Astrophile
Active Member
Now, how do masks work? They obviously will not stop a single virus. But a naked virus is not a threat for very long. Viruses need a wet environment to live in. When we breathe, especially when we breathe hard or talk or sign we spew tiny water droplets. You have heard the phrase "Say it don't spray it". That is because when we talk there will be droplets. Those tiny water droplets are stopped or slowed greatly by a mask. If they are just slowed they tend to drop to the floor. It is the unfettered water droplets of people that do not know that they are sick that transmits the disease.
In other words a mask is not for you, it is for others. If Jesus could avoid killing people with such a miniscule sacrifice don't you think that he would do it?
We also exhale water vapour, and in cold weather (such as we have had in Britain for the past six months) this vapour condenses on surfaces (such as spectacle lenses). Do you know whether the virus lives in this condensed water vapour? I suppose that the mask helps to prevent or slow the dispersion of virus particles in water vapour, but it does not stop this dispersion altogether since the vapour still condenses on external surfaces rather than being entirely trapped by the mask.