# Ultrafine Particles

Source: https://cpolar.tech/contaminants/ultrafine-particles/

This is the text of that page. The page itself builds its screens inside iframes, so this file carries the same words in a form a machine can read. Nothing here is paraphrased.

---

Ultrafine particles slip into your blood — C-POLAR 
 Ultrafine particles slip into your blood, and many carry an electric charge 
 Engines, fires and smoke release ultrafine particles smaller than 100 nanometers. University of Surrey researchers found motor traffic is the biggest source of them in city air . Current filtration standards do not rate ultrafine particles. HEPA and MERV ratings measure filter performance at 300 nanometers, about 3x larger than the top of the ultrafine range, so a filter's rating does not show how it performs on ultrafine particles. Researchers at the University of Leuven, in Belgium, found ultrafine particles pass from the lungs into the blood in about one minute . Lancaster University scientists found combustion particles in human brain tissue . Ford Motor Company researchers found 60% to 80% of exhaust particles left the tailpipe with an electric charge .
 Under 100 nm
 A Human Hair: 70,000 nm

---

Ultrafine particles across the US 
 Ultrafine particles don't spread out evenly 
 A global model at 1-kilometer resolution mapped ultrafine particles across North America. Over open land the count sits near 700 particles in a cubic centimeter of air. Along the highways and over the cities it climbs to several thousand, and past 36,000 at the worst spots. The map traces nearly every interstate and every city.
 Ultrafine particles (per cubic centimeter of air)
 700 
 2,200 
 4,200 
 36,000+ 
 Georgiades et al., Scientific Data, 2025 · 1 km global model

---

Ultrafine Particles — Health Impact 
 What ultrafine particles do to you 
 ‹

---

The charge fades as the filter fills with dust 
 The charge fades 
 as the filter fills with dust
 ~45%
 of fine particles a charged filter still caught after 11 weeks, down from 85% when new
 A common filter leans on a built-in electrostatic charge to catch the smallest particles, and the rating on the box is measured on a clean, brand-new filter.
 As the filter loads with dust over weeks, that charge fades. In a University of Minnesota study, charged building filters saw their capture of fine 0.6-micron particles fall from 85% to as low as 45% over about eleven weeks in a working air handler, while plain uncharged filters barely changed.
 A charged filter's grip is temporary. The one you install is not the one you breathe through weeks later, once the dust has worn the charge down. The fix is a charge that does not fade.

---

The NanoFlashing Air Filter captures ultrafine particles 
 The NanoFlashing Air Filter 
 captures the ultrafine particle 
 down to 16 nanometers 
 91.9%
 captured at 16.5 nm, the smallest size tested
 >90%
 of the ultrafine 16–34 nm fraction
 The NanoFlashing Air Filter has a permanent positive polarity, a fixed positive charge carried by the filter itself. Ultrafine particles are electrically charged, so the filter captures and holds them, through a physical mechanism, with no power and no chemicals.
 The hardest size for any filter to catch is about 0.3 microns, the size HEPA is rated on, and, the US EPA notes, the point where a filter is weakest. In an independent lab test, NanoFlashing held more than 90% of the far smaller 16 to 34 nanometer particles, and 91.9% at 16.5 nanometers, the smallest size the lab measured.