Covid19 and Aerosols
The aerosol chambers of the former Atmospheric Chemistry Research Unit have been employed by Heinz-Ulrich Krüger and the PhD students Frank Siekmann, Ayhan Sen, Radostin Gavrilov, Natalja Balzer, Johannes Ofner, Lei Han, Joelle Buxmann, Sergej Bleicher and Julian Wittmer (as well as by the colleague Andreas Held and coworkers) to study the residence times of various aerosol particles. Fractal particle agglomerates (fused quartz Aerosil, Aerosil R812, Alumina C, TiO2 P25 and Fe2O3 Sicotrans Orange) and salt droplets with a diameter of 0.5 µm, latex calibration particles and 160-nm Stöber particles (including fractal agglomerates) were observed and chemically analyzed for almost two days. It therefore makes sense to also deal with Covid19 viruses, especially since the physics department of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Aerosol Research (Fh-ITA), founded by Werner Stöber, has been studying the mechanisms of aerosol release from the lungs by Wolfgang Koch, Jens Hohlfeld, Karsten Haslbeck and Katharina Schwarz had been (and is continuing as Fh-ITEM) to study the human inhalation of aerosol as contribution experimental medicine in cooperation with the Hannover Medical School, MHH. The well-known long residence time of exhaled aerosol expected indoors initated a statement by the Arbeitsausschuss Feinstäube (AAF) of DECHEMA, GDCh and VDI with recommendations how to decrease the Covid19- incidence, that was published jointly with Hartmut Herrmann, Peter Wiesen and Reinhard Zellner in the internet.