How does mold seemingly appear out of nowhere as long as there are moist conditions?
In: Biology
Mold spores are so small that we can’t detect them without specialized equipment. They are more or less everywhere but can only start growing when they have access to water.
Others have mentioned size, but it’s important to understand that mold evolved before dirt. So the thing about spores for molds is that they do not actually need to have a nutrient soil kind of matrix in which to fall. They just need the thinnest layers and the tiniest cracks to begin their work. Different molds like different surfaces and need different kinds of support. All there needs to really be is a little bit of chemical potential and enough stickiness for them to adhere. And at those scales water equals sticky. Also mold doesn’t have the complex biological clocks that require a minimum and impose a maximum growth speed. They simply grow as fast as conditions provide.
So yes mold spores are tiny and everywhere. But they also pretty much work everywhere. any place that isn’t suitable for one kind of mold is likely suitable for another. And there are so many millions if not billions of kinds of mold that every place has the potential to grow something.
Mold spores are floating in the air everywhere unless you go to great lengths to sterilize the environment. So like a seed, if it lands in a suitable location to grow, it will.
There are mold spores everywhere. When they hit the right conditions, mold grows. In the everyday world, there’s really no place that doesn’t have mold spores all over the place. Even if you clean your home completely, the spores will come in on clothing or through the air
Mold spores are literally everywhere all the time, and there’s no escape from them. Every cubic meter of air has thousands or more mold spores. Thus, whenever conditions are right for mold growth, mold will grow.
As said before, mold spores are everywhere, but more importantly they dont die easily. Some can last decades and endure extreme conditions without dying. This is why you can see mold grow just about everywhere where the conditions are right
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