More great work Boden, thank you
Synthetic Silica Fiber is not the same as Silica, it is heat treated and drawn. This changes the physical properties of the material. In it's crystalline state silica fractures into very small bits that can be easily inhaled
I find this to be the most comforting component of your post. I know nothing about drawn silica, but I am aware that crystalline silica is an issue. Drawn silica is how much more resilient to fracturing? I'm assuming this has been quantified thoroughly.
I do have to say that when a known vendor on this forum touts his silica wick as safe because its composed of 6 micron strands I am a bit horrified...
The medical dogma that particles 1-5 micron in size are the most dangerous is founded upon deductions from pulmonary physiology and studies of occupational disease (e.g. silicosis). Few things are important to note here:
1) What we can deduce from 'known' physiology/pathogenesis of disease often fails to pan out clinically. 1st year medical students learn this the hard way. Physicians spend the rest of their lives learning it again and again. The valid logical operation from premises fails to hold water, leading to the conclusion that either the premises are at fault or we are missing variables.
2) The diseased population in question (silicosis) has had abundant exposure to particles of ...well, all shapes and sizes. No one has or will compare two populations that were given 1-5 micron particles to inhale vs. >6, or 10, or whatever. It's unethical
(As an aside note that they likely also smoke, which impairs the ability of the lungs to clear toxins appropriately, and possibly have a genetic predisposition to fibrogenesis and deranged immune response as this is ultimately what causes, or the most important factor in silicosis, e.g.
host response.)
The unlucky patient with silicosis has been exposed to all of it, and for sound reasons, which however may not tell the whole story, we deduce that the particles capable of reaching the terminal airways are to blame.
To put this in somewhat lay terms: the cellular population thought to initiate the disease cascade lives in these terminal spaces. Larger particles *shouldn't* make it that fair as they can be stopped and cleared by other mechanisms 'above.' But particles lodging in the epithelium (lining) of the upper airways maybe able to activate immune responses from there. I repeat, these patients have been exposed to all of it, and I cant find a single source that concludes from this that 10 micron or greater sized particles shouldn't pose a threat, and don't expect to.
(Re: clearance by other mechanisms "above." If you have a few pack-years of cigs under your belt, you may be lacking in this department to begin with)
3) Size is one issue, dose is another. The 'required' dose to active host response and pathogenesis of silicosis (or any pneumoconiosis for that matter) is unknown. "Massive" is a fair guess, but again, this is based on retrospective analysis of the sick and exposed and in vitro study. Only way to know for sure is to make thousands of people sick deliberately, which again, will not happen, at least not unless the government decides to do it and tell us about it 50 years later with a self inflicted slap on the wrist.
All in all my point is that 6 micron vs. 1-5 doesn't make me feel safe. 10 micron may not either.
After an hour the balloon was slowly deflated and then I took 10mL of denatured alcohol and flushed out the balloon (I washed the balloons out before starting) the alcohol was then evaporated off in a glass dish leaving a sample
You measured what you found in the balloon with a light microscope and reticule? Or something else?
How large of a silica particle could a 2 micron glycol particle carry? What about alcohol?
