1. Breathing and Driving
Kaia Morrison, Kristin Kalbfleisch, and Tara Sullivan
Whitefish High School
Mr. Spangler

2. Intro
Our question- Is there a noted difference between the PM2.5 levels inside a car with the air conditioning running and a car without?
Our hypothesis- The PM 2.5 level with air conditioning turned on will be higher than without.

3. Procedure Sat idling for 5 minutes without fan
Ran the fan for 5 minutes (still idling)
Drove on residential streets, highways and straight-aways for 5 minutes without fan
Drove the same route for 5 minutes with fan running

4. DustTrack placement
DustTrack placement

5. Graph

6. Results
The initial particle level was at .006 PM2.5 while at an idle and averaged at .0054
After turning the fan on, the Pm2.5 level increased to .008 but leveled out to .006 PM2.5
While driving without the fan the particle levels averaged at .007 Pm2.5
After turning the fan on while driving the particle levels increased to .013 PM2.5
All DustTrack PM levels in mg/m3

7. conclusion
Overall the average PM2.5 level was .0077, well below the EPA limit of .035 PM2.5 for air quality outdoors. The maximum particle amount in our test was .013 PM2.5 while driving with the fan turned on.
The information gathered shows that the particulate level does rise with the fan on versus off.
We can also conclude that driving versus idling increases the particle level for a variety of reasons.

8. Things we could improve on
Variables we did not account for such as:
Weather conditions
size and age of the car
any possible problems within the car
external factors

9. Questions

10. References
"Emissions From School Buses Increase Pollution Levels Inside the Bus." Environmental Defense. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr <
"Pollution Inside Your Car." Earth Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr <
"Study of Air Pollution Levels Inside Vehicles." AQMD. N.p., 10 June Web. 13 Apr <