1. The Particular Matter of Welding By: Nathan Fauth, Austin Reese, Callie Ling, and Riley Coyne School:Whitefish High School Teacher: Mr. Spangler

2. Graphs First two days

3. Graphs

4. Pictures

5. Background and Intro We were curious in how much the PM 2.5 level would raise during welding, woodshop, and CAD classes if at all.

6. Hypothesis There will be a greater level of particulate matter 2.5 in the air when woodshop and welding are using the shop room.

7. Methods 1.On Monday, May 4 we set up the PM 2.5 machine on top of a shelf in the shop room towards the south western corner of the room. 2.We took pictures of the location of the machine and left it to run for the next forty-eight hours while recording the average PM 2.5 concentration in the air. 3.We then analyzed the data.

8. Materials ● DustTrak o TrakPro Version 4.41 o Model number: 8520 o Serial number: 85202640 ● WHS shop room ● Apple Ipod Camera ● Dell latitude laptop

9. Results ● Average: 0.071 (including after school hours) ● Minimum: 0.002 (Woods II period 4) ● Maximum: 5.828 (Welding III period 7) ● Upon analyzing the data we discovered that the PM 2.5 level did indeed increase during one class, welding. The results showed that not only did the PM 2.5 level raise but its highest point was almost six making the room extremely dangerous.

10. Discussion ● Our results show that only the welding class showed an increase in the PM 2.5 level ● The woodshop showed almost no increase in the PM 2.5 ● The PM 2.5 level was beyond extremely high for the welding II/III classes ● Welding I showed a small increase in the PM 2.5 level, but only on certain days ● During Mr. Boyle’s prep period there was a sharp increase in the PM 2.5 levels

11. Discussion continued... ● Our hypothesis was partially supported, we said that both welding and woods classes would have an increase but it was mainly the welding II/III classes ● Our purpose was to gather a greater understanding of the air quality in the shop room throughout the day during different classes. ● Some possible errors that could have affected our data include o location of the DustTrak meter o analyzing the data o students messing with the meter o overall average included the low PM level of after school hours

12. Conclusion Viewing the data, our hypothesis is partially supported. Only the welding class showed an increased PM 2.5 level whereas the woodshop class showed almost no increase. There was also a spike during the prep period where we assume Mr. Boyle was welding. Our information could enlighten the students working in the shop as well as Mr. Boyle, giving them a better understanding of the dangerous conditions that welding may produce. In conclusion, welding produced a dangerously high PM 2.5 level, while woodshop classes produced practically no PM 2.5. The high levels of PM 2.5 remained in the air for an extended period of time even after the welding class was over. This time could be evidence that the welding room doesn’t ventilate very well.

13. Improvements ● Talk to Mr. Boyle about what the different classes did during the period as well as his prep period ● Relocate the DustTrak to see if different locations gave different results

14. References ● "Mr. Todd Spangler." Whitefish High School. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2015. ● "Welding Emissions." Welding Emissions. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2015. ● "Basic Information." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 22 May 2015.

15. A Special Thanks To... ● Mr. Boyle ● Mr. Spangler ● University of Montana o Sponsoring the DustTrak machine ● Tony Ward o Professor of the University of Montana o Developer of the Clean Air and Healthy Homes Project