Activity: Make Your Own Air Pollution Catcher

a person hanging a handmade air pollution catcher

Purpose

Breathing air is vital to our existence, but have you ever thought you might not be breathing purely clean air? This simple experiment will help you determine the amount of foreign particles in the air in a specific area and give you an idea of how “dirty” your air is.

Required Materials

White paper plates, index cards, or cardstock
Scissors
Petroleum jelly (e.g., Vaseline)
String or yarn
Hole puncher (optional)
Magnifying glass or microscope
Permanent black marker
Disposable glove (optional)
Ballpoint pen
Journel or notebook

Estimated Experiment Time

3-7 days

supplies needed to make an air pollution catcher

Step-By-Step Procedure

Find an area in which you can hang the air pollution catcher. You can do this in your home if you’d like to find out how clean the air in your home is, or you can hang one outside in your yard or another area. It also helps to try placing one in a busier area than the other.
Start with stringing up your catchers for hanging. Carefully poke (with a pen) or punch a hole in the paper plate or index card or cardstock paper and pull the string through the hole. Make sure the string is long enough for where you plan to hang your catcher.

Important Note

Adult assistance/supervision is highly recommended when cutting and punching holes into the paper plate or cardstock paper, as well as hanging the pollution catchers in high places so they are not disturbed.
Write on each plate or card the date and location you plan to hang your catcher. It helps identify the site after taking the paper plates down to study them.
Carefully apply a thin coat of petroleum jelly to one side of each paper plate.
Hang the paper plates in different places within the areas you’ve chosen in step 1. Record the date and areas you’ve hung each paper plate in the observation journal.
After 3-7 days, retrieve your pollution catchers.

Discussion

You will most likely find some amount of particles stuck to the pollution catcher.

Are there a lot of particles or just a few?
How do you think the area you’ve chosen to perform the experiment in has affected your results?
What do you think would happen if you performed this experiment in a heavily polluted area, such as a big city or an area with known air pollution? Do you think you would find more particles stuck to the pollution catcher?
How do you think the particles in the air affect the air quality and our ability to breathe well?

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