PARTICULATE CONTAMINANTS: SOURCES OF CONTAMINATION

Given that we shed our outermost layer of skin cells every 24 hours, it’s no surprise that we’re the greatest potential source of cleanroom contamination.

The particles (0.3 microns and larger) that people can generate just while resting can reach 100,000 particles per minute (ppm), and if we’re performing light work or moving around the workplace, anywhere from 500,000 all the way up to an astounding 2.5 million ppm!

Click here for a video clip.

Magnified image of human skin cells - 1000 times.  A single square inch contains about 20 million cells.
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Florida Space Research Institute ©2002