So asbestos is super dangerous to your lungs. It’s tiny, and sharp, so your lungs can’t remove it using mucus etc as it would with other dusts/particles.
*That makes sense.*
But what about fibreglass insulation – it’s tiny little super sharp glass fibres that (in my head) aren’t much different to fibreglass.
What about fine sand, or even diatomaceous earth which is famous for its ability to kill bugs/insects BECAUSE it’s super sharp on a micro level?
^For ^the ^flair, ^not ^sure ^if ^this ^is ^a ^biology, ^physics ^or ^chemstry ^question. ^I’m ^hoping ^’bio’ ^is ^OK.
^I ^just ^finished ^insulating ^the ^loft ^with ^my ^father-in-law. ^I ^wore ^a ^respirator, ^he ^didn’t ^(too ^’proud’?) ^- ^I’m ^fine, ^just ^itchy ^skin, ^but ^he’s ^had ^a ^bad ^cough ^for ^a ^few ^days.
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Asbestos is dangerous because the fibers mechanically damage the machinery of your cells. The fibers are so small that the smallest fibers can get inside your cells and tangle with the DNA causing replication errors during cell division. These errors can greatly increase the rates of cancer.
As to why asbestos is more dangerous, its crystal structure gives it the behavior that as it is crushed it fractures along the same planes preferentially (how is not really ELi5). This means small needles, become smaller needles of the same length, become nanoscale needles of the same length. It doesn’t break in the way other materials would into chunks lengthwise. Asbestos is also extremely soft which makes production of the tiniest shards a lot easier than other materials.
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