[pxeger1]

> Someone once said to me that cooking can increase particle pollution in the air to dangerous levels. Is this true? I suspect not.

Were they talking about gas hobs? Surely that's much worse than the electric/induction one you appear to be using.

[crazygringo]

No, gas combustion doesn't generate any significant amount of particles.

It produces CO2, NO2 and some CO. But it's not going to show anything on a PM2.5 meter.

The particles when frying come from the oil turning into smoke, as well as just aerosolization even well below the smoke point. These are what send PM2.5 levels skyrocketing.

When I sear a steak in cast iron, my PM2.5 levels go from their baseline of ~2 ug/m^3 to ~200–400. And course you can smell it in the air.

[infecto]

Gas combustion absolutely contributes to poorer air quality but I would argue that actually cooking (not what’s happening in this test) is much worse. Heating oil and cooking proteins will quickly fill a house. If you can smell it, the air quality has been reduced.