As Mauna Loa erupts, Hawaii officials warn of ‘Pele’s Hair.’ What is it?

Sac Bee ^

[Travis McGee]

It’s like microscopic razor blades.

If you breathe it for any amount of time, your lungs can be ruined.

In this case, compared to a tinier virus, even multiple-wrapped t-shirt material etc will do WAY better than breathing it in.

[Travis McGee]

See 17. You don’t want it.

[Flick Lives]

This is pretty much a natural version of what is called rock wool insulation.

[Ann Archy]

HA!!

[Travis McGee]

See 17.

[alexander_busek]

Strands of Pele’s Hair can stretch up to 2 feet in length but are less than a micron, or .001 millimeters, wide.

Factually untrue! That's about one-eighth the width of a single human Red Blood Cell (RBC).

One of my brothers sent me some "Pele's Hair" in an envelope back in '84. Made it all the way to Europe.

Regards,

[scrabblehack]

Just when the World Cup is going on too.

[alexander_busek]

I wonder if it would make good ‘free’ insulation. Is basically ‘fiberglass.

Turns to powder after just a few weeks. Useless.

Regards,

[viewfromthefrontier]

N95s are effective against volcanic ash.

[Boogieman]

“Factually untrue! That’s about one-eighth the width of a single human Red Blood Cell (RBC).”

I’m guessing that’s the minimum width and not the average. It does make sense that it could form that small, since we are just talking about a glass made up of silicon molecules, while a red blood cell is a biological construct made up of much larger and complex molecules.

[V K Lee]

“It looks like Don King’s hair.”

---

correction:

They resemble King Don’s hair; right down to the color.

[chronicles]

We lived in a Honolulu suburb in the late ‘60s.
The only time we had nasty weather was when the volcanoes erupted and the smelly, sulphurous, vog drifted over from the Big Island.
Usually, the vog would cause it to rain. It was kind of messy, but the rain cleansed the air to some degree.

[SueRae]

Great. Fiberglass particles in the air. That is something that would have me put on a mask for. Nasty stuff.

[SueRae]

Whoa.

[married21]

No wonder the legend is that Pele is a female.

[LegendHasIt]

Well, so much for that idea.

I guess they don’t need much insulation in Hawaii anyway

[political1]

I thought they saved the Brazilian soccer players hair. Pele

[Travis McGee]

Yep. Just don’t breathe it in.

[Chickensoup]

FIBERGLASS!

[Ann Archy]

YIKERS!!