Dust Everywhere
The first thing you notice arriving in Cairo is the dust. You can feel it on your tongue and it makes your throat dry. In two hours after cleaning a table, you can write your name in the dust.
Dust is usually defined as a mass of fine, dry particles, less then 0.0625 millimeter in diameter, smaller than the tiniest grains of sand. It can be made up completely of dirt deposit, or numerous combinations of fine dirt and other materials. The dust in Cairo is mineral material that comes from floors of desert basins, bare soil, plowed fields, river flood plains, smoke and ash produced by fires and decaying organic material.
Grains of sand lofted into the air by the wind fall back to the ground within a few hours, but smaller particles remain suspended in the air for a week or more and can be swept thousands of kilometers downwind. Dust from the Sahara desert regularly crosses the Atlantic, causing bright red sunrises and sunsets in Miami, traveling as far as the Caribbean and the Amazon basin. An average Egyptian household contains 26 kilos of dust, that’s a garage full.
Dust is usually defined as a mass of fine, dry particles, less then 0.0625 millimeter in diameter, smaller than the tiniest grains of sand. It can be made up completely of dirt deposit, or numerous combinations of fine dirt and other materials. The dust in Cairo is mineral material that comes from floors of desert basins, bare soil, plowed fields, river flood plains, smoke and ash produced by fires and decaying organic material.
Grains of sand lofted into the air by the wind fall back to the ground within a few hours, but smaller particles remain suspended in the air for a week or more and can be swept thousands of kilometers downwind. Dust from the Sahara desert regularly crosses the Atlantic, causing bright red sunrises and sunsets in Miami, traveling as far as the Caribbean and the Amazon basin. An average Egyptian household contains 26 kilos of dust, that’s a garage full.
<< Home