Negative ions, healthy life's vitamins of the air.

What is an ion ?

Ions are tiny, electrified particles of matter, an ion is a charged atom or molecule. It is charged because the number of electrons do not equalthe number of protons in the atom or molecule. An atom can acquire a positive charge or a negative charge depending on whether the number of electrons in an atom is greater or less then the number of protons in the atom.

Sodium or Natrium (Na+) is positive ion.

Chloride (Cl-) is negative ion.

Negative ion :

Negative ions are abundant where nature is unspoiled, for examples at waterfalls, forests, caves, seasides, mountains, after a spring rain, and after thunderstorm. Air near waterfalls, mountains, beaches / seasides, and forests are places where ionization level are in complex and natural balance ! the air circulating in the mountains and the beaches are said to contain tens of thousands of negative ions, Much more than the average home or office building, which contain dozens or hundreds, and many register a flat zero. Balancing the ionization may help to combat the ill feelings associated with stressful lifestyles, the worlds most tranquil and refreshing regions are loaded with billions of Negative ions. atmospheres charged with negative ions relieve hay-fever and asthma symptoms, seasonal depression, fatigue and headaches. It's also been shown that negatively ionized atmospheres improve performance of voluntary movement, increase work capacity, sharpen mental functioning, and reduce error rates.

Natural ion balances could be altered in by man made environments such as in buildings or within vehicles, especially with the modern use of polymer materials which are prone to electrostatic charging to high voltages. Most of the elements in our modern day environments act as a vacuum for negative ions. air-conditioning, heating, synthetic fibres in our clothing and furniture cause a severe depletion of negative ions. pollution from car exhaust, cigarette smoking, fluorescent lighting, electrical and electronic equipment, TV screens, overcrowding and even breathing, all contribute to negative ion depletion. Negative ions are lost as they adhere to walls, fabric materials, and air-conditioning ducts; tobacco smoke, smog and crowds of people tend to use them up. Workplaces, particularly factories and office buildings, generally have even more harmful air. this is largely due to the steel and concrete fabrication of commercial buildings. These materials absorb the charge of negative ions like magnets. Radiation from space, air, rocks, and even soils adds Negative ions back into the air, as do sunshine, living green trees, and the breakup of water drioplets, as occurs around waterfall and the ocean surf.

Concentration of Negative Ions in Different Environments

Environment Concentration per cubic centimeter
Waterfalls 95,000 - 450,000
Mountains, seashores, breezy forest 50,000 - 100,000
Breezy country meadow 5,000 - 50,000
Cities 100 - 2,000
Rooms and offices 40 - 100
Rooms with Air Conditioner 0 - 20

Diagram of Negative ions formation in Nature :

After thunderstorm or lighting storm, most of us feel invigorated and refreshed, this is because the electrical storm has generated trilliuns of gloriously tranquilizing Negative ions that ease tension and leave us full of energy.
Negative ions refreshed the body and enhance overall well-being.

Today's stressful living and polluted indoor working environments have significantly reduced the level of negative ions found, which may result decrease of the body health.
In office building, in working area, computer terminals, fluorescent lighting, modern bulding materials, forced-air-ventilation-systems, air conditioning depletes the atmosphere of Negative ions, all generate an over abundance of Positive ions, which make us feel tired, depressed and irritable. Conversely an ion generator re-releases the ions that air conditioners remove, Negative ion generators relieve depression as much as antidepressants.
How Negative Ions purify the air ?

All particles in the air have a positive charge, while negative ions have a negative charge. In which case, negative ions and particles magnetically attract to one another. When there is a high enough concentration of negative ions in the air, they will attract to floating particles in large numbers. This causes the particle to become too heavy to remain airborne, as a result, the particle will fall out of the air, preventing it from being inhaled into the respiratory tract where it can trigger breathing and health problems. The ionized particle will then be collected by normal cleaning activities, such as vacuuming or dusting. If the particle happens to be kicked back up into the air again, it will be ionized, and quickly settled out of the air once again. Negative ions are nature's most powerful air-cleansing agents. There is nothing in the world more effective in taking allergens and contaminates out of the air we breathe. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Negative Ions as an allergy treatment.

