The olf is a unit used to measure the strength of a pollution source. It was introduced by Danish professor P. Ole Fanger; the name "olf" is derived from the Latin word olfactus, meaning "smelled".[1]
One olf is the sensory pollution strength from a standard person defined as an average adult working in an office or similar non-industrial workplace, sedentary and in thermal comfort, with a hygienic standard equivalent of 0.7 baths per day and whose skin has a total area of 1.8 square metres. It was defined to quantify the strength of pollution sources that can be perceived by humans.
Examples of typical scent emissions
editPerson/object | Scent emission |
---|---|
Sitting person | 1 olf |
Smoker | 25 olf |
Athlete | 30 olf |
Marble | 0.01 olf/m² |
Linoleum | 0.2 olf/m² |
Synthetic fibre | 0.4 olf/m² |
Rubber gasket | 0.6 olf/m² |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Fanger, P. O. (1987). "Introduction of the olf and the decipol Units to Quantify Air Pollution Perceived by Humans Indoors and Outdoors" (PDF). In Energy and Buildings 12 (1), pp. 1–6.
- Professor Ole Fanger's page at the Technical University of Denmark, includes curriculum vitae mentioning him proposing the unit called olf. [dead link]