Effects of indoor pyrotechnic displays on the air quality in the Houston Astrodome

Fine and coarse particulate mass samples were collected during basel,all ga mes with pyrotechnic displays and control games without displays. The avera ge fine and coarse particulate masses were 173 and 141 mu g/m(3), respectiv ely, for the one-hour period immediately following the pyrotechnic displays . The particulate matter generated by the pyrotechnic displays was composed of the following elements (arranged from most to least abundant): K, S, Mg , Ti, Cl, Si, Ca, Al, Sr, V, Zn, Mn, and Pb. Although the average particula te mass concentrations were high during the first hour, the ventilation sys tem reduced the concentrations by up to 41% during the second hour after th e display. The fine and coarse particulate fractions had half-lives of 2.0 and 0.9 hours, respectively, while the ventilation system operated at a cap acity of one air change every three hours.