The "dangers" of silica wicks

tenshi;8663717 said:

The wicks are not crystalline silica dust. They are definitely amorphous silica. Amorphous silica

Do they break down to crystalline silica dust in our tanks? No, extremely unlikely...

To all those who are worried that the particles they see in their e-juice is crystalline silica dust (e.g. the disappearing wick act)... In order to transform amorphous silica to crystalline silica, it requires hydrothermal conditions 300 to 500 C and incredibly high pressures of 197.38 to 947.69 standard atmosphere pressure (our tanks have 1 atm pressure ).

What are those particles? I don't know but they aren't crystalline silica dust which causes silicosis. Although silica has not been tested in e-cigs specifically, it has been extensively researched. For example, I'm a protein purification scientist and we use silica (specifically gels and column chromatography) in many of our purification techniques (as well as qualitative and quantitative analysis). It's subjected to acids like HCL, Acetic acid, methanol, high heat...etc.

Please remember that many cartomizer/atomizers have silica components and the results of the e-cig studies up to date have proved that e-mist/vaping is safe (no PAH carcinogens nor harmful heavy metals were detected). So, if you don't want to get silicosis, then take precautions if you work around sand, rocks, minerals or in brick plants where you are more likely to come in contact with crystalline silica dust.

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