Where does all the smoke and bad air particles from wildfires go?

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Does something naturally filter it out? Does it vent into space? Do all these harmful particles just dilute out and die somehow? Honestly want to know. and gorey detail welcomed too.

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2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Some of it may naturally settle on its own by sticking to surfaces through weak intermolecular forces. (think chimney soot.) A lot of particulate matter in the atmosphere ends up being brought down when it gets caught in airborne water droplets – in clouds, fog, and rain.

The tinier a particle is, the longer it’s likely to hang in the air, because the force of gravity on it ends up being negligible compared to the force of all the air molecules knocking it around on a random path through Brownian motion. But if a particle hits a droplet of water, it may stick and be absorbed. And if it’s big enough, the droplet may have enough weight, compared to its surface area, to fall.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The particulate will eventually settle onto the Earth’s surface. It either gets absorbed by the ocean or becomes good ole dirt here on land.