“Why Should I Wear A Mask That Only Blocks Particles 0.3 Microns Big When The Virus is 0.1 Microns Small?”
We received this question from a customer of ours and we thought it would be a great opportunity to help educate people about the wonderful world of air purification.
It’s been noted that viruses & bacteria are around 0.1 microns in size. SARS-COVID-2, aka The Coronavirus, has been measured to be about 0.125 microns in size.
So why are people even bothering to wear masks that are only guaranteed to filter out particles that are 0.3 microns or larger if the coronavirus is almost 3x smaller than what the mask filters out?
Wouldn’t the coronavirus just slip right past the filter of your mask?
The answer is surprisingly… No.
Why?
Because of Brownian Motion.
When most people think about something flying through the air, they think of it flying in a straight line from point A to point B like when you throw a baseball.
For the most part, that is exactly how most particles in the air move.
HOWEVER… there is a point where particles don’t move in a straight line anymore, and that point is anything below 0.3 Microns.
When particles get smaller than 0.3 Microns, they start acting weird.
They can’t fly in a straight line anymore because they are so small that they actually get bounced around like a pinball when they hit gas molecules in the air.
So instead of moving in a straight line, they move in random zigzag patterns.
If these tiny particles (like The Coronavirus) actually moved in a straight line when they flew through the air then they would go right past a masks filter every time… BUT they don’t fly in a straight line, they fly in zig-zag patterns!
Since super small particles like viruses fly through the air in zig-zag patterns they almost always get tangled up in the filter of the mask instead of going straight through.
But it’s important to remember that this ONLY applies to masks that actually have filters in them designed to catch small particles 0.3 micron or larger.
If you’re wearing a mask with NO FILTER in it, like a cotton mask for example, an aerosol virus (virus flying through the air) can do a million zig-zags in your mask and it won’t get caught…because there’s no filter there in the first place.
Interestingly, the hardest particles for a filter to catch are actually particles that are 0.3 microns in size exactly.
This is because particles that are 0.3 microns are so small that it is really hard to catch them in a filter, but also big enough that they usually fly straight most of the time.
That’s why it’s nearly impossible for filters to catch 100% of particles at 0.3 microns. Even filters that obtain the N100 rating don’t actually filter the particles 100% of the time, it’s more like 99.8% of the time.
So when you’re going about your daily life and you want to protect yourself against as many particles in the air as possible it’s important to find a mask that has a filter rating of 95%+ of particles 0.3 microns or larger.
If it’s able to catch particles that are 0.3 microns, then it’s very effective at catching anything bigger than 0.3 microns while at the same time being effective at catching particles that are smaller than 0.3 microns.
Here at MBT Beauty all of our KN95 masks are internationally certified to filter out 95%+ of particles 0.3 microns in size or larger.
When it comes to protecting yourself as best you can, don’t compromise!
If you don’t have a mask that filters out 95%+ of particles 0.3 microns in size then we highly recommend grabbing one when you’re going out and about in your daily life.
CLICK HERE TO BUY HIGH QUALITY KN95 MASKS
