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Study of Mask Effectiveness

Covid Masks and Respiratory Droplets

 

Reviewed and submitted by Stew Gillmor

An interesting experiment was recently reported in the physics journals Physics of Fluids and Physics Today. Physicists positioned a masked mannequin in front of a camera and pumped bursts of a vaporized liquid mixture out of the month. They photographed the tests using a green laser to picture the droplets. When the mannequin wore a stitched mask of two layers of cotton quilting, the cough projected on average 2.5 inches. With a single layer of T-shirt material, the cough traveled 3.5 feet on average. With no mask, the simulated cough droplets traveled 8 FEET. Wearing an efficient mask protects OTHERS around you from breathing the nano-droplets of the virus. This experiment shows clearly the importance of wearing an efficient mask during the Covid-19 pandemic in order to protect those persons around you, even those 6 feet away. For a fascinating photo taken of the simulated cough, taken with the green laser, see Physics Today, August 2020, page 60.

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