1.

Why does dust get deposited only on one side of the blades of a fan ?

Answer»

Blades of a ceiling/table fan have uniform thickness (unlike that of an aerofoil) but are angled (cambered) at 8° to 12° (optimally, 10°) from their plane. When they are set rotating, this camber causes the streamlines above/behind a fan blade to detach away from the surface of the blade creating a very low pressure on that side. The lower/front streamlines however follow the blade surface. Dust particles stick to a blade when it is at rest as well as when in motion both by intermolecular force of adhesion and due to static charges. However, they are not dislodged from the top/behind surface because of complete detachment of the streamlines.

The lower/front surface retains some of the dust because during motion, a thin layer of air remains stationary relative to the blade.



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