How do negative ions remove pollutants from the air?

Negatively-charged negative ions attach themselves to contaminates and allergens, which are positively-charged.

The newly-formed larger particles are then able to fall to the ground, and out of the air we breathe.

Most floating contaminants and allergens are positively charged, and of course, Negative ions are negatively charged. In environments where high densities of Negative ions exist, they are able to reverse the charge of floating contaminants to a negative charge, this results in a magnetic attraction among the floating pollutants in the air, causing them to aggregate, or clump together, as a result, they become too heavy to remain floating in the air, and fall harmlessly to the ground, where they cannot find their way into your respiratory tract.

Benefit of Negative ions for human :

Negative Ions - Vitamins of the Air !

Negative ions are odorless, tasteless, and invisible molecules that we inhale in abundance in certain environments, once they reach our bloodstream, Negative ions are believed to produce biochemical reactions that increase levels of the mood chemical serotonin, helping to alleviate depression, relieve stress, and boost our daytime energy.

Negative air ion, the "nutrient of the air" are widely reported to have beneficial effects on humans including enhanced feeling of relaxation, and reduced tiredness, stress levels, irritability, depression, and tenseness, Negative ions act to reduce serotonin levels in the respiratory system, blood and brain, high concentrations of serotonin have been associated with migraine headache attacks, thus an increase in negative ions would be expected to reduce migraine attacks, reduced serotonin levels result in a mentally relaxed state and reduction in feelings of depression. Generally speaking, Negative ions increase the flow of oxygen to the brain; resulting in higher alertness, decreased drowsiness, and more mental energy. Researchers believe that through control of the electrical charges in the air we breathe, our moods, energy level, and health can be markedly improved!
A room charged with Negative ions was shown to stem bacteria growth and precipitate many airborne contaminants including pollen, dust, dust mites, viruses, second-hand smoke, animal danders, malodours, and toxic chemical fumes.

Negative Ions neutralize free radicals, revitalize cell metabolism and enhance immune function. In addition, they purify the blood and balance the autonomic nervous system, promoting deep sleep and healthy digestion. Negative ions also protect the body and mind from the harmful effects of environmental stressors such as electromagnetic fields.

Malodours downgrade the healthy life quality !

Classification of odour :
1. pleasant odours : scents, perfumes, fragrances, aromas, bouquets.
2. unpleasant odours : stench, reek, stink, pong. Unpleasant odours usually called "Malodours".
"Odour" which also called "smell" is a volatile chemical compound generally at a very low concentration, that human perceive by the sense of olfaction.
The widest range of odours consist of organic compounds, but some inorganic copounds are also exist like Hydrogen-sulfide (H2S), Ammonia (NH3).
The perception of an odour effect is a two step process:
a. physiological part, with the odour-receptor located in the nose.
b. psychological part, which is processed by the region of human brain.


a. Physiological part : When we inhale odourants, the odorant- molecules adhere to our Olfactory nerve ending in the back of the nose oil.

b. Psychological part : the adherence of those odourant-molecules producing stimulation in the nose direct to the brain. This is very rapid and direct pathway to the part of the brain which direct, controls, interprets and responds to sensory input.


