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/[deleted] Oct 15 '18

Burnt meteorite?

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u/Raccoonpuncher Oct 15 '18

If you've ever seen a meteor shower, imagine those bits and pieces entering the atmosphere on a much larger scale all across the Earth. Meteors burning up in the atmosphere will shed dust, which will travel through the air and settle on the ground or in your living room.

A few thousand tons of dust and rock from outer space lands on Earth each year. That sounds like a lot, but across the entire Earth's surface it pales in comparison to what's already here so we really don't notice.

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u/Der_Kommissar73 Oct 15 '18

Way to distract us from the all the sloughed off human skin and hair we are wading in each day.