High school science class looks at air quality

Whitefish High School chemistry students held a coffee straw in their mouth and plugged their nose. Then they began to inhale and exhale only through the straw.

“This simulates what it’s like to have asthma,” University of Montana professor Tony Ward explained to the class.

At the 10-second mark, a few students started to visibly struggle with breathing. Ward told them to continue for 30 seconds, but he cautioned that if they felt like they would pass out they should stop.

“That’s what it can feel like to have an asthma attack,” he said. “Air pollution is linked with asthma. This is the reason we study air pollution.”

Ward developed the Clean Air and Healthy Homes Program, which works with educators and students across the state to assist them with conducting their own research projects focused on air pollutants. WHS has participated in the program for about eight years.

This fall chemistry students will learn about the causes and health concerns related to poor air quality, in particular high particulate matter levels and radon. They will test their own homes before developing research projects.

“Students then design research projects and use air quality and radon meters to test places of interest — homes, local businesses, school,” said teacher Todd Spangler. “Families have changed air flow patterns in their homes and installed radon mitigation systems as a result of the testing.”

In past years, students have performed air particulate tests in a variety of places — fast food restaurants, doctors offices when casts are being removed, during alpine ski waxing, gas stations, at home while vacuuming, and at coffee shops just to name a few.

The Clean Air and Healthy Homes Program has about 1,000 students in 35 schools who participate every year. Students keep the data they collect and are encouraged to enter science fairs or make community presentations.

“This is an opportunity to make change in your home, but also within your community,” Ward told students.

During the class, Ward gave students a primer on air pollution and its health impacts. He pointed out that while most of us think of air pollution as being outdoors, a lot can impact indoor air and that’s important because people spend the majority of their time indoors.

Ward said he took home an air monitor similar to the one students will be using. When he looked at the results a few days later he was surprised to see a spike in particulates.

“Then I realized it was movie night,” he said. “Even microwave popcorn is a source of pollution. The smell of popcorn is actually the particles in the air.”

Ward showed students photos from his trips to China to study air pollution. Then he showed them a graph of the air quality levels in western Montana at the end of August when wildfires were pushing smoke into the area leaving air quality at “very unhealthy.”

“The worst day of the fire season here is like every day in China,” he said.

As poor air quality continued to plague the Flathead Valley in the first few weeks of school, Spangler took the opportunity to send a few students out to test the air for particulates.

“We tested inside the school and out,” he said. “We couldn’t draw any conclusions because of the limited testing, but we confirmed what we already knew that the air quality was bad outside.”