How do smoke detectors work?
To understand how smoke detectors work you must realize that smoke is not just a cloud of gas, it is actually made of very small carbon particles suspended in the air. Rather than detecting heat or flames like other detectors, smoke detectors can detect smoke even before it is visible to the human eye by detecting these small carbon particles. For their early warning abilities, they are recommended for use in living areas instead of heat detectors. There are two types of smoke detectors which use two different mechanisms to detect these particles. The ionization type, which is the most widely used, employs a weak source of radiation to ionize the atoms of air in a special chamber. When these particles are ionized, it results in a very weak electric current being produced in this chamber. Carbon particles entering the chamber interfere with the ionized air particles causing a reduction in the amount of this weak electric current and the detector sounds an alarm. The second type of smoke
TOP To understand how smoke detectors work you must realize that smoke is not just a cloud of gas, it is actually made of very small carbon particles suspended in the air. Rather than detecting heat or flames like other detectors, smoke detectors can detect smoke even before it is visible to the human eye by detecting these small carbon particles. For their early warning abilities, they are recommended for use in living areas instead of heat detectors. There are two types of smoke detectors which use two different mechanisms to detect these particles. The ionization type, which is the most widely used, employs a weak source of radiation to ionize the atoms of air in a special chamber. When these particles are ionized, it results in a very weak electric current being produced in this chamber. Carbon particles entering the chamber interfere with the ionized air particles causing a reduction in the amount of this weak electric current and the detector sounds an alarm. The second type of s