The odour-molecules send message to the Limbic system, the area in the brain that governs emotional responses, this messages have power to alter moods, for examples alertness, stress, sleepy, angry, general feeling of well-being etc. This is the concept of Aromatherapy !
The human nose has the ability to distinguish many thousands of different odours, and the memories of these odours are stored deep in our sub-concious mind.
Malodours :
"Malodour" is the term used to describe these unpleasant-odours, range in unpleasantness from being mildly dis-taste-ful to actually causing physical reactions such as nausea and / or vomitting. Examples of Malodours are rotting fish (trimethylamine); rotting flesh (tetra-ethylene-diaine); faecal (indole, skatole); fishy (trimethylamine); rancid-oils; rotten egg (HCN); food-wastes; LPG-smell (methyl, ethyl-mercaptane, tetra-hydro-thiophene - sulphur copounds), human-fishy-body-smell (triethylaminuria), Pet-odours, Pet-urines, skunk-smell (butyl-mercaptan); etc.
Malodours do not consist of one single component, usually they are a blend of several perhaps so many malodourous materials and many contain both sulphur and nitrogen containing compounds, occasionally also blend with fatty acids (rancid odour).
In general malodours can be classified under 3 (three) main catagories:
1. Nitrogen Compounds : normally amines and produce fishy, cadaverous and faecal odours, other nitrogen compounds contribute considerably to cigarette smoke odours.
2.Sulphur Compounds : consist of mainly organic sulphide and mercaptane, Sulphur compounds contribute rotting, skunk and cabbage-like odours.
3. Fatty Acids: These materials are associated with rancid odours, axillary odours (sweaty armpitsodours).
How to kill or to eliminate Malodours (Abatement) ?
The sources of malodours are to be found at anywhere, in the houses, like kitchens, bathrooms, toilets, domestic pets, drainages, carpets, curtains, building materials, and at outsides / outdoors, like people, industrial plants, public trasports, sewage plants etc.
There are many ways to eliminate malodours :
1. Physical control : by dilution
2. Biological control: maintain aerobic conditions, using mixture of enzymes, microbial nutrients, and deodorizing additives.
3. Chemical control :
(a). Odour masking : masking with chemicals, pine-resins, mint-odours in aerosol or powder froms. masking agents are most effective when they are used at the source of the malodours, but sometime are not very applicable, because they only alter the perceived odours. This is the basic of classical malodour couteraction.
(b). Odour compensation : uses a pair of well-defined products, a malodour and its antagonist, in a defined range of concentration the 2 (two) odourants cancelled each other out, unfortunately, the exact mechanism is not understood, it is most likely physiological, when the pairs (malodour and its antagonist) are mix at the correct concentration level, neither one of the is detected, principally this method could not be used alone because malodour are not produced by a single well-defined molecule, but are generally mixture of malodourous materials which is very in concentration with time. Example of these method : skatol and coumarin; ethyl-mercaptane and eucalyptol; methyl-salicylate and pyridin.
(c). Solubilisation : Dispensing a very fine spray of a non volatile odourless solvent in the atmosphere yields micro drops of the solvent with a high surface-to-mass ratio. These tiny droplets have the ability to dissolve organic molecules and since they tend to deposit by gravity, they will contribute to the reduction of the concetration of malodours in the air.
(d). Absoption : Filter through high absorptive capacity materials like Activated Carbon.
(e). Oxidation : using oxidazig agets, like Hydrogen-peroxide (H2O2), Potassium-permanganate (KMnO4), para-foraldehyde, ozone (O3), Chlorine (Sodium hypochlorite /NaOCl2, or Calcium hypochlorite /Ca0Cl2), Ozene or Ortho-dichloro-bezene.
(f). Additives : using deodorizing additives which are usually propietary mixture of chemicals and plant extracts, dried-bacteria, or dried-enzymes. Enzymes actually "eat" malodours and organic matters such as urine, faecal, vomit, grease etc.
(g). Chemical neutralisation : Since early 50's it has been claimed that certain esters containing reactive double bonds have a quasi (similiar) universal ability to abate malodours. Ester of methacrylic, fumaric, citraconic, acotinic, crotonic, tiglic, senecoic-acids have been patented for "true" malodour neutralisation. Examples are Lauryl-methacrylate; a mixture of Geranyl-crotonate and Dihexyl-fumarate.
Malodours actually can give a negative effect to health, disturb us in maintaining a healthy life style, they must be abated regularly, rutinely and consistantly !

Danger ! Avoid it ! Environment Tobacco Smoke

Environment Tobacco Smoke is often referred to as " Secondary smoke" , exposure to Environmant Tobacco Smoke is often called " Passive Smoking ". Environment Tobacco Smoke is a major source of indoor contaminants. A lit cigarette is like a chemical factory, releasing poisonous fumes into air, around half of those substances are found in the tobacco itself, the others are produced as the tobacco burns.

