It is widely believed that indoor plants can largely clean the air in the room and enrich it with oxygen. We decided to check if this is confirmed by scientific data.
About such a useful property of indoor plants write numerous sitesdedicated floriculture. On the network you can even find ratings Most effective For Cleaning air plants. Representatives of the flora as spathiphyllum, Heder (aka indoor ivy), chlorophytum, diphenbachia, various types of ficus and dramases usually get into the top. These plants are like indicate Compilers of such ratings, "are able to neutralize up to 85% of air pollution in the room." “One medium -sized flower is able to clean space with an area of about 5 m2" reports Recycle magazine. Also writethat “plants not only saturate the air with oxygen, but also cleanse it of impurities and bacteria. Some do this no worse than household purifiers. ” Online stores Also Offer Buyers are selection of the best air purification plants.
The first scientific data The ability of indoor plants to clean the air was published by NASA in 1989. For the experiment, scientists Choose 12 plants, including Ficus Benjamin, Heder, Spathiphyllum and four types of dracaena included in the ratings mentioned above, as well as Sansvieria, Aglaonem, Hamedore, Chrysantem and Herbera. Pots with plants were placed in hermetic chambers and, after various intervals, the level of harmful substances in the air surrounding the air began to measure.
It turned out that flowers are very effectively processed by dangerous volatile organic compounds (los) - benzene, formaldehyde and trichloretilene, which Enter The composition of drywall, chipboard, household chemicals and cosmetics. In 24 hours, the level of moos in chambers decreased by almost 90%. Researchers calculated that under closed hermetable conditions, one pot with these plants is enough to clean the air in a space of 9 m2.
It is likely that, relying on this study, amateur gardeners concluded that the ability of indoor plants to effectively clean the air in the room. However, they overlooked several important factors. Firstly, it was exclusively about hermetic systems, and not about residential premises with constant air circulation. Secondly, instead of land for plants, a substrate based on activated coal was used-substances, widely famous their absorbing properties. Therefore, even plants with completely cut leaves, as well as the pots themselves without plants showed high results in air purification.
By words Michael Wering, a professor and an environmental engineer at the University of Drexel (USA), in a standard office room with a size of 10 x 10 feet (that is, approximately 3 x 3 m) for the equally effective air purification as the experiment conducted by NASA, it would be necessary to install 1000 plants. In 2019, Wering with colleagues Published In the journal Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, the results of the meta -analysis of 196 experiments and 12 scientific publications for air purification in rooms using indoor plants. Researchers They came To the conclusion that in the conditions of leaky premises, the plants, although volatile organic compounds are removed from the air, do it so slowly that they cannot cope with the air exchange rate in them. Michael Waring summarizes: "I do not think that air can be cleaned with indoor plants, ventilation once per hour is much more effective." Agree With him, Richard Corsy, a scientist examining the quality of air in the premises: “Indoor plants purify the air no more than the old pair of socks or a baseball cap hanging on the wall.”
A group of scientists from Cambridge separately investigated The possibilities of indoor plants absorb formaldehyde. Having set the experience of 27 species of leaf plants, they came to the conclusion that "the speed of absorption of this harmful substance through the stomat was too low to justify the statements that plants make a useful contribution to air purification." Not demonstrated Plants and effectiveness against the ozone formed in the room. “If the level of ozone in your house was conditional 30 units, then with the help of indoor plants you could reduce this indicator only to 29.7,” - speaks Elliott Gall, co -author of the study and professor of Portland University.
Moreover, the placement of a large number of plants in the room may have the opposite effect - the concentration of the elk may increase. American society of gardeners warnsthat plastic pots for plants, individual microorganisms in the soil, pesticides and fertilizers can worsen the quality of air in houses, as well as provoke allergies living there, exacerbation of bronchial asthma and headaches.
From the school program on biology, we all know that plants in the process of photosynthesis absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. But can an indoor plant produce oxygen, which significantly improves air quality? Adult healthy person per day Consumes About 550 liters of oxygen. By calculations Marco Torn, a specialist in cellular biology, for every 150 g of an increase in deciduous mass in plants, there is a release of 22 liters of oxygen. Thus, so that a flower in a pot can produce 550 liters of oxygen per day, its deciduous mass should increase per day by 3.75 kg. It is impossible to imagine such a fast -growing plant in a living room. So plants do not have a significant effect on the volume of oxygen in the air.
Moreover, science does not stand still. Scientists from Washington University Brought off Genetically modified ivy of the type of epipremum golden, which, using a gene obtained from the liver of a rabbit, utilizes benzene 4.7 times faster than ordinary representatives of this species. At the same university now Implement And a project to create plants that can effectively absorb formaldehyde from the air. So it is quite possible that in the future plants will be able to cope with air purification in the room is much better. At the same time, indoor plants are still not useless-it is proved that they are essential Reduced psychological and physiological stress and help people feel yourself happier.
Thus, plants cannot yet be considered effective air purifiers in residential premises, since the rate of processing of harmful substances by them is significantly lower than natural air exchange. But experts in the field of genetic engineering are looking for a way to teach flowers in a pot to absorb more harmful substances and make air cleaner. In addition, indoor plants are not only pleasant to the eye, but also useful for our psyche.
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