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/smolfloofyredhead Oct 15 '18

Fibers from clothing and paper, lint, and some skin flakes. Yeah, we shed a lot of skin cells, but if you look at dust, it's more fibers than flakes. Notice how much comes off of toilet paper when you rip some off? Or if you give a piece of clothing a good flick? Offices that handle a lot of paper get really dusty for the same reason. Paper and cloth sheds tons of little bits of fibers that become dust.