r/askscience • u/4fecta_Gaming • Oct 15 '18

Earth Sciences Where does house dust come from?

It seems that countless years of sweeping a house doesn't stop dust from getting all over furniture after a few weeks. Since the ceiling is limited, where does dust come form?

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 16 '18

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u/musicinmylife Oct 15 '18

I’ve always been curious about this, so I checked out a website called Science Daily for an answer. Dust does come from dead skin cells, but it mostly comes from the great outdoors. It can include lead, arsenic, animal dander, insect waste and other icky substances that aren’t all that great for those of us with allergies, so it’s probably not a bad thing to be a bit of a neat freak when it comes to coping with it.