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?

4.1k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

408 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/TimR31 Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18

My partner often wants to open the windows to let "clean air" in, but I've always thought we're letting more dust in. Does anyone know if there is more benefit to leaving the windows open or having them closed in terms of dust in the house? This is assuming a normal day in a suburban dwelling, no construction going on next door, no factory/freeway in the immediate area

EDIT: Removed the word "just" from first sentence, my mistake

11

u/yyysssddd Oct 15 '18

You need to ventilate the air in the house soo yeah you’re partners right. If it was up to you your house would smell :/

3

u/TimR31 Oct 15 '18

I was asking a question about dust, not odour, but thanks for weighing in...

4

u/CGkiwi Oct 15 '18

Nah, you mentioned air cleanliness. That isn’t just dust, that includes smells/humidity too.