Tobacco smoke is chemically complex mixture of materials form as the result of incomplete combustion of the tobacco product, several thousand individual chemicals have been identified in tobacco / cigarette smoke, about 90% are organic compounds associated with the vapour (gases) or particulate phases of the cigarette smoke.
Among more than 4000 chemicals found in tobacco smoke, both as vapour or as particulate phases, many of them, about 43 chemicals are known very toxic as carcinogenic agents in lung cancer, 400 others known poisonous as toxins, these include Nicotine, Tar, Carbon-monoxide, formaldehyde, ammonia, Hydrocyanic-Acid, Arsenic, DDT etc, many of which are also strong irritants.

More detail of mixture of complex chemical compounds in tobacco smoke are as follows :

Compound : Nicotine, 17 Alkaloids, 45 Hydrocarbons, 45 Phenols, 6 tobacco specific Nitrosamines, over 450 other chemicals.

Carcinogens : 8 kinds of N-Heterocyclic-amines, Formaldehyde, Acetaldehyde, Benzo(b)fluouranthene, Benzo(j)fluouranthene, Benzo(k)fluouranthene, Benzo(a)pyrene, Benz(a)anthracene, Dibenzo(a,i)pyrene, Dibenzo(i,l)pyrene, Dibenz(a,h)anthracene, Dibenz(a,h) acridine, Dibenz(a,j)acridine, 7-H-Dibenzo(c,g)-carbazole, 2-Toluidine, 5-Methylchrysene, 4-Aminobiphenyl, Quinoline, 4-(methylnitrosamino-3-(pyridil)-1-butanone, N-Nitrosodimethylaine, N-Nitrosoethylmethylamine, N-Nitrosopyrollidine, N-Nitrosodiethanolaine, N-Nitrosoarcosine, N-nitrosonornicotine, N-Nitrosoanabasine, N-Nitrosomorpholine.

Carcinogenic Inorgaic Compounds : Hydrazine, Arsenic, Nickel, Mercury, Chromium, Cadmium, Lead /Plumbum, Polonium and Selenium.

Carcinogenic Organic Compounds : 1,1-Diethylhydrazine, 1,3-Butadiene, 2-Nitropropane, Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, Isopropene, Furan, Bezo(b)furan, Benzene, Styrene, Vinyl-Chlorine, Acryloitrile, Acrylamide, Ethylene-oxide.

In cigarette making, various additives are also used. Additives are used for a variety of purposes like :

Glycerol, an absorbent substance is added to prevent the tobacco crumbling.

Various salt are added to give the cigarette an even burning quality.

Various Flavours like cocoa, liquorice, sugar are used to give a better taste, to give a brand of cigarette a particular taste.

Menthol is used to get cooling sensation.

Eugenol (from cloves) is added because it act as pai reducer on the ucus membranes of the throat, making cigarette smoke less irritating.

Environment Tobacco Smoke as a major source of indoor air pollutants can not be eliminated through or by general improvement of the room ventilation, higher efficiency air cleaning systems, ion generators, HEPA filter, Electronic Air Cleaners, Hybrid Air Cleaners can only remove part of tobacco smoke vapour / gaseous pollutants and airborne particulates, but not all of the whole tobacco smoke particulate compounds, so air cleaers alone are not appropriate and not adequate as well for single solution to indoor air quality problems, air cleaners are generally not designed to remove gaseous pollutants.

Indoor air pollutants particle size :

Airbore Particulates smaller than 10 micron are not visible with the naked eye.
Pet Danders : 1 - 10 microns
Household Dust : 0,02 - >10 microns
Bacteria : 0,05 - > 10 microns
Tobacco Smoke : 0,005 - 2 microns
Viruses : 0,002 - 0,02 microns
Pollutant Particles smaller than 0,5 microns can not be settled, they always stay in the air as airbone particulates.

