Assessment of formaldehyde pollution based on Weber exponent and perception of people’s smell

Abstract

Formaldehyde’s, as the irritant and active gas in atmosphere, pollution assessment by perception of people is significative. Although related study is seldom reported, it is necessary to improve the general contamination evaluation based on Weber–Fischna law and combine with human’s real feeling. Therefore, based on the law, Weber exponents were counted by a convenient optimal calculation, and the results could accurately embody the different standard range of formaldehyde concentration. In addition, by the human smell perception experiment, it was firstly found that the score assessment could also express the pollution condition more practically. According to the scores, expanding exponents could cause the assessment more clearly and closer to human real smell perception.