Those of you living in New York City were no doubt surprised today as the sky turned first a hazy yellow and then a muddy orange. Smoke from wildfires in Canada have found their way to the Five Boroughs.
Purely by coincidence, Midwood Science juniors Lucy G. and Victoria R. have been measuring air pollution as a part of their project to see how it affects cognition. Specifically they have been looking at particulate matter in the air on the order of 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5). A human hair is about 60 micrometers thick.
"Normally, we read PM2.5 levels of 1 or 2 [micrograms per cubic meter]," Said Lucy. "Today the numbers were over 200".
Elevated PM2.5 levels are a public health concern. Stay safe. Stay healthy.
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