Common Particles and Their Sizes in Microns
The average home collects about 2 pounds of dust per week!
Particles are commonly measured in microns, a metric unit of measure. There are 25,400 microns in one inch. Common Items and their respective particle sizes:
Human Hair : 40 to 300 microns
Fertilizer : 10 to 1000 microns
Tobacco Smoke : 0.01 to 1 microns
Coal Dust : 1 to 100 microns
Mold Spores : 10 to 30 microns
Pollens : 10 to 1000 microns
Typical Atmospheric Dust : 0.001 to 30 microns

- Visible particles constitute only about 10% of indoor air!
- Particle visibility depends on the eye itself. In other words, light intensity and quality, background and particle type.
- Particles on furniture and those in a shaft of light are approximately 50 microns or larger.
- It may be possible to see particles as small as 10 microns under favorable conditions.

The majority of harmful particles are 3 microns or less in size.
Particles of 1 micron or less adhere to surfaces by molecular adhesion. Scrubbing is generally the only way to remove them, larger particles tend to settle out of the atmosphere due to weight, smaller, "respirable" particles remain virtually suspended in the air until breathed in.

Approximately 98-99% of all particles by count are in the size range of 5 microns or less. These particles tend to remain in suspension or settle out so slowly that only quality electronic air cleaners and HEPA air cleaners are effective in removing these particles.
The average person breathes in about 16,000 quarts of air per day. Each quart contains some 70,000 visible and invisible particles. That's over a billion particles per day that our lungs have to filter out!

Ion Generator may remove small particles but they do not remove gaseous or odourants, Ozone Generator which produce ozone can reduce odourants, but the level needed to achieve this effect is above those generally thought to be safe for humans, FDA has set a limit of 0,05 ppm ozone for medical devices.
Ozone Generator eliminates the irritation caused by phenol gasses, by oxidazing them, phenol gasses are the invisible part of tobacco smoke that causes such discomfort to eyes and creat the offensive odours, ozone rids any evironment of the effects of smoke completely.
Ozone Generator works better than Ionizer or air filter for removing smoke and smoke odour.

To achieve a better healthy life, How to reduce exposure of Environment Tobacco Smoke ?
1. Do not smoke at homes, offices, inside building, smoke outdoor or in special separate smoke area room.
2. If smoking indoor can not be avoided, use effective exhaust fan.
3. Do not smoke if infants, children or toddlers are present.
4. Stay far from everybody who is smoking.

Indoor Air Pollution causes Sick Building Syndrome

Indoor air pollution in houses, work-places, and commercial buildings, are being recognized as a serious health problem, causes Sick Building Syndrome. the indoor air pollution can be much worse than the air pollution outside the buildings.
In every day life, people spend more than 90% of their time stay indoor, whether at homes, at work places, or at trasportation vehicles.

Sources of indoor air pollutions :
1. Outside contaminated air.
2. Gases : Carbon-dioxide, Carbon-monoxide, Foraldehyde,
Nitrogen-dioxide, Gasoline, Aerosols, Radon. Dioxin.
3. Moisture.
4. Heating and Air Conditioning.
5. Smoking, Fumes.
6. Cooking : wood, charcoal, kerosine, LPG, Natural Gas.
7. House cleaning products, pesticides.
8. Persoal care products.
9. Chemical released from building materials,paints.
10. Chemical released from carpets, curtains.
11. Asbestos.
12. Animal Danders.
13. Cockroaches.
14. Plants, Pollens, Moulds and Mildews, due to warm & wet indoor air.
15. Bacterias And Viruses.
16. Dust Mites.
17. Odorants or volatile organic copounds.
18. Malodours
19. Other small flying particles.
Indoor air quality problems usually only cause discomfort, most people will feel better as soon as they go outside the building, or as soon as they can eliminate the source of the indoor air pollution.
While, Sick Building Syndrome occurs only when several people or workers who are staying inside the building are affected, usually as minimal as 20% workers are affected, but no specific sources of the illness could be found.
To prevent suffer from Sick Building Syndrom, be sure that your houses, work places or buildings have a good indoor air quality, well-ventillated, and eliminating all air pollutants.