[TheForge] Copper vs. coronavirus

[jerry Frost]

Water and cotton is a, check. The COVID virus has a relatively weak envelope
and is very susceptible to dehydration so cotton is NOT good for it to get
stuck to.

I have a friend who's pretty involved in this I'll bounce the copper as an
antiseptic on cotton or other masks off him. He knows people.  

Beards are B A D. It's not possible to get an air seal over one, even
plastered tight with Vaseline they  prevents a seal.

Sorry Bruce your hope of air flow going through your filters rather than
around and through your beard is a complete non-starter. Basic physics tells
us Force ALWAYS takes the path of least resistance. An air flow is a form of
force that's very hard to keep from taking the easy route. It'd be like
keeping spilled water from spreading out by surrounding it with brooms.

If things get so bad I have to wear a mask to avoid infection I have my full
face 3M mask with changeable cartridges in the shop. I'm betting the
cartridges rated for toxic fumes are proof against virions, the smallest
infectious pieces, let alone water droplets or aerosolized virus. Not dust
or smoke cartridges, fumes, toluol, benzine, acetone, MEK, etc. Small
molecules. 

I'll  have to shave but it's full face with integral goggles, it should be
good. Maybe it'll let Deb or I care for the other without undue risk. 

I wish we had a larger bathroom, they're the only thing suitable sort of to
make into an infirmary. Exhaust fan vents outside so we can keep negative
pressure and everything is washable, sink, toilet and enough floor for an
air mattress. 

Of course that assumes only one of were infected. 

These things aren't so much fun thinking about outside a Sci Fi story are
they?

Frosty

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce .
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2020 3:41 AM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Copper vs. coronavirus

Walter,

You're forgetting that a cotton mask is not so much a sieve as it is a depth
filter.  A depth filter typically has "pores" larger than the materials it
can effectively filter out. They are *not* 100% efficient.

If a water droplet containing the virus touches a cotton fiber, the water
likely will attach to the fiber by strong hydrophilic interaction, the virus
with it.  (Cotton sticks to water and vise versa.)

I don't want to over-hype the copper idea, but the thought was, were there
copper ions on the cotton fiber, they might destroy the virus more quickly
than cotton alone.  I have no evidence for this.

As to beards.  Yes, that's a problem.  I wear a bandana lined with paper
toweling and tissue as a mask, a variant on one I've read about.  The
bandana hangs well below my chin.  I'm betting the air I breathe will pas
through the bandana and papers, rather than following the tortuous path
*around* the bandana.  Again, I have no evidence for this except my own
observation that the air *does seem* to be passing through the mask.

The complete solution to the beard problem, aside from shaving, is a
supplied-air mask.  This could fit over the entire face, including the eyes,
and would fit snugly, but not hermetically.  Hanging from your belt is an
air pump that pushes air through an appropriate filter and into the mask.
Low tech, but does require power and could be bulky (but not necessarily so
-- the mask could be as simple as a disposable plastic bag mounted on a
face-fitting frame).  Pumped air could pass first through a depth filter
(low backpressure and significant filtering ability) and then through a
porous filter to screen out, potentially, all the virus.  I can't attest to
the feasibility of this.

Bruce
NJ

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