Indoor Waterfalls and Negative
Ions
The Positive Effects of Negative
Ions
Have you ever noticed how good it feels to breathe fresh country air?
Or how about the feeling you get when you're near the sea shore, or
standing by a waterfall? Your mother always said fresh air would do
you good, but is it really something in the air that makes you feel so
alive? Well, Yes! Negative ions
to be precise...
You Mean The Air I Breathe Can
Affect My Mood?
Absolutely. The vigorous feeling you get from fresh country air is
caused by thousands of tiny particles called negative ions.
Conversely, harmful positive ions
are largely responsible for the groggy feeling you get after a long
day in the car or behind a computer screen. Bringing more negative
ions into your environment, as with the use of an indoor waterfall,
can bring that fresh air feeling into your home or office every day.
But What
Is A Negative Ion?
A negative ion (or to be more proper, a negative-charged ion) is a
molecule that has an extra electron attached. The negative ions that
we are addressing here, the ions produced by indoor waterfalls and
mountain streams, are oxygen ions.
What Do They Do?
Negative ions have been proven to have a positive impact on health,
mood, and energy, affecting serotonin levels in the brain. Negative
ions also bond with impurities in the air, adhering to suspended particles
and removing them.
How Are They Produced?
Negative ions may be produced in several ways. The ions we are
concerned with, oxygen ions, are most commonly produced through
disturbance of water molecules, such as in fast flowing rivers or
indoor waterfalls. The disturbance of water molecules occasionally
displaces an electron, causing it to break off from its host. This
spare electron then seeks out another oxygen molecule as a host,
giving this molecule an extra electron, and therefore a negative
charge.
Where Are They Found?
Because negative ions are produced in large quantities by flowing
water and sunlight, air in rural areas has many hundreds of times
more negative ions than air in a large metropolitan zone. Negative
ions account for the healthy, vigorous feelings many experience when
breathing "fresh country air." The air around Niagara Falls
or another turbulent water source, for example, may contain between
30,000 and 100,000 negative ions per cubic centimeter. On the other
hand, the air inside an office or a sealed automobile may contain
anywhere from zero to a few hundred negative ions per cubic centimeter.
Indoor waterfalls are one way to help improve the negative ion content
in such enclosed spaces.
Click here to learn more about the effects of negative ions on health
and air quality...
