Shining Light on Pollution

A participant at the Louisiana 4-H Clover College “Tracking Toxins: Shining Light on Pollution” session, held June 21-22, 2018 at Louisiana State University, building a particulate matter (PM) detector.

The “Shining Light on Pollution” activity involves building a particulate matter (PM) detector from basic electrical components, including a breadboard, a dust sensor, and LEDs (left) and connecting the components to a programmable microcontroller (Arduino) with code that tells the Arduino to light up LEDs based on the number of particles detected. The activity and code for the Arduinos was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the supplies were purchased using an education and outreach grant from SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics. Resources for the “Shining Light on Pollution” can be downloaded by clicking on the links below.

Shining Light on Pollution:  Overview and Background Information

Shining Light on Pollution: Instructions

Shining Light on Pollution: Louisiana Environmental Education Symposium Presentation

Environmental Protection Agency:  Build Your Own Particle Sensor - This page includes additional background information and a pdf with Arduino code for the PM sensor.