DUST SEE FACTS

EVEN if you’re a dab hand with the vacuuming, it has been revealed our homes fill up with enough dust every year to stuff a suitcase, as we revealed yesterday.

Dust is teeny tiny particles of solid matter, with 20-50% of it in properties made from dead skin!

★ Here KIM CARR sweeps up 12 dust facts for you to polish up your knowledge…

1 The majority of dust in our atmosphere comes from the Sahara Desert’s Bodélé Depression. It’s an ancient lake bed in Africa from which around 5billion tonnes a year is blown away. It can affect weather patterns and air temperature.

2 That dust can cause chaos to holiday makers as sandstorms ground flights, such as in 2020 when the Canary Islands were blanketed, below. Along with affecting pilots being able to see where they are going, the dust can damage plane engines.

3 But it’s good news for our oceans. Boffins from the journal Science revealed in 2011 that dust helps boost phytoplankton growth – and the tiny plants suck up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and release oxygen.