference on Active and Intelligent Packaging ,... 

The most significant source of radioactivity in the indoor microatmosphere is radon, a noble gas product of radium decay that is produced below ground and that may leak into the basements above. Radon may enter the atmosphere as either of two isotopes, Rn (half-life 3.8 days) and °Rn (half-life 54.5 seconds). Both are alpha emitters in decay chains that terminate with stable isotopes of lead. The initial decay products, Po and Po, are nongaseous and adhere readily to atmospheric particulate matter. In some areas where radon is produced, homes have had to be fitted with ventilation systems to prevent radon infiltration. 

Though not a concern as an atmospheric pollutant in the climate as a whole, hydrogen cyanide gas, HCN, can be deadly in a microatmosphere into which it has been released. The cyanide ion, CN, from HCN or cyanide salts in the body binds with ferricytochrome oxidase, the iron(III) form... 

VOCs can present special problems in the indoor microatmosphere. A common source of such emissions consists of oil-based paints from which the volatile paint vehicles evaporate as the paint dries. Water-based latex paints even have the potential to emit air pollutants. One such source consists of coalescents added to these paints that enable the colloidal particles in the paint to spread, giving a uniform painted surface. A Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge award was given to... 

The workplace can often suffer from unhealthy indoor air quality due to emissions of materials as the result of activities in the workplace. In Chapter 6, Section 6.8, the unfortunate case was discussed of workers in Turkey who developed lung silicosis resulting from their sandblasting jeans to give them a distressed appearance. Because of emissions from primers and paints, the microatmospheres in auto body shops may contain high levels of VOCs and particles produced in spray painting. 

The micromanipulation system has been described in detail [12,30,70,71]. Briefly, it is centered around an inverted microscope that has the capaeity for up to four micromanipulators to be mounted directly on the microscope stage plate. Control over micropipet suction pressure is in the range of microatmospheres to tenths of atmospheres (0.1Nm to lOOOOONm" ) and is achieved by a water-filled manometer (Figure 9.6) equipped with a sensitive micrometer-driven displacement and coarser syringe control positive and negative pressures are recorded by in-line pressure transducers (Validyne, Northridge, CA). 

Figure 9.6 Manometer system for applying negative or positive pressures to the micropipet Coarse control is achieved by use of a simple syringe to displace volume above the front reservoir (on the right). Fine control, microatmospheres, is achieved by adjusting the position of the front reservoir using the sprung micrometer drive. The whole manometer system can be leveled with the pipet tip in order to achieve zero pressure at the pipet tip, using the central coarse screw. In-line pressure transducers measure small pressures (0-1000 dyne cm ) and large pressures (1000-100000 dyne cm ) [84].

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