Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2022 October 30

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October 30

Should I change the paper (filter)?

There's a large, grilled exhaust vent in my apartment's bathroom. I throw a paper napkin or tissue paper up there and it sticks, such is the power of the fan pulling air out of the building. Over time, the tissue would blacken. I've been changing it periodically, but since the air's only really going one way, I wonder if it's necessary. To the extent that the dirty stuff helps clog up the tissue, it'll cause more dirty stuff to stick, right?

No, I don't have the power to get the building to clean the exhaust pipes more frequently. Imagine Reason (talk) 02:53, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

Blocking a bathroom vent in any way is a bad idea, and possibly illegal. Remove the paper completely. There is no need for any sort of filter. Shantavira|^{feed me} 10:00, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

The filter impedes the flow of air to the outside and so helps to keep the dust, bacteria, mould spores or whatever is drifting in the air inside. Even less air will pass through a clogged filter, so you may end up catching less of the stuff. If your aim is to collect as much "dirty stuff" as possible for a scientific study, you should regularly replace the filter.  --Lambiam 17:24, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

Yeah, you want to filter the air coming in to your abode, not on its way out. Abductive (reasoning) 17:50, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

The ventilation shaft is not really cleaned and very dirty. Imagine Reason (talk) 02:38, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

So I've decided to let the vent work when the bathroom is not occupied. When it is, I can feel such a draft through the gaps in the door frame that there's obviously a greater chance of the grime blowing in from the shaft. Imagine Reason (talk) 03:03, 3 November 2022 (UTC)

Synchrotron effect on electric charges

In particle accelerators, can we also find the synchrotron effect on positrons, protons and anti-protons which are also electrical charges? Where can I find this information? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Malypaet (talk • contribs) 05:00, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

For positrons, the synchrotron radiation is the same as for electrons. Protons and anti-protons do emit synchrotron radiation, but much less than electrons. This is because of $E=\gamma mc^{2}$: at the same energy E, the Lorentz factor γ is about a factor 2000 smaller than for less massive electrons. Synchrotron power goes as $\gamma ^{4}$ and is therefore a factor 10¹³ smaller (cf. Synchrotron radiation). --Wrongfilter (talk) 07:11, 30 October 2022 (UTC)